Members of support groups specifically targeted at social anxiety are more likely to be understanding of how difficult it may be for you to talk openly. Often groups operate in such a manner that participants are not required to talk and may observe. This is helpful if you want to learn more about a group before deciding if you will become a regular member. Below are some options for both local and online social anxiety support groups....

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database. Active suicidal ideation, on the other hand, is not only thinking about it but having the intent to die by suicide, including planning how to do it. Prevalence The lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation for the general world population is about 9% and about 2% within a 12-month period. According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 4....

Given all this, it’s little surprise that many people have turned to noise-cancelling headphones to reduce some of the distracting ambient noise in their everyday lives. Whereas many headphones simply reduce noise, noise-cancelling headphones actively block it out using a feature called “active noise cancellation.” When noise-cancelling headphones detect a noise source, they release a soundwave of their own to drown that source out. This doesn’t result in absolute silence, but it can cut down on distractions....

Now, as this demographic returns to the classroom and readjusts to a school environment while still dealing with the ongoing stress of the pandemic, states and school administrations are expanding their permission of mental health days for kids and teens. In the past two years, several states, including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Kentucky have passed bills allowing students to miss school for mental health reasons....

Lara Schuster Effland, LICSW, clinical director of Pathlight Mood and Anxiety Center, says that her clients are already feeling apprehensive. She explains, “This year especially, we’re really seeing how communication and connection is paramount.” The evidence is that rates of depression and anxiety have already tripled in the US since the start of the pandemic. Older people are isolated, either in retirement communities or in their own homes, and college students and parents of young children may rethink traveling to see family....

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database. OCD and Suicide Although it has long been known that the risk of suicide is higher for people who are affected by mood disorders and schizophrenia, the relationship between anxiety disorders, such as OCD, and suicide has been less clear. However, recent studies suggest that people with OCD are 10 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population....

The effects of sugar on the brain can include: Impaired cognitive skills and decreased self-control: For many people, having a little sugar stimulates a craving for more. Drug-like effects in the reward center of the brain: Scientists have proposed that sweet foods—along with salty and fatty foods—can produce addiction-like effects in the human brain, driving the loss of self-control, overeating, and subsequent weight gain. In early humans, this stimulus helped lead them to calorie-rich foods, which aided survival when food was scarce....

“At the beginning of the pandemic, I was notified that it was postponed indefinitely,” says Willow. “Then I got laid off and lost the health insurance that was going to pay for it. So I didn’t know when it was going to happen, but I knew that I’d have to start over with a different doctor, setting up consults again. I’d likely have to pay more out-of-pocket for lower-quality results,” they add....

Cyberbullying has been deemed a public health problem, with the prevalence of cyberbullying doubling from 2007 to 2019, and 59% of teens in the United States reporting that they have been bullied or harassed online. In general, cyberbullying is a recent issue with increasing numbers of people using the Internet. For this reason, it remains not well understood. In addition, much of the focus is on how cyberbullying affects the victim, without a lot of focus on how to cope with cyberbullying, how to reduce cyberbullying, or what to do if you are a cyberbully yourself....

As your eating disorder has evolved, you may have stopped eating foods that you thought were fattening or that contained sugar. Or maybe you went starch- or gluten-free or decided to “eat clean.” Maybe you became vegetarian or vegan. Or maybe you shun vegetables because you are anxious about choking on them, or you don’t allow yourself to eat desserts because you don’t believe you can limit yourself to a normal portion....

This article discusses the conscious mind, including how it is defined, how it works, and why it is important in Freudian theory. It also covers how the conscious mind differs from the preconscious. What Is the Conscious Mind? The conscious mind includes: Fantasies Feelings Memories Perceptions Self-awareness Sensations Thoughts Essentially, it is anything that is in your current awareness. The thoughts and feelings you are experiencing at the moment, and your awareness of your current environment are all part of your conscious experiences....

This theory of leadership was first described in by sociologist Max Weber and further explored by Bernard M. Bass in the early 1980s. Take a closer look at how the transactional style works as well as some of the potential benefits and downsides of this style. Basic Assumptions of Transactional Leadership People perform their best when the chain of command is definite and clear. Rewards and punishments motivate workers. Obeying the instructions and commands of the leader is the primary goal of the followers....

Looking at nearly 1,000 transgender people living in Aotearoa/New Zealand, researchers assessed a wide range of stressful experiences in addition to protective resources and relationships. They calculated probabilities that transgender individuals would exhibit very high psychological distress, pursue self-injury, or consider suicide. The model showed that for those scoring high on stigma and low on protective factors, there was a 25% probability of attempting suicide in the previous year, compared to 3% for those scoring high on measures like social support....

Treatment for GAD aims to help people feel better mentally and physically and to increase engagement with the people, places, and situations that previously elicited worry. Subscribe Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts Psychotherapy Psychotherapy is a popular form of treatment for GAD. “Talk therapy” can be performed by a variety of mental health professionals, and though the approaches described below can overlap, they are guided by differing theories and emphases....

How Behavior Modeling Helps Treat Phobias Albert Bandura was a psychologist who discovered how behavioral modeling could help people overcome phobias. In his work with people with snake phobias, Bandura found that when patients observed others who had overcome the same fear handling snakes, the current patients were more likely to find relief. When compared to persuasion and observing the psychologist handle the snakes, Bandura found behavior modeling by the former patients was more effective....

Researchers studied how the screen habits of American children impacted their cognitive abilities over time, and found that the children who spent an above-average time playing video games increased their intelligence more than the average, while TV watching or social media had no effect. Given the limitations of measures of intelligence, those working with children should make every effort to promote inclusive learning. Understanding the Research For this study, researchers had 9,855 American children, aged 9-10 perform psychological tests to gauge their general cognitive abilities....

Researchers used an online body image assessment to screen through 130 young adult women for at-risk individuals. Fourteen women met the requirements for the study, since they did not have an eating disorder but were considered at high risk for developing one. Those 14 individuals, as well as the therapists, sat in separate rooms and wore headsets. To begin, the clients were asked to create avatars of themselves with their measurements, which aided them in seeing an accurate picture of how they look....

Unfortunately, the statements made by some manufacturers are not always vetted by reputable outside agencies. This makes it tough to figure out which vitamins are worth the investment and will actually provide you with health benefits. The first thing you should know is that it’s not all hype. There are commonly available supplements for which there are scientific studies demonstrating that they have proven benefits for certain physical and psychological conditions....

PNES is often misdiagnosed as epilepsy due to its similarity in physical characteristics. However, it is important to note that PNES does not involve abnormal electrical activity in the brain like an epileptic seizure; instead, its cause lies within psychological issues. It is important for individuals experiencing PNES to receive an accurate diagnosis and proper treatment, which may involve psychotherapy, medication, lifestyle changes, or a combination of these treatments. Other names for PNES include psychogenic seizures, pseudoseizures, functional seizures, and non-epileptic events....