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Like any medication, however, there are both advantages and drawbacks to treatment with anti-anxiety medications. Here are some things to keep in mind and to ask your doctor if your psychiatrist is considering prescribing anti-anxiety medications for your BPD symptoms. Are Anti-Anxiety Medications for BPD Effective? Unfortunately, there is very little research to indicate whether anti-anxiety medications for BPD are actually effective. There are a few published papers that describe patients with BPD who have found relief from symptoms when taking these medications, but no controlled clinical trials have examined the usefulness of anti-anxiety medications for BPD....

Friday Fix: Episode 233 At first glance, you might wonder why someone would be afraid to be happy. But if you think about it a little longer, you might recognize a few times when you experienced an aversion to happiness. Perhaps you won an award and felt so much pressure to live up to the achievement that you were afraid to let yourself enjoy success. Or maybe something really good happened, and you were so afraid that those happy feelings wouldn’t last that you didn’t let yourself feel happy for even a minute because you were afraid that things would come crashing down....

Ativan is used to treat anxiety, insomnia (during a short term period), and seizure. Off-label uses of Ativan include treatment for alcohol withdrawal, chemotherapy associated nausea and vomiting, catatonia, agitation, and much more. In the United States, benzodiazepines are considered “controlled substances” that are federally regulated because of their potential for misuse. If you are taking Ativan, it’s important to be aware of the potential side effects in case you begin to experience any....

The attentional bias can be adaptive in many situations, particularly if you are dealing with threats. It allows you to attend to the things in your environment that present the greatest danger and require some type of response. However, paying too much attention to things that are not really threats can contribute to problems including poor decisions and anxiety. We might like to think that we take all the alternatives into consideration when we make decisions....

The term is sometimes used synonymously with grief and mourning. How people experience this time of grief can vary from one person to the next. While bereavement is usually associated with death, it can also occur after other significant losses. The end of an important relationship or a major change in a person’s health, for example, can also lead to feelings of bereavement. Symptoms People may experience a wide range of symptoms during bereavement, including:...

The concept of reading as a way to help facilitate the healing process and meet therapeutic goals is a common strategy in many treatment approaches. However, what separates bibliotherapy from other established theories of psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is the fact that a therapist will typically view bibliotherapy as a therapeutic approach, and therefore, use it as an adjunct part of the treatment process. Since bibliotherapy is often used to support other forms of therapy, it is appropriate for both individual and group settings and for people of all ages....

The term bipolar disorder NOS was used in the fourth edition of the DSM (DSM-IV); however, the DSM-5 actually uses the terms “unspecified bipolar and related disorder” or “other specified bipolar and related disorder” to diagnose conditions that were previously called bipolar disorder NOS. What ‘Not Otherwise Specified’ Means Bipolar disorder NOS is more of a catch-all category than an actual type of bipolar disorder. Your doctor may use the classification to document symptoms which are consistent with bipolar disorder but fall short of the criteria needed to make a definitive diagnosis....

While remission and recovery are not necessarily a “cure,” both constitute the successful treatment of BPD. By definition: Remission is the stage where you no longer meet the specified criteria for a BPD diagnosis.Recovery is less well-defined, but suggests that you are able to function in all aspects of your life for an extended period of time. This includes holding down a job and maintaining meaningful relationships. Treatment Goals In the past, many doctors believed that BPD was untreatable and lumped it together with other hard-to-treat conditions like antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)....

Causes A wide variety of factors may cause this anxiety disorder, but the primary impetus is a previous negative experience. You may be more prone to developing climacophobia if you: have fallen down a flight of stairs had difficulty completing a climb had a panic attack while climbing This negative experience doesn’t have to directly happen to you. If you witness an accident on stairs or a have a loved one who is afraid of climbing, you may be more likely to develop this fear....

Before discussing specific cognitive coping strategies, it’s important to first understand how CBT works. This gives some insight into how the various CBT coping skills can help relieve anxiety, sadness, and other distressing emotions. How CBT Works Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that psychological problems arise as a result of the way in which we interpret or evaluate situations, thoughts, and feelings. When these interpretations and evaluations are negative, it can lead to unhealthy behaviors....

CBT itself is not a single distinct therapeutic technique and there are many different forms of CBT that share a common theory about the factors maintaining psychological distress. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) are examples of specific types of CBT treatments. CBT is typically time-limited and goal-oriented and involves homework outside of sessions. CBT emphasizes collaboration between therapist and client and active participation by the client....

Based on a survey of 284 students at US universities, research indicated that anxiety related to climate change was only linked to depression among those not engaged in group activities aimed at tackling climate change. These findings hold promise for how peer education and group participation may help both the climate, as well as individual mental health needs. The Benefits of Working Together This research was conducted with 284 students at universities across the country and found that collective environmental action, but not individual acts, was associated with fewer depressive symptoms among participants....

Thinking still tends to be very concrete, but children become much more logical and sophisticated in their thinking during this stage of development. While this is an important stage in and of itself, it also serves as an important transition between earlier stages of development and the coming stage where kids will learn how to think more abstractly and hypothetically. Understanding Logic Piaget determined that children in the concrete operational stage were fairly good at the use of inductive logic (inductive reasoning)....

Conduct disorder in children goes beyond bad behavior. It is a diagnosable mental health condition that is characterized by patterns of violating societal norms and the rights of others. It’s estimated that around 3% of school-aged children have conduct disorder. It is more common in boys than in girls. Symptoms Conduct disorder extends beyond normal teenage rebellion. It involves serious behavior problems that are likely to raise alarm among teachers, parents, peers, and other adults....

“DMT is a creative art psychotherapy that utilizes movement and dance to support the physical, intellectual, and emotional health of an individual,” Katie Bohn, LPC, BC-DMT, SEP, RYT, a board-certified dance/movement therapist. According to board-certified dance therapist Erica Hornthal, MA, LCPC, BC-DMT, dance therapy uses movement and nonverbal communication in addition to talk therapy to manage psychological and behavioral concerns that words alone do not address. “It’s about finding the places inside that you might not know or have chosen to deny, and giving a voice to the experiences and emotions,” Hornthal says....

It gives you permission to let them experience any consequences associated with their drinking or drug use and focus on your own health and well-being. The Importance of Detachment If you’ve dealt with someone’s progressive alcoholism (severe alcohol use disorder) or drug use, it might be hard to imagine finding happiness while the substance misuse continues. This is especially true when you have tried everything possible to keep the situation from growing worse....

Some common symptoms of ADHD that may persist over time include difficulty paying attention, disorganization, and procrastination. These symptoms can lead to problems in areas such as school, work, and relationships. However, there are strategies that can help manage these issues. Adults with ADHD can find help from therapists, coaches, and medication if needed. It is important to remember that ADHD is often a lifelong condition. However, it is also important to realize that this does not mean that life is automatically difficult for adults with ADHD....

What Studies Show Experts believe that drinking does not actually lead to brain cell death—at least not directly. One study found no difference in the number of neocortical neurons between the brains of people who misuse alcohol and those who do not. Even heavy binge drinking and long-term alcohol abuse don’t result in the actual death of brain cells. Instead, alcohol damages the dendrites in the cerebellum and impai the communication between neurons....

Finding these items in a loved one’s bedroom, bag, or car may be a red flag. If you suspect someone you love is taking drugs, finding any of these common and often overlooked items should serve as a warning sign to take action. Spoons are used for “cooking” certain drugs, meaning that the powdered drug is placed in the bowl of a spoon with a little water and heated over a flame until it turns to liquid....