Life Counseling, Anxiety Therapy
Erica Warshawer
How to Know if You Suffer from Social Anxiety ...

You’ve probably heard of social anxiety. It’s a term used loosely at times when someone isn’t in the mood to socialize. However, not always being in the mood to socialize is normal. But true social anxiety is much more than that.

Social anxiety disorder is characterized by a fear of being judged by others, feeling highly self-conscious in social situations, and avoiding meeting new people. It’s also known as social phobia. Social anxiety disorder makes it hard to create meaningful connections with others. It can even make it hard for people to complete everyday tasks.

How to Know if You Suffer from Social Anxiety and What to Do About It
Life Counseling, Anxiety Therapy, Depression Therapy
Erica Warshawer
Reducing Your Mental Health Symptoms: How ...

Mindfulness has become a trendy word. Please do not mistake that for a negative. The concept of staying present is a fundamental form of self-care. In the realm of mental health, it has countless benefits for serious practitioners. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to help people struggling with conditions and issues like:

  • Anxiety

  • Chronic pain

  • Depression

  • Addiction

  • Suicidal ideation

More recently, mindfulness is making a difference for those dealing with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since trauma is something that gets you stuck in the past, this approach makes a whole lot of sense. Let’s learn more:

Reducing Your Mental Health Symptoms: How Mindfulness Can Make a Difference
Teletherapy
Erica Warshawer
Telehealth After the Pandemic? Why Online ...

Until last year, telehealth was mostly a niche approach to therapy. It was incredibly helpful for someone who was disabled or lived far from any therapist. Along came the pandemic and the need for teletherapy exploded. For a while, the only way a client could meet with their counselor was via video chat (or phone call).

Today, with nearly 17 months of experience under our belts, many Americans have discovered a preference for telehealth. The numbers below will help illustrate this trend. In other words, online options still make sense. In some ways, they are here to stay.

Telehealth After the Pandemic? Why Online Options May Still Make Sense
Anxiety Therapy
Erica Warshawer
How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps

If you’re one of the 40 million Americans living with an anxiety disorder, you already know it’s much more than feeling nervous. Everyone worries or panics from time to time. That’s normal. Anxiety is something that impairs your ability to function. It feels as if it’s out of your control.

From intense discomfort at social events to sleep-altering nightmares, anxiety disorders are a daunting reality. Among other things, they may have you dealing with sweaty palms, digestive issues, body trembling, or self-isolation. Whatever uncomfortable symptoms you face, they can be managed and calmed by committing to some basic self-help steps.

How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps
Depression Therapy, Life Counseling
Erica Warshawer
Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy ...

Anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of (first) marriages end in divorce. The odds are that you or someone close to you has had to endure this painful experience. Still, let’s be clear, in many cases, a divorce is a traumatic event. Your body, mind, and spirit will be severely challenged. That reality deserves care and attention.

Women, in particular, are at higher risk for depression. Why? They tend to handle the lion’s share of domestic duties and often have fewer financial options than men. For almost every person involved, especially if children are involved, divorce is a time of turmoil and drastic change. That’s why it’s so important to safeguard your well-being as this process plays out.

Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy During the Divorce Process

Depression Therapy

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Managing Your New Normal: 6 Tips for Navigating Change Effectively

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Managing Your New Normal: 6 Tips for Navigating Change Effectively

Change is inevitable. It’s a normal part of everyone’s life. However, there will be times that require more change than usual. The past two years, for example, have introduced a wide range of “new normals.” If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the scope of it all, you’re certainly not alone.

With or without pandemic-related adjustments, you may need some tips and suggestions in the area of navigating change. Such skills are invaluable at the point of change and well into the future. After all, if a change is unavoidable, why not be better prepared? To follow, we’ll explore a few options for settling into your new normal.

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Dealing with the Emotions Plaguing My New Post-Pandemic, In-Person Life

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Dealing with the Emotions Plaguing My New Post-Pandemic, In-Person Life

It’s difficult to articulate just how bizarre the past two years have been. To say our lives were disrupted is quite an understatement. A veil of fear descended upon the planet and caused rifts and schisms we could never have imagined. People were divided in a wide variety of new and dangerous ways. And now, the veil is being lifted and it appears we’re just expected to return to “normal.”

If you’re experiencing an avalanche of emotions, you are not alone. You might be scared or angry or very, very confused. But rest assured, you can thrive in your new post-pandemic, in-person life.

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Teen Depression vs. Adult Depression: How Is It Different?

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Teen Depression vs. Adult Depression: How Is It Different?

It’s unfortunate that the term “depression” gets tossed about so frequently.

People think that they know the signs and symptoms of the condition and apply them to someone they believe is depressed. This approach might be well-meaning if they want that person to get help.

However, the label ignores subtleties about depression that vary between age groups. Adults dealing with depression often experience it differently than a teen.

Remember, depression is beyond feeling sad or blue. Instead, these are specific symptoms that individuals often ignore or mislabel.

Here are some subtle differences between depression in teens and adults.

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Reducing Your Mental Health Symptoms: How Mindfulness Can Make a Difference

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Reducing Your Mental Health Symptoms: How Mindfulness Can Make a Difference

Mindfulness has become a trendy word. Please do not mistake that for a negative. The concept of staying present is a fundamental form of self-care. In the realm of mental health, it has countless benefits for serious practitioners. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to help people struggling with conditions and issues like:

  • Anxiety

  • Chronic pain

  • Depression

  • Addiction

  • Suicidal ideation

More recently, mindfulness is making a difference for those dealing with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since trauma is something that gets you stuck in the past, this approach makes a whole lot of sense. Let’s learn more:

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Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy During the Divorce Process

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Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy During the Divorce Process

Anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of (first) marriages end in divorce. The odds are that you or someone close to you has had to endure this painful experience. Still, let’s be clear, in many cases, a divorce is a traumatic event. Your body, mind, and spirit will be severely challenged. That reality deserves care and attention.

Women, in particular, are at higher risk for depression. Why? They tend to handle the lion’s share of domestic duties and often have fewer financial options than men. For almost every person involved, especially if children are involved, divorce is a time of turmoil and drastic change. That’s why it’s so important to safeguard your well-being as this process plays out.

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Exploring These 3 Types of Emotional Burnout

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Exploring These 3 Types of Emotional Burnout

We’re often more tuned into bodily sensations than emotional cues. No one needs to tell you when you feel exhausted. You’ll probably take a break a sit down long before anyone comments. But emotional burnout is trickier. You can feel mentally worn out but not recognize yourself as such.

Burnout is often in response to factors at work, school, or in your personal life (or all three). Other elements at play could be related to your finances or physical health issues. When going through major life changes, you are especially at risk for emotional burnout in all its guises.

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What is “Financial Baggage”? And How Can a Financial Therapist Help?

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What is “Financial Baggage”? And How Can a Financial Therapist Help?

Money isn’t just about numbers. It can sometimes be all about emotions. A recent survey reported that 74 percent of respondents feel their debt has a negative impact on their mental health. Another study found a 300 percent increase in mental health problems among people who are in debt.

Money is a very personal issue. We each see it differently and we each hold different values towards our finances. What those values are may depend on, for example:

  • Cultural background

  • Upbringing

  • Educational level

  • Career choices

If our financial values do not match up with our current financial situation, it becomes a struggle. Most likely, no one has taught us how to cope with this struggle. This creates “financial baggage.”

What is “Financial Baggage”?

In a way, financial baggage exposes our relationship with money. In financial-based situations, we may feel certain emotions and/or memories rising to the surface. More generally, we may recognize patterns developing around economic issues. These patterns develop into what we call financial baggage and may include variations on themes like:

  • Spending as a form of self-soothing

  • Spending impulsively and spending money as soon as you get it

  • Hoarding money

  • Fixation and regret related to past financial decisions

  • Continuing to make the same decisions despite your regret

  • Ignoring bills

  • Relationship fights surround different money values

As you can plainly see, financial baggage can get us stuck in ever-repeating cycles. Also, of course, it can land us deep in debt without the skills needed to turn things around. Thankfully, we have the emerging field of financial therapy — a blend of economics and mental health.

What is a Financial Therapist?

We’re not talking about a financial advisor here. A financial therapist is not giving financial advice but rather, helping us discover why we make the money-based choice we do. After all, before we can create a new budget, we must create a new mindset.

Sessions with a financial therapist provide us with a safe space. While money topics may typically lead us into despair, anxiety, or denial, financial therapy helps us understand these reactions and emotions.

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Career Motivation: How to Keep Your Drive During the Summer Months

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Career Motivation: How to Keep Your Drive During the Summer Months

It can be hard to stay motivated during the warm summer months. When the temperatures go up, your career drive can often go down.

Many of us would rather be outside than at our desks. And with kids out of school and families taking vacations at every turn, it can feel extra difficult to head to the office every day.

If you would prefer the pool to your office water cooler, you are not alone. Unfortunately, work continues year-round, and it is important to find ways to remain motivated and avoid the summer blues.

Below are several tips and tricks on how to keep your career drive alive during the summer:

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Anticipatory Loss: Living with the Losses that Lie Ahead

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Anticipatory Loss: Living with the Losses that Lie Ahead

Everyone experiences grief. Not enough people are willing to talk about it. Death remains a somewhat taboo topic even here in the twenty-first century. It’s just not socially acceptable to express feelings like bereavement and mourning. More forbidden is any discussion of anticipatory loss.

You see, some losses are known about in advance. For example, a loved one may be diagnosed with a terminal illness. Hence, the grieving process commences before death — sometimes well before death. You grieve the looming loss, of course. In addition, you may be in pre-mourning for all the other changes that the death will set into motion.

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Combating COVID Anxiety: 6 Tips to Effectively Rein In Unhelpful Thoughts and Emotions

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Combating COVID Anxiety: 6 Tips to Effectively Rein In Unhelpful Thoughts and Emotions

Far too many people have been infected with COVID-19. Many more people have been stricken with COVID anxiety and the results are building into a tidal wave.

  • Will I get sick?

  • What about my family and loved ones?

  • Will I weather the financial turmoil?

  • Why does the country feel so divided?

These are just a few of vexing questions on the minds of Americans. It’s no wonder that so many of us feel at the mercy of unhelpful thoughts and emotions.

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What You Can Do to Maximize Your Teletherapy Sessions

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What You Can Do to Maximize Your Teletherapy Sessions

As the country vacillates between re-opening and re-closing, we’re all getting more and more comfortable with long-distance communication. Work, school, social time, etc. — it’s a time to re-invent our interactions in the name of safety and physical health. But it’s also a time when our mental health may feel threatened in new ways. In an age of social distancing and conflicting agendas, how can we take safe steps to guard both our physical and mental wellbeing? The answer is “teletherapy.”

How Self-Talk May Be Driving Your Depression

How Self-Talk May Be Driving Your Depression

Is your inner critic depressing you? How often do you beat yourself up and put yourself down?

Each of us is unique in so many ways. One common human thread, however, involves our need to adjust our perceptions in order to reinforce our beliefs. This can be unfortunate when those beliefs are not self-loving.

For example, let’s say you lead a successful meeting at work. Yet, later, negative self-talk kicks in. You might find yourself magnifying any perceived details of the presentation, thereby “proving” that you did poorly. Before long, you’re mired in a depressive episode and any evidence of a job well done is minimized or forgotten.

Repeated again and again, self-defeating self-talk can become more and more demoralizing. Without care and support, you might find that depression develops or an existing depression is exacerbated.

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Pandemic Problems: How the Media May Be Fueling Your Fear (& How to Stop It)

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Pandemic Problems: How the Media May Be Fueling Your Fear (& How to Stop It)

Let’s say you happen upon two article headlines on your newsfeed. The first one reads: “Scientists Agree: Too Early to Know Full Impact of COVID.” The second headline, however, declares: “Experts Warn: Pandemic Death Toll Will Reach One Million Before It’s Over!”

Which one will you click on first? Better yet: Which of the headlines is the only one you’ll click on at all? Best (or worst) of all: Which headline will draw your attention and then gnaw at you for the rest of the day?

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Teen Depression vs. Adult Depression: How Is It Different?

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Teen Depression vs. Adult Depression: How Is It Different?

It’s unfortunate that the term “depression” gets tossed about so frequently.

People think that they know the signs and symptoms of the condition and apply them to someone they believe is depressed. This approach might be well-meaning if they want that person to get help.

However, the label ignores subtleties about depression that vary between age groups. Adults dealing with depression often experience it differently than a teen.

Remember, depression is beyond feeling sad or blue. Instead, these are specific symptoms that individuals often ignore or mislabel.

Here are some subtle differences between depression in teens and adults.

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Always Thinking You’re “Not Enough?” How to Maintain Your Self-Esteem and Dignity

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Always Thinking You’re “Not Enough?” How to Maintain Your Self-Esteem and Dignity

It doesn’t matter if you receive loads of accolades and words of praise. In the back of your mind, there might be a voice that reminds you that you’re not enough.

Whatever you have done to deserve your achievements, it doesn’t seem to matter. You might still feel like you fall short.

Isn’t that a terrible way to go through life? Especially when you do deserve all the credit that you receive (and perhaps then some).

Here are some ideas about maintaining your self-esteem and dignity amid the barrage of “not enough” thoughts.

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Divorce and Your Mental Health: Tips for Handling the Effects of Stress

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Divorce and Your Mental Health: Tips for Handling the Effects of Stress

Pop culture has taught us all a very particular perspective on divorce. It usually involves lots of screaming, mixed with the silent treatment. It all leads up to a climactic confrontation followed by a lifetime of animosity. Of course, this cinematic image does very little justice to a complicated and nuanced experience. It also neglects to even hint at the inevitable toll the stress of divorce takes on our mental health. This isn’t about he said/she said or which spouse was “right.” Divorce of any kind is stressful and requires its participants to take steps to safeguard their mental health.

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Take These Steps to Finally Start Recovering from Your Traumatic Childhood

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Take These Steps to Finally Start Recovering from Your Traumatic Childhood

Try as you might, you cannot change the past. However, you can recover from it. This is essential and encouraging news for the many adults who were traumatized in their childhood. Those terrible experiences often create lingering psychological scars. Your adult life may even be hampered by an anxiety problem like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Until you are able to facilitate healing from your childhood trauma, you may find yourself unable to manage the daily challenges that life throws at you. Fortunately, through a blend of self-help and professional guidance, healing is very much possible.

3 Tips for Finding Joy as the Seasons Change

3 Tips for Finding Joy as the Seasons Change

Some seasons naturally bring us more joy than the rest of the year.

Spring and summer typically top the list of favorites, especially since the warm sun comes out to play instead of the bitter cold.

As the sun rays shine down, offering loads of energy-boosting vitamin D, you might never want the summertime fun to end. However, it’s common to sense your joy dwindling as fall approaches.

Conversely, for winter lovers, the melting snow could prompt similar emotions of disappointment.

No matter which season you genuinely enjoy, here are tips to help you maintain your joy as the seasons change.

COVID Isolation Can Fuel Depression: How to Overcome the Loss of Social Contact

COVID Isolation Can Fuel Depression: How to Overcome the Loss of Social Contact

Several months into this global health crisis and we’re beginning to identify more and more outcomes. With each passing day, there is new evidence about factors like viral spread, economic fallout, and possible re-openings. Right from the start, however, experts were warning about the long-term impact of the pandemic on our collective mental health.

In particular, the loss of social contact can fuel depression. This means it could trigger already existing cases or could cause new cases of depression. Indeed, COVID-19 infection is not the only condition that requires vigilance.