Mental Health News

Psych Central

• Teens and Porn
  One of the mistakes parents make when they learn their teenage son has been viewing pornography sites on his computer is to punish him by taking away his computer. This is a mistake, as it may send the message that sexual feelings and exploration are wrong and bad. Rather, as a parent your intent needs [...]
• 15 ADHD-Friendly Tips to Fire Up Your Focus
  A wandering mind is common for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Whether you’re talking to your boss or best friend, you might easily lose track of conversations. Or get easily distracted and forget what you were working on. Or miss details and make careless mistakes. But this isn’t an oversight on your part. [...]
• Clinicians on the Couch: 10 Questions with Psychologist Will Meek
  In this regular feature on Psych Central, we’ve been talking with a different clinician each month about everything from conducting therapy to coping with stress to living a meaningful life to the challenges clients face. This month we’re pleased to present an interview with Will Meek, Ph.D, a licensed counseling psychologist in the state of [...]
• Trauma-Informed Practices with Children and Adolescents
  Trauma-Informed Practices with Children and Adolescents by William Steel and Cathy A. Malchiodi is a powerful and user-friendly book aimed at educating clinicians in their work with child and adolescent trauma survivors. This comprehensive book covers topics such as assessment, self-regulation, relationship improvement and trauma integration. It is a thorough look at the intricacies of [...]
• OCD and College Accommodations
  An interesting article recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal. “A Serious Illness or an Excuse” is worth reading and talks about what is happening on college campuses across the country: The number of students requesting accommodations has skyrocketed, and more of them than ever have some form of documented mental illness. While obsessive-compulsive disorder [...]
• Manage Your Depression Through Exercise
  Starting any exercise program can be a tough task.  However, for those suffering from depression, it can be close to impossible.  Just getting out of bed is a struggle for some; how are they to get the motivation to climb on a treadmill? Enter Dr. Jane Baxter and her book, Manage Your Depression Through Exercise.  [...]
• 5 Tips to Increase Your Assertiveness
  “Assertiveness is all about being present in a relationship,” according to Randy Paterson, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and author of The Assertiveness Workbook: How to Express Your Ideas and Stand Up for Yourself at Work and in Relationships. In other words, you’re able to articulate your wants and needs to the other person, and you [...]
• Triggered: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  Fletcher Wortmann obviously knows his subject.  “Triggered: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder” is for anyone who is or knows someone who is suffering from mental illness of any type.  While Wortmann wrestles with OCD, he is more than sympathetic regarding all types of mental illness. In addition to making us understand the problems and loss [...]
• ERP Therapy: A Good Choice for Treating OCD
  During OCD Awareness Week in October, I sat in front of my computer, mesmerized, as I watched a live Internet broadcast of first-person OCD stories. At the same time these stories were being broadcast, there were chat rooms open where people could connect and talk about anything related to OCD. I joined right in, letting [...]
• Texting, Sexting… What’s Next?
  A mother with her three teenage daughters sat in my office the other day. Two of the girls were there for sick visits. The third sister was just along for the ride. When I walked into the room, all three girls had their heads buried in their cell phones, thumbs pumping furiously, texting away. No [...]
• 8 Tips for Working from Home with Mental Illness
  People with mental illness struggle with the same time management troubles, distraction dilemmas and isolation issues as others without mental illness. With no time clock to punch and no boss monitoring your comings and goings, starting the day can be difficult, according to Deborah Serani, PsyD, a clinical psychologist and author of Living with Depression: [...]
• The 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking
  Sometimes self-help authors can’t help but fall into the trap of being overly positive. But not Michelle Tillis Lederman — she knows how to remain balanced.  In her book, The 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking . . . Because People Do Business with People They Like, she proves her method simply by the way [...]
• Creating a Charitable Family
  In memory of Johnny Carson’s wonderful character, Carnac, I offer these three answers to an unknown question: the holidays, being honorees of a community agency, and teaching kids to be generous. The question is: What role does charity play in our family? While this lacks the humor of a typical Carnac inquiry and response, it [...]
• NeuroCounseling: Simple Therapeutic Interventions for Rewiring the Maladaptive Brain
  While I was taking my undergraduate and graduate classes many moons ago, my least favorite courses were the ‘biopsychology’ or ‘cognitive processes’ classes where my professors would lecture at great length about the structure and the function of the brain. As a student embarking on a new career in mental health, I knew I needed [...]
• Valentine’s Day & Parental LOVE
  Did you know that about 40 percent of the 180 million Valentine’s cards purchased this year will be bought by parents? It makes sense if you think about it. Our little ones, even when not so little anymore, live in our hearts. We want them to know it. Valentine’s Day gives us a reason to [...]