Millions of people experience anxiety and/or depression in their lifetime. Due to the spread of COVID-19, we have been physically isolated from others. This has caused a spike in mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. In addition to these increasing symptoms of anxiety and depression, you are expected to work your full-time job from home (if you are lucky enough that your job allows you to make this transition). It has become difficult to manage your mental health along with this major adjustment of working from home. Below I will go through realistic tips on how you can manage working from home if you are also experiencing any level of anxiety and/or depression.
Hoboken, along with the states of New Jersey and New York, has been doing a great job in taking the lead in the country with rules around self-isolation and staying at home. However, this self-isolation is going to have a huge impact on everyone’s mental health as it is projected to continue longer than one month. It is important to look out for signs of depression, anxiety, increased disordered eating behaviors, OCD, and substance abuse at this time. Please remember that you are doing Hoboken, or your community, an amazing service by staying inside. But as you practice this self-isolation, you will most likely see a decline in your mental health. It is really important to take care of your mental health (more than ever!) during this time. Below are some ways in which you can do just that.
Due to the spread of the covid-19 virus, we have transitioned to telehealth sessions only until it is safe to go back to in-person sessions. most mental health professionals and other businesses are making the shift to work from home to stop the spread of the coronavirus. luckily mental health has always been effective through telehealth sessions. research actually shows that telehealth sessions are just as beneficial as in-person sessions. at anchor therapy, we want to help flatten the curve as much as possible so that our hospitals hopefully do not get overrun. below is all the information you need to know about telehealth for mental health therapy sessions.
An intrusive thought is something that we all experience from time to time. An intrusive thought is when you have an unwanted and involuntary thought, image, or idea that is upsetting or distressing pop into your mind. Some people realize that these thoughts are not based on reality and they can easily brush them off and move on to a next thought. While others have a hard time dealing with these intrusive thoughts and find themselves in a destructive thought loop. Most people find these types of thoughts disturbing and spend a lot of time questioning their reality because of it. Intrusive thoughts are more common and frequent for someone who experiences depression and/or anxiety. Below are some ways that you can handle these intrusive thoughts if they do come into your mind and disrupt your thinking.
A lot of people experience binge eating in their life and a good majority of those people feel terrible after it happens. It is possible to experience binge eating once in awhile and that would not be classified as a Binge Eating Disorder. whether or not you have a binge eating disorder, it is still important to have a plan after you experience a binge.
This time of year can be hard on a lot of people as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder. Seasonal depressive disorder is a real thing. It means that you feel more down, lethargic, and depressed during a specific time of the year. For most people with seasonal depressive disorder, this falls during the winter time. Usually the winter comes with less sunlight and colder temperatures that isolate you inside. Without nice weather that entices you to go outside, it can be hard to feel motivated to stay active and do things you usually enjoy doing.
Congrats! You made it through the gift giving holidays and to the end of the year. The new year is right around the corner. This is usually a time that a lot of people reflect on what they accomplished in the past year. You also reflect on all of the highlights and happy moments you had over the past year. It is common for people to post on social media their top liked photos, the vacations they went on, their favorite movies or books, etc. This is a way to reminisce in all the things you enjoyed. The next thing that people turn their thoughts to are what they want their next year’s highlights to look like. Maybe they want to travel more, read more, or spend more time with family. There are so many things that people want to change in their life. It seems like a great time to reset and focus on accomplishing a new goal since you have a whole new year ahead of you. These hopes of change are called New Years Resolutions.
The holidays can be an extremely stressful time. Usually you have a lot more plans, you spend a lot more money than in your usual budget, you reflect on what you didn’t accomplish this year, you stress about the year ahead, and/or you find yourself feeling generally sad. All of these stressors are normal during the holiday season. As a mental health professional, I recommend that the holidays should be seen as your most important self-care time. Use this time to take off from your usual life stressors and relax. Below are some tips on how to do just that.
A lot of our clients find themselves giving away too much of themselves to others to a point that they feel worn out. Especially in this time during the holidays, people feel they need to give everything they can to others. Whether that is lending an ear to friends in need, giving gifts, or going above and beyond for others. If you find yourself doing to this to the point of exhaustion then you may be a people-pleaser. This usually means that you are taking care of others around you before you take care of yourself. Our clients who present as people-pleasers usually find themselves feeling anxious, drained, and overwhelmed.
Planning a wedding can be both the best time of your life and the most stressful time of your life. There are always stressors that arise when wedding planning that you don’t expect and it is impossible to predict. When planning a wedding, it is about your love for your partner who you are planning to spend the rest of your life with. But it is also a momentous day that your families and friends feel apart of. This is usually where the stress stems from. You will notice over the course of wedding planning that everyone around you has their own vision and expectation for your wedding. It is important to stay on track with you and your partner’s vision for your wedding and to have a few coping tools in your back pocket for when the stress really starts to build.
Most people who experience anxiety over analyze everything happening in their life constantly. People with anxiety are either over analyzing something that happened in the past or they are worried about what might happen in the future. A common example of a worry is about future plans. People who experience anxiety are more likely to cancel their plans last minute because they are spending so much of their time stuck worrying.
Whether you have anxiety yourself, or you know someone who has anxiety, then it would be helpful to learn more about anxiety and how it can sometimes present as not caring for others and not wanting to be social. but that is not what is actually going on. When people with anxiety cancel plans last minute, there is usually much more going on.
The school year is in full swing and a lot of students are starting to feel the pressure of their school work weigh on them. School anxiety is very common for students who put a lot of pressure on themselves to do things perfectly. When they do not feel like they are doing things perfectly, they can get stuck in one place. They then start to over analyze and perfect everything. Since there is no such thing as perfection, these students usually start to fall behind in their school work. Usually being behind in school work will increase anxious feelings and then this cycle continues throughout the school year.
Whether you’re a student, a working professional, or a stay-at-home parent, you need to take breaks. Taking a break can look differently for each person. the overall goal is to stop doing whatever you’re doing long enough that you feel re-energized when you return to it. That’s why employers give you paid time off (PTO) and sick time. That’s why there are things called, “study breaks”. And that’s why there’s a saying, “come back to it when you can”. When taking breaks, there could be a lot of feelings that arise such as guilt as a break could feel like a waste of time and unproductive. I will discuss why this is not actually the case.
With the end of summer, comes the beginning of a new school year. a lot of teachers have a hard time transitioning back into school mode along with their students. It’s always a big change to go from a carefree summer to a stressful school year. There are so many different stressors that teachers experience throughout the school year. It’s extra important that they schedule in time for self-care throughout the school year. The best time to start a new self-care habit is at the beginning of a new routine. So it’s most helpful to start now.
I talk to my clients often about their sleeping habits in my Hoboken psychotherapy practice. Getting a good night’s sleep is a big part of our overall health. It is recommended that adults get 7-9 hours of sleep on average. Children, teens, and senior adults should be ideally getting more hours of sleep. Before we can work on feeling less anxious, or less depressed, we need to make sure our basic needs are met. This includes getting enough sleep so that you can be your best self. Some clients find it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep- especially if they’re feeling anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed. Below are some tips I give my clients to help them sleep better.
Career counseling is something that you can get from seeing a psychotherapist. Usually people who need help or guidance with their career path will turn to a business coach or a career coach. While a coach can definitely be helpful, they will not be able to sort through the emotional side of your decision making. They are not licensed professionals who can help decrease your stress during this process. As psychotherapists, we are trained to help our clients figure out not only their future goals but the best way that will get them there based on where they’re at currently. That usually looks different for each person.
