For much of human history, the idea of adolescence being a distinct life stage was nonexistent. True, in the Middle Ages, children were recognized not merely as “mini” adults but as distinct beings with different needs. However, the years from ages 13 to 19 were not considered part of childhood
Tag: stress & anxiety
As a counselor, I have a front-row seat for watching anxiety develop in new relationships. It is truly fascinating to observe how quickly two people can become emotionally stuck together. A therapy client will leave for a week and return reporting that he or she has started dating someone new.
In 2015, two Princeton University economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America that made a shocking claim: After decreasing for decades, the mortality rate for white non-Latinx middle-aged Americans was actually increasing. They
National Football League (NFL) commentator John Madden famously crisscrossed the United States for years in a custom coach bus so that he could make it to games and other commitments without having to board a plane. The former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and Pro Football Hall of Famer’s
Kellie Collins, a licensed professional counselor (LPC) who runs a group private practice in Lake Oswego, Oregon, experienced her first panic attack when she was 14. She remembers suddenly feeling cold, losing sensation in her hands and her heart beating so rapidly that it felt like it was going to
One of the most uplifting and powerful things counselors can do for their clients is to become a “nonanxious presence.” The term, originally coined by Jewish Rabbi and family therapist Edwin Friedman, is used to describe an individual who provides a calm, cool, focused and collected environment that empowers others
Licensed professional counselor (LPC) Keri Riggs, an American Counseling Association member with a private practice in Richardson, Texas, started noticing the pattern about eight months to a year ago: clients reporting a sharp increase in anxiety. And it wasn’t only her existing clients who were expressing discomfort; new clients were
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 18 percent of the adult population, or more than 40 million people, according to the National Institutes of Health. Among adolescents the prevalence is even higher: 25 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 live with some type
In five months between fall 2016 and January 2017, the overall stress levels of American adults increased from 4.8 to 5.1 on a 10-point scale, according to recent surveys by the American Psychological Association (APA). Fifty-seven percent of the more than 3,000 people surveyed in January said America’s current political
I wake up in the early morning to the sound of birds chirping delightfully outside my window. I quietly make my way to my yoga room, where the gentle flow of the tabletop waterfall cascades rhythmically, inviting me to my morning meditation. I inhale deeply, letting the stream of thoughts