The holidays are supposed to be the “most wonderful time of the year,” right? After all, the greeting cards and carols of the season are filled with words like “cheer,” “joy,” “merry” and “happy.” For many people though, the holidays invite the opposite: dread, deep sadness or a resurgence of
Tag: stress & anxiety
For centuries, poets and playwrights have ascribed a kind of magic to sleep: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep,” says Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Poet e.e. cummings wrote, “over my sleeping self float flaming symbols of hope,
Cutting. Burning. Headbanging. Embedding. Self-hitting. Pinpricking. Thinking about people intentionally hurting themselves in these ways can be difficult but, sometimes, counselors don’t have a choice. When a client struggling with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) appears in a counselor’s office, the counselor’s task is to help — and the perhaps natural reaction
Tony Colombrito has been a trained American Red Cross disaster mental health volunteer for the past two years, but it wasn’t until the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that he finally deployed. He spent nearly a week with residents of the town and
When the lives of six educators and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 were cut short in a mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., school Dec. 14, the entire country found itself reeling. The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School is the second deadliest school shooting in
A nationwide report about stress in day-to-day life conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) reveals that, although average stress levels have decreased slightly over the past year, a substantial number of Americans say their individual stress has actually increased through the years. Not surprisingly, the report also reveals
So, this is life. Long, busy workdays and weekends with little rest. A weak economy and constant worry over the prospect of losing a job or even a home. Nonstop technology that never allows us to unplug. Ever-growing pressure on kids (and therefore on parents) to be involved in every
Gulnora Hundley has a message for counselors: You might not have a medical degree, but you need to know something about the medications your clients are taking. As the director of the outpatient Community Counseling Clinic at the University of Central Florida, Hundley says she’s seen cases of anxiety rise