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The relationship between teens and social media can be complex. While social media platforms offer opportunities for connection, self-expression, and learning, they also present challenges and potential risks. To foster a healthy relationship with social media, parents, educators, and caregivers can encourage open communication, set clear boundaries and guidelines for social media use, educate teens about online safety and digital literacy, and role model positive online behavior themselves.

It’s essential to approach social media as a tool that can enrich teens’ lives while also being mindful of its potential risks and challenges.

  • Social Connection: Social media provides teens with a platform to connect with friends, family, and peers, regardless of physical distance. It allows them to maintain relationships, share experiences, and communicate in real-time.
  • Self-expression and Identity: Social media platforms offer teens a space to express themselves creatively, share their thoughts and opinions, and explore different aspects of their identity. They can curate their online persona and connect with others who share similar interests and values.
  • Learning and Information Sharing: Social media can be a valuable source of information and learning for teens. They can access educational content, news updates, tutorials, and discussions on various topics of interest.
  • Impact on Mental Health: Excessive use of social media has been linked to various mental health issues among teens, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and body image issues. Comparison with others, cyberbullying, and fear of missing out (FOMO) are some factors that contribute to these negative effects.
  • Online bullying: Social media platforms can be breeding grounds for cyberbullying, harassment, and online conflicts among teens. The anonymity and lack of face-to-face interaction can embolden individuals to engage in harmful behavior.
  • Privacy and Security Concerns: Teens may not always fully understand the privacy settings and potential risks associated with sharing personal information online. They may inadvertently expose themselves to privacy breaches, identity theft, or online predators.
  • Distraction and Time Management: Excessive use of social media can interfere with teens’ academic performance, sleep quality, and real-life interactions. It’s essential for teens to develop healthy habits and boundaries around social media usage.
  • Digital Footprint: Teens need to be aware that their online activities leave a digital footprint that can have long-term consequences. Colleges, employers, and others may scrutinize their social media profiles as part of background checks or evaluations.

If you or your teen is experiencing issues connected to social media or the internet, speaking regularly with a trained therapists could help work through these issues and challenges.

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Mental health healing refers to the process of improving and restoring one’s mental well-being and emotional balance.

It involves addressing and managing various mental health challenges, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, stress, and more.

  • Therapy: Different types of therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based therapy, and others, can help individuals develop coping skills, identify negative thought patterns, and learn healthier ways to manage emotions.
  • Self-Care: Prioritize self-care activities that promote overall well-being, such as regular exercise, a balanced diet, sufficient sleep, and engaging in hobbies or activities you enjoy.
  • Mindfulness and Meditation: Mindfulness practices and meditation can help individuals stay grounded, reduce stress, and improve their ability to manage challenging emotions.
  • Support Network: Surround yourself with supportive friends, family members, or support groups. Sharing your feelings and experiences with others can provide a sense of connection and reduce feelings of isolation.
  • Set Realistic Goals: Break down your goals into smaller, achievable steps. This can help prevent feeling overwhelmed and give you a sense of accomplishment as you make progress.
  • Positive Coping Strategies: Identify healthy coping strategies that work for you, such as journaling, deep breathing, creative expression, or spending time in nature.
  • Limit Stressors: Identify and address sources of stress in your life. This might involve making changes to your environment, setting boundaries, or seeking solutions to ongoing problems.
  • Patience and Persistence: Healing takes time, and setbacks are normal. Be patient with yourself and continue working on your well-being, even if progress feels slow.
  • Educate Yourself: Learn more about your mental health condition. Knowledge can help you better understand what you’re experiencing and empower you to make informed decisions about your treatment.
  • Avoid Self-Stigma: Remember that seeking help for mental health issues is a sign of strength, not weakness. Avoid negative self-talk and challenge any stigmas you may hold about seeking help.
  • Seek Professional Help: Consulting with a mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, or counselor, is crucial. They can provide proper diagnosis, personalized treatment plans, and therapy tailored to your specific needs. (schedule an appointment with a Therapist here: bcsnygroup.com/appointments

Remember, everyone’s journey to mental health healing is unique. What works for one person may not work for another, so it’s important to find the strategies and approaches that resonate with you and support your well-being. If you’re struggling with your mental health, reaching out to a qualified mental health professional for guidance and support is a positive first step to healing.


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Walking on a daily basis, whether a long walk or a few turns around the block, can help lessen symptoms associated with mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression.

Walking is free and you can walk everywhere without any additional equipment. You’ll notice that the more you do it, the more good benefits you’ll notice. Taking a long walk can be beneficial for your mental health in several ways:

  1. Physical Activity: Walking is a form of physical exercise that promotes the release of endorphins, which are natural mood boosters. Engaging in regular physical activity like walking has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.
  2. Stress Reduction: Walking outdoors in natural settings or simply getting fresh air can help reduce stress levels. The rhythmic motion of walking and exposure to nature can have a calming effect on the mind.
  3. Mindfulness and Relaxation: Walking can provide an opportunity for mindfulness, which involves focusing your attention on the present moment. This can help you clear your mind, reduce rumination, and experience a sense of relaxation.
  4. Cognitive Benefits: Walking can stimulate your brain, improve cognitive function, and enhance creativity. It can be a time for reflection, problem-solving, or generating new ideas.
  5. Social Interaction: Walking with friends, family, or even pets can provide social interaction, which is important for maintaining mental well-being. Social connections and support can help alleviate feelings of loneliness and improve mood.
  6. Routine and Structure: Establishing a walking routine can provide a sense of structure and purpose to your day, which can be particularly helpful if you’re struggling with low mood or motivation.
  7. Sunlight Exposure: Walking outdoors exposes you to natural sunlight, which can help regulate your body’s production of serotonin—a neurotransmitter linked to mood regulation.
  8. Distraction: Taking a walk can serve as a healthy distraction from negative thoughts or worries. Engaging in a physical activity allows your mind to shift its focus and can provide temporary relief from stress or anxiety.
  9. Sleep Quality: Regular physical activity like walking can improve sleep quality, which in turn has a positive impact on mental health.
  10. Self-Care: Setting aside time for a walk is a form of self-care. Engaging in activities that promote your well-being can help you feel more in control of your mental health.

It’s worth noting that while walking can be a helpful addition to your mental health routine, it might not be a substitute for professional treatment if you’re struggling with severe mental health issues. If you’re dealing with persistent or severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, or other mental health concerns, it’s important to seek support from a mental health professional.


 

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While Stress and Anxiety can often coexist and share similar symptoms, understanding their differences can help in recognizing and managing them effectively.

Stress

Stress is a natural reaction to external pressures, demands, or challenges. It is a response to specific events or situations, often referred to as stressors. Stress can be triggered by both positive and negative events, such as work deadlines, relationship issues, financial problems, or major life changes. Some symptoms of stress include:

    • Stress is usually temporary and subsides once the stressor is removed or the situation is resolved.
    • Stress tends to be triggered by specific circumstances or events in the external environment.
    • Stress can manifest as physical symptoms (e.g., tension, headaches, digestive issues) as well as emotional symptoms (e.g., irritability, restlessness, difficulty concentrating).
Anxiety

Anxiety, on the other hand, is a general feeling of unease, fear, or apprehension that is not always tied to a specific event or stressor. It is often characterized by excessive worry and anticipation of future threats, even when there is no imminent danger. Anxiety can be a normal response to certain situations, such as before a significant exam or a public speaking engagement. However, when anxiety becomes persistent, intense, and interferes with daily functioning, it may be classified as an anxiety disorder. Some symtoms of anxiety include:

      • Anxiety tends to be persistent and generalized, lingering beyond specific stressors or events.
      • Anxiety is often triggered by internal thoughts, perceptions, or interpretations rather than external events alone.
      • Anxiety involves excessive and irrational worry about future uncertainties, often accompanied by a sense of impending doom or danger.
      • Anxiety can lead to physical symptoms (e.g., rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, muscle tension) as well as emotional symptoms (e.g., excessive fear, irritability, difficulty sleeping).

It’s important to note that stress and anxiety can influence each other. Prolonged or chronic stress can contribute to the development of anxiety disorders, and anxiety can exacerbate stress reactions. Both stress and anxiety can have significant impacts on one’s mental and physical well-being, so seeking support from healthcare professionals or employing stress management techniques can be beneficial in managing these experiences.


 

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Anxiety will vary from person to person, you may experience nervousness, restlessness, feel tense or a sense of panic or impending doom.

Anxiety can cause physical symptoms such as a fast heartbeat or sweating. It is a normal human response to be anxious in certain situations, but you may have an anxiety disorder if you feel anxious all or most of the time.

Some symptoms of anxiety include:

  • difficulty focusing or thinking clearly
  • insomnia
  • rapid heart rate, breathing, or hyperventilation
  • increased or heavy sweating
  • digestive or gastrointestinal problems, such as gas, constipation, or diarrhea
  • a strong desire to avoid the things that trigger your anxiety
  • obsessions about certain ideas
  • anxiety surrounding a particular life event or experience that has occurred in the past

Get help early. Anxiety, like many other mental health conditions, can be harder to treat if you wait. Speak to a professional, your Doctor or a Licensed Therapist.


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The most common symptoms include mental block, lack of motivation, irritability, stress eating or loss of appetite and insomnia. Mental exhaustion can affect you for both short-term or long-term. If left unchecked, it can lead to all sorts of serious health problems, including anxiety and burnout.

You get irritated easily. You don’t know why, but almost everything can irritate you. Unfortunately, this can mean you take your frustrations out on those closest to you – those who probably don’t deserve it.

You find it hard to get motivated. You struggle to find the motivation you need for your daily life. This can result in you having a hard time with school, the workplace or even in your own home.

Heightened anxiety. As a result of your mental exhaustion, you probably feel more anxiety or stress, you probably get worried unnecessarily.

Sleep deprived. The overwhelming feeling of exhaustion makes it harder for you to calm your thoughts and fall asleep, which only compounds the fatigue that you are already experiencing.

You are constantly physically tired. When you’re suffering from fatigue, it doesn’t matter how much you sleep, you will still be tired when you get up. It seems never ending.

Mental Fatigue is a treatable condition. The best way to treat it is to eliminate the stressor or the stressful event, if you find you are unable to eliminate the stressor, take advantage of resources available to cope. Talk with a mental health specialist about ways to manage stress and anxiety.

Contact us now if you’d like to talk to an experienced professional – get the help you need.


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We all go through periods of low energy or feeling tired, multiple days of feeling overly tired is not uncommon, but most people can tell when their fatigue feels like something more serious. If that’s the case, or your fatigue gets worse or lasts longer than a week or two, it’s time to get some help.

Psychological causes of tiredness are much more common than physical causes:

Stress
The strains of daily life can feel like they are wearing you out, remember that even positive events, such as moving house or getting married, can cause exhausting stress.

Emotional shock
A bereavement, redundancy or a relationship break-up can make you feel tired and exhausted. Getting professional help to make this grief or shock can help you understand and manage your mental responses.

Depression
If you feel continued sadness and you wake up tired, you may have depression. Sadness is an expected human feeling, but if the sadness extends past 2 to 3 weeks, they it maybe be something more serious. Keep a diary, monitor your feelings. And get help if your sadness persists.

Anxiety
Anxiety can be exhausting! and a perfectly normal human emotion. But if you have regular, excessive feelings of anxiety, you may have Generalised Anxiety Disorder. GAD characterized chronic, exaggerated worry and tension that is more severe than the normal anxiety most people experience.  As well as feeling worried and irritable, people with GAD often feel tired.

If you think your tiredness may be a result of one of the above, and you’d like to talk to a professional, contact us now – we will match you with the right therapist for you.


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What is Generalized Anxiety disorder?

Generalized Anxiety disorder (GAD) is where Anxiety is present constantly, and is there is no relief.

It interferes with daily function and makes it difficult to get a good night sleep. Anxiety can also manifest through physical symptoms such as: headaches, nausea, diarrhea, increase heart rate, hyperventilating and sweaty palms. Anxiety can be so debilitating that it can interfere with work and your relationships.

GAD effects women twice as often men. Treating GAD through psychotherapies, either talk-therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy along with physical exercise can elevate symptoms. Simple changes in your life style can help; yoga, meditation, avoiding caffeine, daily exercise, these all are proven to have a calming effect on ones Anxiety. Herbal remedies may also work to relieve anxiety for some people, Kava, Valerian root, St John wart, but before using them speak to your doctor.

Women who experience anxiety may have other psychological issues. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Social Phobia, Panic attacks, Stress or Depression.

It is not healthy to let these symptoms continue indefinitely. Schedule an appointment with one of our friendly and experienced Therapists. We are here to help you.

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It’s totally normal to feel stressed or anxious from time to time, but there’s lots of things you can do to manage your anxiety.

Remember: there’s a difference between feeling stressed every now and then, and experiencing ongoing anxiety. If the stress or anxiety is starting to take a toll, consider talking to a mental health professional.

1. Talk to someone you trust about how you’re feeling
Just talking to someone about how you feel can take a weight off your shoulders. Make sure you trust the person, then work out what you want to say to them. We’ve got four more steps for talking to someone you trust here.

2. Focus on the present
Have you ever noticed that feeling stressed or anxious often coincides with dwelling on the past or worrying about the future? Simply focusing your mind on the present moment can help you feel a little more relaxed. You might be surprised to know there’s lots of ways to do this, even if you don’t like meditating. Here’s five simple ways to be more mindful.

3. Take some time out
A fully packed schedule would make a lot of people feel stressed. Make sure you fit in at least one thing you enjoy each day, whether it’s a hobby, a Netflix show, or a chat with a friend. It can also help if you schedule the enjoyable activity into your day, so that you don’t feel guilty about not doing something else.

4. Monitor your thoughts
Sometimes we don’t even know what’s making us stressed or anxious. Writing down your thoughts can help you figure out what the cause is. Once you’ve done that, you can work on challenging and changing your negative thoughts. You can use a diary to do this, or an app such as Mindshift.

5. Challenge your thoughts
If your head is full of negative thoughts, of course you’re going to feel stressed or anxious. But even though our thoughts feel true, it doesn’t mean they reflect what’s really happening. Try writing down what you’re thinking, then adding facts that support or disprove each thought. You might be surprised by how many of your thoughts are exaggerated or aren’t reality. Read more about how to challenge negative thoughts here.

6. Move more, eat well, sleep
It’s pretty well known that exercise lowers stress, reduces anxiety and improves mood. And the good news is: you don’t need to run a marathon to get the benefits. It takes just 30 minutes of exercise a day to make a difference. We’ve got some tips on how to exercise when you’re not feeling motivated.

7. Face your fears
If you always avoid situations that make you anxious, this might be stopping you from doing things you want or need to do. It sounds weird, but facing the things that make you anxious can reduce your anxiety.

It’s best to do this with the help of a professional, though, so that it doesn’t get too full-on for you. If you’d like to speak to a experienced, qualified and friendly Counselor – click here

Article by reachout.com


 

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an article by
Julia Di Giacomo, LCSW

When human beings are in danger their bodies produce a heightened state of arousal know as fight or flight response. This response is meant to warn us about the threat to our safety and therefore serves to be very useful in protecting us. However, for many people this type of reaction can become attached to perceived threats which are not real and therefore the response becomes maladaptive and creates a great deal of distress for the person experiencing it. At that point, the person may begin experiencing what we refer to as an anxiety disorder which can manifest anxiety symptoms in any general sense, in social situations, can lead to panic attacks or can be extreme as part of the post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatic event.

Due to the unpredictable nature of the onset of these symptoms, anxiety disorders are one of the main reasons people seek mental health counseling and therapy. In my professional experience in working with these disorders, I have found that clients do best when they are offered tools and techniques to manage their anxiety. These techniques are called Grounding Techniques as they are meant to “ground” the person and help them return to a state of homeostasis. Since the anxiety symptoms have everything running at an accelerated speed and have persons affected worrying about the future or regretting the past it is essential for the individual to be able to “ground” themselves to the here and now in order to return to a state of calm and well-being.

One of the first tools the clinician can offer is to help the client identify something they can use as an “Anchor” to remind them to return to the present moment.

Anchors:

Clients can use a rubber band, hair tie or bracelet around their wrist and when they feel themselves becoming anxious, they can snap themselves back to the present moment.

Clients can download a picture of a favorite person, place or art on the home screen of their phone and stare at it when becoming anxious to return to the present moment.

Clients can use a favorite symbol or toy on a key chain and hold it and rub it when becoming anxious so that they can return to present moment.
Clients can use a favorite song on speed dial or sounds that create a sense of calm and peace and help them to return to present time.

After the clients have anchored themselves then the work on “grounding” them and calming down the anxiety can begin.
Grounding Techniques:

Physical techniques:

Breathing- it must be deep breathing where they breathe in from the diaphragm for 3 seconds, hold for 3 seconds, release for 3 seconds and make a ssshhh sound when releasing to ensure they have emptied it all out and not holding the anxiety in their bodies.

Client sits up in a chair with feet firmly on the ground and place palms of hands on legs and count until their body calms down.
Client uses cold compresses near pressure points and hold it there until their body starts to regulate and calm down.
Client shakes themselves free of the anxiety by shaking their arms and legs and making loud sounds to get all the anxiety out of their body.

Clients get physical literally-They go for a walk, run, exercise, or dance until they feel their body return to its natural state.
Clients use an essential oil or favorite body cream on their skin and breathe it in until they feel themselves calming down.
Observation and physical description:

Clients are asked to focus on anything in the environment and describe everything about it. Whether it be a painting, a book, a car, a sign on a train or bus or in your office, etc. I have literally used a fire extinguisher when I have not had anything else and asked a client to describe everything about it. The idea is to use it as a distraction and to focus their energy on it. By the time the client is done describing it they will have calmed down.

Cognitive Techniques:

Cognitive techniques are also to be used as distractions that clients can access through memory such as recalling all the details from a favorite place or vacation. Once they focus on describing all the details of that time or place they will be reminded of the pleasant feelings associated with it and they will calm down.

Clients can also recite a favorite poem or song with this type of technique and the intention is the same by distracting their energy and focusing on the details and positive feelings they will return to present moment and feel better.

Client can also pray, meditate or participate in a guided meditation. These can all be used as distraction that help them return to the here and now and their state of homeostasis.

Client can also draw or use art as the distraction to soothe themselves and calm their anxiety.

Auditory Techniques:

Clients can listen to music or any other sounds that help them calm down. It can be the ocean, nature, birds, the sound of a loved one’s voice. The goal is the same to calm the anxiety and return them to the present moment.

It is only after clients have grounded themselves, achieved a state of homeostasis and safety that they can begin to work on the underlying issues and conflicts.


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