Category Archives: Mental Health

Mental health is something many of us take for granted. Learn more about mental health conditions and how to seek the help necessary to deal with them here at the Families.com Mental Health Blog.

Supermoms and Depression

When I saw a recent headline about so-called supermoms being at a higher risk for depression my first thought was “Who isn’t a supermom these days”? Whether you work outside of the home or not the pressure on moms is high. There seems to be an expectation that regardless of what is going on mom needs to keep the household running. That may not mean she has to do it all, but certainly she has to make sure it all gets done. I don’t consider myself a supermom at all. Until recently I worked a full and part time job, … Continue reading →

Gender Differences in Mental Health

For some time it has been known that women suffer more from depression than men do, or at the very least are more likely to be diagnosed with it. It is likely that there are a variety of contributing factors to this, not the least of which is the difference in how men and women express themselves. A new study tackles the question of which diagnoses seem to impact men versus women, and why. The study came out of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida and appears in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. It discusses how … Continue reading →

Back to School Anxiety & Emotions

Do a Google search on this topic and you’re likely to come across a ton of news stories, blogs, opinions, etc. I thought I better throw my hat into the ring, so my readers would not be left out. The person quoted the most on these various sites is Samuel Gladding, who is a professor at Wake Forest University. He offers 6 tips for helping with back to school anxiety and is summarized by Bradenton.com. The fact that these articles keep popping up on my alerts daily was funny to me, as I think I have more anxiety than my … Continue reading →

The link between depression and maltreatment.

I suppose it is a no brainer to say that someone who is maltreated as a child has a higher likelihood of being depressed as an adult. You may wonder why researchers would even spend their time looking into this. But the research that came out of this week focused on those who have hard to treat depression. The study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The basics of the study, summarized by CBS news, is that maltreatment in childhood alters the course of depression and its treatment outcomes. People who were maltreated as children had higher rates … Continue reading →

Ousting Anxiety: 11 Steps to Taking Charge of Your Life

Those of us with high levels of anxiety generally respond in one of two ways. We either immerse ourselves in one “productive” task after another, or we do nothing at all. The root cause is the same – fear that we do not have control over our lives. When we scramble around manically marking things of our to-do lists, we are holding out hope that the more we get done, the closer we’ll be to control. And the more control we have, the closer we’ll be to relief from anxious thoughts and feelings. After all, once we have nothing left … Continue reading →

Social Networking and Mental Health

During a recent session at the American Psychological Associations’ annual convention a presentation focused on the impact of social networking on kids and had some interesting results. Not long ago I wrote about some research regarding depression and Facebook among teens. This presentation focused on broader psychological issues such as antisocial behaviors and empathy, along with depression and anxiety. The presenter, Dr. Larry Rosen, presented his research findings and gave advice to parents. Some of the concerning data he presented in regards to teens who were regular Facebook users was: that teens who use Facebook often showed more narcissistic tendencies, … Continue reading →

The chicken or the egg?

A classic question that is applied to a variety of situations – which came first? Sometimes the question can be answered with science, sometimes not. Some research that came out this week was able to shed some light on one of these questions – do those with anxiety self-medicate because they are substance abusers, or do those with anxiety become substance abusers because they self-medicate? At first this might seem a weird question to ask – does it really matter which came first when you are talking about people with anxiety that have substance abuse problems? The simple answer is … Continue reading →

4 Steps to Relaxation for the Overly Anxious

Anxiety plays a troubling trick on us. We’re often so anxious about all the things we need to do that the only means of relieving the anxiety seems to be getting everything done. But as I discuss in-depth in my book Overcoming Anxiety Worry and Fear, everything is never done. From cleaning the house to finishing up a day’s work tasks, there will be more of the same tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that. The only means of realizing relief is to make the time throughout the day, every day, to relax amidst the tasks that will … Continue reading →

Parenting and Mental Health

In one of the courses I teach we spend some time going over types of parenting – Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive/Indulgent, and Uninvolved/Neglectful. We discuss how different cultures look at these parenting types. In America, the Authoritative approach tends to be focused on as “optimum”. While I don’t disagree conceptually with the authoritative approach being optimum, one thing that has always stood out to me is that it seems to imply there is a “perfect” parent: always fair, always firm, expectations in line with maturity, etc. I question if a person can always be this type of parent. Have you ever … Continue reading →

Another athlete…another disorder

As impressed as I was with an athlete coming forward with the news that he was suffering from depression, this week’s athlete coming out as being diagnosed with a disorder moved me even more. This week Brandon Marshall of the Miami Dolphins came out stating he had Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). He discussed his treatment, and his desire to be an advocate. He is shining a light on a disorder that many shun, and don’t like to talk about. Many in the mental health field would do almost anything to avoid working with a patient with BPD. Personality disorders are … Continue reading →