Overthinking? Here’s How to Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Body
Is your mind feeling a little cramped? Meg Walters explains how the following techniques can help you get out of your mind and into your body. Walters is writer for stylist.co.uk, focusing on feminism, politics, culture, and entertainment news.
“My life was ruled by panic attacks. Here’s my seven-point guide to tackling anxiety.”
Tim Clare, shown above, spent a year researching panic attacks, a condition that left him continually, grindingly anxious. He tried every treatment he could think of—chronicling his journey in the book, Coward: Why We Get Anxious and What We Can Do About It. A portion of his story is below. Pinned to the living room floor, screaming, Tim […]
Frequent Marijuana Smoking Linked to Higher Risk of Heart Attack, Study Suggests
Note from Michael Angelo, owner, Encompass Counseling Center: The following article written by Aria Bendix, the breaking health reported for NBC News Digital, dispels the public perception that marijuana is completely safe and even healthy for you. However, in reality, a high dose of THC—the main component of marijuana—causes vascular inflammation, leading to heart problems […]
The Forgotten Childhood: Why Early Childhood Memories Fade
NOTE: The following article by Jon Hamilton, correspondent, Science Desk, National Public Radio, explains why we lose our earliest memories—unique to us alone—as we age. Highlights include: —Scientists have known about childhood amnesia for more than a century. But it’s only in the past decade that they have begun to figure out when childhood memories […]
A Vivid Portrait of Her Sister’s Schizophrenia
Kyleigh Leddy, a therapist-in-training, 25, paints a vivid portrait of her sister’s schizophrenia in The Perfect Other. Leddy’s compassionate but terrifying book is a love letter to Kait, the older sister she once adored—but quickly grew to fear after a traumatic brain injury brought on violent rages. Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, writer for People.com, shares Kyleigh Leddy’s story in the […]
Therapeutic Ways to Change Negative Thinking
Along With 12 Tools for Addressing Crisis Situations We all have thoughts that invade our brains from time to time and mess with our moods. We all get down. Whether it’s your job, social life, family, or something completely different, sometimes the negativity can be too much. It can snowball. That’s the part where it […]
What to Do When Your Spouse Is Depressed
How do you know if your spouse is depressed, and what can you do to help them? There are some healthy ways to encourage your partner to seek therapy, open up about their emotions, and address their symptoms, said Susan Bernstein, executive coach and leadership consultant with her own firm in San Diego, CA. Signs […]
The 7 Things That Parents of “Exceptionally Resilient and Successful” Children Always Do
Humans are not all equal in every way. There are a few individuals who have achieved an unparalleled mastery in their field—and they are what Kumar Mehta, Ph.D., calls the exceptionals. Put another way, they are the 1 percent of the 1 percent of the world’s most successful people. Some examples include innovators like Elon Mush […]
Eleven Practices That Make Adult ADHD Worse
Source: webmd.com Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is not limited to children—30% to 70% of children with ADHD continue to have symptoms when they grow up. In addition, people who were never diagnosed with ADHD as children may develop more obvious ADHD symptoms in adulthood, causing trouble on the job or in relationships. Many […]
How to Deal with Election Anxiety—Without Freaking Out
Note: At the end of the blog article, “Worried About the Election? You’re Not Alone,”—posted on October 5, 2020—I mentioned that I would provide tips on how to manage election anxiety. I offer these tips to you now in “How to Deal with Election Anxiety.” —Michael Angelo, LCPC When it comes to worries about the […]
Bullies Are Everywhere These Days—Here’s How to Respond to Them
Elizabeth Bernstein, a writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of this article about bullying, had something to say recently to the guy who pulled up behind her VW Beetle in a jacked-up pickup truck, honked furiously while she waited for a pause in oncoming traffic to make a left turn, then followed her […]
Stress in the Time of Pandemic
If you’re feeling stressed these days, join the party. The reasons behind that stressed-out feeling differ for each person. Some talk about it, others don’t. But there’s one thing people have in common: When you’re stressed, you’ll feel it in your body. That’s because your mental and physical response to stress go hand in hand, […]
The 5 Core Approach to Covid-19
The coronavirus is adding to your stress level, right? That’s understandable. What can you do to keep it in check? Here are some strategies that tie closely with our overall philosophy at Encompass Counseling Center about taking care of your whole self. Our focus is on the five attributes that comprise your entire being. This […]
Nightmares May Help Us Prepare for Real Anxiety-Provoking Situations
Nightmares are no fun, but an international study has found that nighttime fears may actually serve a greater purpose. Researchers from the United States and Switzerland have identified areas of the brain that are activated while participants experience fears in their dreams. After participants awoke, these same emotion-regulating areas responded to scary situations with much […]
Putting the Coronavirus into Perspective
Perspective is an important thing to consider when dealing with anxiety-provoking situations. You know this from your sessions with your therapist. Please remember this as you consider your response to Covid-19. Don’t let emotions outweigh logic in your everyday choices surrounding the coronavirus. Whether it’s fighting someone in the grocery store for toilet paper, or […]
PTSD One Step at a Time
Taking One Scary Step at a Time Wendi was casually relaxing, enjoying herself, cuddled in a blanket on the couch, peacefully reading a book. Suddenly, she heard gunshots and what she thought were bombs going off. She was no longer safe. Her adrenaline soared as she ran for cover. It was now or never […]
Dementia Tied to Retirement in Developing Countries as Early as Age 60
Could retiring early cause you to lose your mind? Researchers at Binghamton University, in New York, believe so. They found that early retirement could accelerate the usual rate of cognitive decline among the elderly in developing countries, including Asia and Latin America. Their results mirrored those that had focused on the impact of retirement on […]
Mindfulness May Reduce Opioid Cravings
Jen suffered from opioid addiction, bad. She never meant to become addicted to pain pills, but the intensity of her aches—and pains—were too much to bear, so soon one pill every six hours turned to one pill every hour, and before the day was done, Jen had taken as many as 20 tablets of her […]
How to Find the Right Therapist for You
Table of Contents If you’re having trouble finding the right therapist, don’t despair. It’s not easy. People usually go with who’s closest to where they live or work, or who takes their insurance, or both—without ever actually deciding what they need personally from therapy. It’s what they need from therapy that should lead them to […]
The Psychology Behind the Job Interview
Marilee is not unlike most of the universe in that she genuinely does not enjoy job interviews. If asked to choose between interviewing and chewing glass, you can guess her answer. This makes sense because in the same way that most people dislike taking tests, a job interview is a test. Even those who feel […]
