It seems that video is killing the waiting room. In an effort to shorten wait times, child psychologist are turning to videoconferencing to expand services and reach more patients via "telemental health services." But is this a good idea for the rest of us? Can anxiety disorders and other mental health issues be addressed effectively by videoconferencing? For anyone familiar with psychotherapy, you know the experience is fraught with undesirable details. For example, after making the difficult phone call to seek help, you then have to
Archives for March 2010
The Two Most Important Things You Can Learn to Reduce Anxiety
Today's podcast is a direct result of two questions I received from Anxiety Guru readers. The questions were related to panic attacks and the acceptance of anxiety. I think both of these issues are important and understanding them can help you cope with your anxiety more effectively. I began by discussing the fight or flight response because I've always thought that if you understood the fight or flight response, then you would understand all of your anxiety symptoms. This type of understanding leads to less fear and worry, because you'll
Is Psychiatry’s Bible Flawed?
Is there something inherently wrong with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? Yes. It's bloated. Some people think that mental disorders don't exist, and that some people are just misunderstood. Well, I don't buy that line of thought. The reality is that some people do have mental problems, and they are different, but not because they're a little kookie or eccentric. They have serious underlying genetic, or other issues, that keep them the way they are. The DSM's job is to help psychiatrists classify the various
How to Stop Heart Palpitations
Heart palpitations. Don't these two words make you shudder with anxiety? Well, maybe the words don't, but the sensations caused by heart palpitations certainly do scare people. In fact, it's the main topic of emails that I get from people who contact me with questions. And given that this anxiety symptom is so common among anxiety sufferers, I thought it would be helpful to do a "how to" article on palpitations. First, a few basics. A heart palpitation is an abnormal beating of the heart AND your heightened awareness of your heart
Finding Your Place in the World
Today's guest post is brought to you by Dan Stelter of Anxietysupportnetwork. Does social anxiety make you feel lost some times? Like you just don't fit in anywhere? Dan's article is a great starting point for you if you've ever felt this way in the past. Dan has a lot of useful insights about social anxiety on his site and I'm glad that he was willing to share some of those ideas with us here. For those of us suffering from social anxiety disorder, we often find ourselves being run-down by others and being pushed outside of the group.
Panic Disorder: Stories of Hope (1994)
This is a 20 minute documentary video that follows the story of three people with panic disorder. The video is a little dated and somewhat cheesy, but the information it contains is up to date and useful. It's kind of hard to find good media about anxiety disorders, so I was glad to find this video and make it available to you. The bottom line of this short video is that panic disorder can be crippling, but it is also highly treatable. If you can't see the video CLICK HERE. [poll id="7"]
Coping with Anxiety and Criticism
Criticism sucks. There just isn't any other way of saying it. For anxiety sufferers dealing with criticism is especially hard, because it seems to arouse our worst fears about being judged or belittled. And it's not like being sensitive to criticism is unique to people with anxiety, it's just that many of us - like so many other things - react to it fiercely. For example, when I graduated from University and got my first "real job" I wasn't prepared for the rough and tumble world of corporate style criticism. My first reaction