Category: General Mental Health

The Connection Between Diet And Mental Health

Hungry? Beware – reaching for the chips or soda could be at the root of your mental health. After all, we really are what we eat. As it turns out, recent studies have shown that diet and mental health are more closely linked than we realize.

Why We Dread Bedtime When We’re Anxious

For those who struggle with anxiety and insomnia, lying in bed at night can be dreadful. Before getting into bed for the night, many will describe allowing themselves to have a nice, relaxing evening. They may feel relatively low stress or little to no anxiety. But, as soon as the lights turn off for the night, the brain turns on with a vengeance. Now you’re in bed, wide awake, worrying about any and every possible negative outcome in the days, weeks, months and even years ahead.

Abusive Relationships – Are You Involved With A Narcissist?

A narcissist is usually described as someone who believes they are better than others. It’s all about them. They think they know more about everything, are better looking, and have a better personality than those around them. They don’t have much regard for others.

Grieving The Death Of A Celebrity

When the nation mourned the passing of former President George H. W. Bush recently, the media covered every detail. We relived important moments in the President’s life via televised tributes. Images of Sully, the President’s faithful service dog, coursed across our screens as he lay at the base of the casket. Mr. Bush’s funeral was streamed live in its entirety, making us all feel as if we were grieving together at the service as the world bid farewell.

Resilience

flower growing in desert

What is resilience? Resilience is something we all want, few of us practice and most of us have little idea as to what it is. We go through our lives in lock-step dealing with life’s numerous pitfalls and challenges without an understanding of the impact that stress has on our bodies and psyche. Resilience represents an individual’s ability to effectively tolerate life’s stressors, to more effectively “go with the flow” so to speak. To be resilient means that even though we cannot avoid stress we have the capability of actively managing it.

Why Words Are so Important in Psychiatry

As reviewed in a past article, the field of Psychiatry is unique among medical specialties. At present, medical technology has yet to provide adequate imaging or laboratory testing that would allow for more objective assessment of a patient’s symptoms and concerns. A person with chest pain, fatigue and a racing heartbeat can rest assured that a carefully designed testing protocol will clarify the nature of the problem. Cardiac enzymes, electrocardiogram, chest x-ray and even cardiac catheterization will provide objective evidence to either rule-in or rule-out a cardiac event. Or the severe sore throat that makes swallowing difficult can be objectively clarified by obtaining a throat culture and consequently help the physician chose an antibiotic if indicated.

Not All Addicts Are Alike

Since the cocaine scourge of the ’70s and ’80s and the ongoing tragedy of the opiate epidemic, the American public has become painfully aware of the societal impact of addiction. Because of the prevalence and lethality of fentanyl-laced opiate overdoses almost everyone knows of a family that has lost a loved one. And despite all the time, effort and money invested in eradicating tobacco we now have to confront the growing addiction to nicotine through the expanding use of nicotine vape pens.

There's Something Rotten In…

I consider myself a well-trained mental health professional and as such an expert on human behavior. These days however, I find myself more and more at a loss pondering the amount of violence and hate visible in our world. This week I attended an interfaith vigil united to protest hate crimes and violence. It was uplifting to share in the community expression of mutual support, love and the need to heal. However, I left feeling that there still were no answers to the existence of such evil.

Mental Health and a Slice of Pizza

I am sure you are wondering what pizza has to do with mental health. It is much more than enjoying a tasty slice or two. A slice of pizza represents a part of a whole and introduces us to the concept of systems theory. The systems concept helps us process a lot of information in a more orderly way, to be able to go back and forth between the whole and its parts, understanding the interaction between the forest and its trees. We can examine the individual trees while at the same time taking in the picture of the entire forest.