anxiety Tag

April is National Stress Awareness Month. Stress is something that impacts all of us. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to go through life without some sort of stress each day.
Imagine that you were asked to cross a narrow bridge that was 1 foot above the ground. Would you feel confident about that task? Now change the situation and make it 50 feet above the ground. Then 100 feet. Would that change how you feel from the original task?
Maybe David Bowie said it best—"Ch-ch-changes…" Or maybe, it’s just that the past year plus has been full of changes for all of us, with a ton of uncertainty tossed on top.
When many of us hear the term “reopening,” we automatically feel anxious. Keep in mind this feeling is quite functional, as our body and brain are trying to protect us from the unknown. However, it can be extremely painful to tolerate these fearful emotions.
With the emergence of Coronavirus, it’s safe to say that we are all a little anxious as we approach a changing world and the unknown. While there are many articles out there about managing the anxiety and fear of COVID-19, I thought it would be important to take a look at some psychological strategies from Dialectical Behavior Therapy to help us cope.
Anxiety is a hot topic these days and for us in the mental health field, it’s a topic we’ve been talking about for years. As a psychotherapist, it may come as a surprise that I’ve struggled with anxiety, but the beauty of this is that I very much empathize and understand what it may feel like for many of my clients.
As a DBT therapist, one of my primary goals when working with clients is to help supply effective skills and coping mechanisms to help them manage their emotions when things may be difficult. While reviewing these skills, I often find that these children, adolescents and young adults have had very little opportunity to build and/or practice coping mechanisms on their own since they were little.
Research published in the journal Psychological Medicine found that the onset of a new mental disorder may be a consequence of exclusion from school. Excluded children can develop a range of mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety as well as behavioral problems. There can be a long-term impact on education and progress by excluding a child from school. This study suggests that their mental health may also deteriorate.