Description: Imagine that you are having a bad day, though I hope you are not. Imagine that demands are rising, things are not going in your desired directions and your stress and anxiety levels are climbing up towards the roof. What would be one thing you could do that could lead to you feeling significantly… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Anxiety OC PTSD
Stop It! Stop Overthinking
Description: Everyone worries sometimes about some things. Some people worry a LOT and have trouble dealing with the constantly high levels of anxiety that comes along with those worries. What do you think this is and what can people do, or be helped to do, that will make things better and reduce their levels and… Read more »
Digital Fentanyl? Hmmmm….
Description: You cannot have missed the increasing level of discussion and concern regarding the possible impacts of social media use on the mental health of teens and youth in recent years. The available new coverage of this topic ranges widely from articles that seek out and dive into recent, population level research on social media… Read more »
Royal Psychedelics?
Description: It is fascinating to see how some ideas, theories and research pop up in the popular press as opposed to in peer review research journals that are not generally read recreationally. Perhaps you have run across articles and related references recently to the potential efficacy of psychedelics in the treatment of depression and other… Read more »
Screen Time is Too Vague a Variable
Description: How much time should toddlers and preschoolers be allowed to spend in front of screens, including televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones etc.)? Based on detailed reviews of current research the advice of the Canadian Pediatric Society used to be no more than 1 hour a day due to the lack of physical or cognitively challenging… Read more »
Treat Anxiety in Children Like a Phobia
Description: Face your fears! Sounds like a pretty basic piece of advice but for children with deep anxieties over often basic things like eating or being alone offering them such advice does not tend to work. There are therapeutic approaches that can work. Exposure Therapy, based on classical conditioning and linked to the much-discussed work… Read more »
Treating Nightmare Disorder
Description: You can probably recall a time when you had a nightmare, a really bad dream that woke you up, was unsettling and that made it hard for you to get back to sleep. I apologize if re-awakening that memory has re-unsettled you, I am sure it will pass and not continue to bother you…. Read more »
Treating Depression: Beyond SSRI’s?
Description: Over the more than a few years that I have taught introductory psychology classes I think one area where I have consistently struggled involves the neuroscience of brain functioning and its place and role in our understanding of human psychological functioning. This is partly due to my not having had a lot in the… Read more »
Interoception – A General Sixth Sense?
Description: Can you list your basic senses? Of course, right? There is sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. The term ‘sixth sense’ is typically reserved for things that seem mysterious and perhaps even a bit magical like getting a feeling that something bad or good is about to happen or that someone is following you… Read more »
New Thoughts on Stopping Unwanted Thoughts
Description: It is quite common for people to come out of an introductory psychology course with the general belief that most of Freud’s theory is no longer considered visible or appropriate in accounting for human experience and behavior. At the same time, some concepts that were given theoretic life by Freud are now viewed as… Read more »