Mental Health News

Psych Central

• ADHD & Kids: 9 Tips to Tame Tantrums
  In kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), impulsivity manifests in many different ways. “Kids can impulsively run into the street. They can hit another student in line at school. They can climb up on the roof and jump off, hoping to fly like Superman,” said Terry Matlen, ACSW, a psychotherapist and author of Survival [...]
• Not Otherwise Specified: Anxiety & the Work of Dr. Robert Hudak
  Southwest Pennsylvania National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) held its annual conference at the beginning of April, and one of their afternoon breakout workshop presenters was Dr. Robert Hudak, assistant professor of psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, University of Pittsburgh. “Pathways to Hope: Shaping a Positive Future in Uncertain Times” was the conference [...]
• Selfishness in Couples: Narcissism, Lack of Interpersonal Skills, or Something Else?
  Disclaimer: The characters from these vignettes are fictitious. They were derived from a composite of people and events for the purpose of representing real-life situations and psychological dilemmas. Couples commonly talk about feeling unsupported by their partners in the things that are important to them – longing to feel that their spouse is their friend. [...]
• How Mindfulness Can Mitigate the Cognitive Symptoms of Depression
  Mindfulness, or paying full attention to the present moment, can be very helpful in improving the cognitive symptoms of depression. These debilitating symptoms include distorted thinking, difficulty concentrating and forgetfulness. Cognitive symptoms can impair all areas of a person’s life. For instance, poor concentration can interfere with your job or schoolwork. Negative thoughts can lead [...]
• Clinicians on the Couch: 10 Questions with Psychologist Linda Hatch
  Our monthly series delves into the personal and professional lives of clinicians from all over the U.S. Therapists reveal everything from the trials and triumphs of conducting therapy to their career path and coping strategies. This month we’re pleased to present our interview with Linda Hatch, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist who pens the popular blog [...]
• Book Review: Mania
  The Beat Generation of the 1950s was part of an extremely controversial cultural phenomenon that continues to influence us to this day. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and other members of this counterculture are still the subject of numerous works. Just last year, at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, a new movie version [...]
• Strategies for Improving the Cognitive Symptoms of Depression
  “The texture of a depressed person’s brain functioning is that it’s operating in a depleted way,” according to Deborah Serani, Psy.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the book Living with Depression. This depletion leads to a variety of intrusive cognitive symptoms, such as distorted thinking, poor concentration, distractibility, indecision and forgetfulness. These cognitive symptoms [...]
• Using Mindfulness to Approach Chronic Pain
  When we’re in pain, we want it to go away. Immediately. And that’s understandable. Chronic pain is frustrating and debilitating, said Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and Psych Central blogger. The last thing we want to do is pay more attention to our pain. But that’s the premise behind mindfulness, a highly effective practice [...]
• 10 Tips for the Best Mothering & Self-Love
  The idea of self-love and self-nurturing baffles most people, especially codependents, who by and large received inadequate parenting. The word “nurture” comes from the Latin nutritus, meaning to suckle and nourish. It also means to protect and foster growth. For young children, this usually falls to the mother; however, the father’s role is equally important. [...]
• Happy Mother’s Day to Moms with Kids with Special Needs
  A recent TV ad says it all. It follows a mom through her day with a little boy who appears to have some kind of developmental delay. The voice-over tells us he was in the neonatal intensive care unit for over 100 days. Now he looks somewhere between 3 and 4 years old. She makes [...]
• Right Now Enough is Enough! Overcoming Addictions & Bad Habits for Good
  As someone who has battled substance abuse, I was curious as to how a book could help the reader “overcome” addiction in a matter of 30 days or less. This undertaking, in Right Now Enough is Enough, by Peter Andrew Sacco, is an especially large one, given that so many loyal AA, NA, and other 12-step program [...]
• Things I Wish I’d Known: Cancer Caregivers Speak Out
  This is truly a book I wish I’d had years ago. The aptly-titled Things I Wish I’d Known: Cancer Caregivers Speak Out, by Deborah J. Cornwall, is a welcome resource for those struggling to help the people they love who have cancer. My grandmother, mother, father, and wife all had cancer. My mother was a caregiver for [...]
• Book Review: Beyond the Ego
  Sometimes a self-help book tries to be too many things. Beyond the Ego: Where Love, Joy, and Peace of Mind Await You, may be one of them. Written by David Mutchler, an author described as having earned an overwhelming number of degrees in education, philosophy, psychology, and social work, with advanced studies in religion, it is essentially [...]
• The Cognitive Symptoms of Depression
  The cognitive symptoms of depression tend to receive less attention than other symptoms of this difficult illness. Namely, symptoms such as sinking mood, fatigue and loss of interest garner more recognition. Yet cognitive symptoms are quite common. “[They] are actually significantly prominent in depression,” said Deborah Serani, Psy.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the [...]
• Therapists Spill: What I Wish Readers Knew About Therapy & Life
  Even though today there’s a lot of information about how therapy works, a slew of misconceptions and misunderstandings still persist, along with a palpable stigma in seeking therapy. Many people also hold erroneous beliefs about themselves and life in general. Below, seasoned clinicians clear up the most common myths about the therapy process and leading [...]