the clickr

The class of anxiety disorders is fairly varied. We go from something as seemingly benign as a public speaking phobia to something as severe as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). At their hearts, however, each anxiety disorder has something in common with the others - fear of a stimulus. That causal similarity means that the treatment for each of them is the same - exposure to the fear stimulus.

It’s pretty normal to feel depressed or anxious a lot of the time. But you don’t have to live that way for the rest of your life.

How Obama tapped into a powerful—and only recently studied—human emotion called “elevation”
Obama in Your Heart

In yet another case of psychologists habit of “tail wagging the dog”, a researcher at UC Berkeley points out the obvious: people can feel a sense of “elevation”. I’m not sure why it’s different from the emotion of hope, but it’s nice to see positive psychology getting some press after the years of fear-mongering and anger.

The sensationalistic headline of this article doesn’t take away from the premise of the article - mental illness is life-threatening, even if not directly. Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger?.

If it’s raining outside, and you happen to be out there, you’re probably going to get wet. That is, unless you’ve prepared by bringing a raincoat, umbrella, poncho or trash bag.

In the coming weeks, I’m going to start a series of articles on how to act your way back into psychological health. I’m planning on doing this series of articles for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is figuring out how to make the best use of my training as a licensed psychologist and the abundant free time that being out of academia has afforded me.

The standard disclaimer applies: these articles are not meant to be a replacement for a professional’s help. If you are or become suicidal, please seek immediate assistance. If you’re not already seeing a psychologist and you’re having thought of suicide, you should make a few calls.