The Complete Guide to Self-care and How It Affects Your Mental Health

Self-care is a practice that can be done for one’s mental, emotional, and physical health. It is taking care of oneself to maintain good mental health. Self-care is a vital part of living a healthy and happy life. It is essential to take care of yourself and your mental health.

The Complete Guide to Self-care and How It Affects Your Mental Health

5 Ways Self-care Can Improve Your Mental Health

The following are five ways self-care can improve your mental health:

  • Sleep – Getting enough sleep and practicing mindfulness can help you feel more rested, less stressed, and less depressed.
  • Eat Healthily – Eating healthy will give you the energy to do what you want and make you feel better about yourself.
  • Exercise – Exersing regularly can help reduce anxiety, stress, depression, and fatigue.
  • Stay Positive – Being positive will make it easier for you to get through tough times and will make the good times even better.
  • Spend Time with Friends and Family – Spending time with friends or family who love you can make all the difference in your mental health

Eating Healthy to Achieve a Good Level of Mental Health

Eating healthy is essential not only for physical health but also for mental health. A food journal is a way to track what you eat and how it affects your mental state; it involves keeping a record of what you ate, when you ate it, and the emotions going through your head. You can also note why you might have eaten certain foods or had specific cravings. This will help identify any patterns in your eating habits that need to be addressed.

The Importance of Meditation in Maintaining Good Mental Health

Meditation is an integral part of mental health and should be practiced consistently. It is a powerful tool that can help people deal with stress, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Practicing meditation keeps your mind calm and focused throughout the day. As a result, you will be able to concentrate better on your work, have more productive days at the office, and feel less overwhelmed by everyday tasks.

Achieving a Level of Good Mental Health Is Possible With Pandora’s House Psychiatry

Mental health is essential to a person’s overall wellness and productivity. We should take care of ourselves to live a healthy and balanced life. At Pandora’s House Psychiatry, we provide care with a focus on carefulness, skill, and continuous improvement. Our psychologists tailor the type of treatment plan to suit each patient’s requirements and offer a range of treatments, including medication management, psychiatric care, and psychological therapy. The plans are delivered in a way that integrates conventional treatments with skilled medical care. We ensure patients receive close follow-up and maximum attention. Contact us now and book an appointment!

Therapy Can Add Years to Your Life

Stress is an unavoidable part of everyday life, and can have both positive and negative effects on our physical and mental well-being. In the short-term, stress can motivate us to meet deadlines, stay focused and achieve goals.

Therapy Can Add Years to Your Life

Chronic stress makes us sick

However, chronic or ongoing stress can have a detrimental effect on our health and well-being. Too much stress can lead to physical and emotional exhaustion. Stress causes relationship problems, and makes it difficult to concentrate.   When chronic stress is ongoing, it can be deadly. A 2008 NIH study links chronic stress to:

  • increased risk of diabetes

 

  • increased risk of heart disease

 

  • suppresses the immune system

 

  • increased asthma

 

  • increased risk of ulcers and peptic ulcers

 

  • increased risk of colitis

 

  • increased risk of developing a psychiatric illness [1]

When stress begins to interfere with our daily lives and activities, it is important to take action.

Managing stress at home

There are many ways to manage the downstream effects of stress. It helps to eat a balanced diet. Everyone knows health adults should be exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. More people than ever are engaging in mindfulness, which is very helpful. It can also be beneficial to keep a journal. Identifying the sources of stress helps us better understand them.

Therapy helps us take a different perspective

Therapy is one of the most helpful tools for managing stress. A therapist can provide a safe and non-judgmental space to explore the sources of your stress. Together you can work through underlying issues and develop lasting coping strategies. In therapy, individuals can learn to recognize their own needs and find effective ways to manage them. Together with your therapist, you will develop insight and understanding into your own behavior. Therapy can also be a space to process and understand emotions. Your therapist helps you develop resilience and improve problem-solving skills.

Ultimately, addressing stress is an important part of maintaining health. Taking steps to understand, not just manage, your stress can help prevent it from becoming overwhelming. Therapy can be an effective tool in helping identify and understand the sources of stress, and develop skills to better manage it.

Tips When Choosing a Counseling Service

Counseling services enable one to talk openly about their problems and find solutions with the help of a professional. It’s ideal for those struggling with mental health issues, relationship problems, grief, and career choices. If you live in the North Dallas area, there are many counseling services. Here are some tips to help you choose an exemplary service for your needs.

Tips When Choosing a Counseling Service

Determine What Type of Counseling You Need

There are many different types of counseling, such as marriage, family, grief, and career counseling. Choose a service that specializes in the kind of counseling you need. To find out, check the website or call the counseling service to ask about their areas of expertise. Alternatively, ask your doctor for recommendations.

Consider The Counselor’s Qualifications

Once you know what type of counseling you need, research the counselor’s qualifications. To do this, check if they have a license from the state they practice. How long have they been in practice? What is their success rate? Do they have any specialty training? You can also read reviews of the counselor online. Most importantly, choose a counselor you feel comfortable with.

The Cost

Counseling services can be expensive, but some insurance plans cover the services. Check with your insurer to determine if they offer any coverage. If not, ask the counseling service about their fee structure. Some services offer sliding scale fees based on income.

Ask About the Counseling Service’s Confidentiality Policy

When you meet with a counselor, you will be sharing sensitive information. Choose a service that has a strict confidentiality policy in place. Ask the counselor about their approach and how they protect your confidentiality.

Schedule a Consultation

Most counseling services offer a free consultation. This is an opportunity for you to meet with the counselor and check if they are a good fit. During the consultation, ask about the counselor’s approach and their experience with your type of problem.

Pandora’s House Psychiatry Is an Ideal Choice

We offer counseling services for those struggling with mental health issues, relationship problems, grief, and career choices. Our counselors are experienced and qualified to help you find solutions to your problems. Contact us to schedule a consultation.

Three Common Signs of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders make life difficult for people since they need to tackle their daily challenges while facing various emotions. Anxiety disorders can cause people to feel sad, anxious, and a multitude of emotions making life harder. If you suspect you have anxiety, you should look for these common signs of anxiety disorders to determine if you need to seek assistance and a diagnosis.

Three Common Signs of Anxiety Disorders

Struggling to Interact With Others

When some people have anxiety disorders, they find it difficult to interact with people. They may find it difficult to meet new people and discuss topics with them. Even if some of them know people and develop friendships with them, they may face anxiety as they try to make their friends happy and talk with them.

Overthinking Situations and Worrying About Them

On top of interacting with others, people with anxiety disorders may overthink the situation. They focus so much on what others say they end up worrying about the situation. They also think others don’t like them since they overthink situations and how people react to them. From there, they feel more anxiety and worry when they think someone doesn’t like them.

Finding It Difficult to Perform Daily Tasks

When people face anxiety disorders, they find it difficult to go through their daily tasks.  For example, they want to stay in bed or can’t motivate themselves to tackle their responsibilities. Even if they do get to their tasks, they feel so anxious they worry about whether they may do something wrong.

Conclusion

While these symptoms don’t apply to all anxiety disorders, they can help you figure out if you have one. If you suspect you or someone else has an anxiety disorder, you should seek confirmation and help with your situation. If you don’t know where to go, you can always contact us at Pandora’s House Psychiatry, so we can help you identify your signs of anxiety disorders and seek treatment for it.

3 Questions About Thought Disorders

One type of disorder that can benefit a great deal from therapy is a thought disorder. However, many people don’t know a lot about thought disorders, they may not be sure exactly what it is and if they, or someone they know, has one. Here are three common questions and answers about thought disorders.

3 Questions About Thought Disorders

What Is A Thought Disorder?

A thought disorder is defined as a disorganized way of thinking, that can then lead to abnormal ways of expressing language when speaking or writing. These behaviors may be expressed at various times, but are typically not always present. For example, someone may show symptoms when they are tired, but act normal the rest of the time. This can make a thought disorder very difficult to diagnose.

What Are The Symptoms?

Some of the symptoms of thought disorder include alogia, which is defined as poverty of speech, They may also have blocking, which means that the person interrupts themselves mid-sentence. They will pause for an extended period of time, and then may change the entire conversation. Circumstantiality means that the person adds a great deal of details to their speech that are unnecessary and unimportant. Derailment happens when someone is not able to stay on topic, but is constantly changing what they are talking about.

Who Does It Effect?

The main population that thought disorder effects are those with Schizophrenia. However, it is also seen in those who suffer from either mania or depression. This disorder is thought to effect these specific populations because the language-related regions of their brain are impacted. There is also a genetic component that experts believe is connected with these populations and thought disorders.

To learn more about thought disorders, or to seek help from a psychiatrist today, visit us at Pandora’s House Psychiatry.

What Qualifies As An Eating Disorder?

While you may have heard the term “eating disorder” before, you may not be sure exactly what qualifies as an eating disorder. There are multiple kinds of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa involves extreme food restriction and exercise, bulimia nervosa involves binging and purging, along with extreme exercise, and binge-eating disorder involves binging without the purging aspect that bulimia nervosa has. While these disorders differ, each have certain things that qualify them as an eating disorder.

What Qualifies As An Eating Disorder?

Severe And Persistent Disturbance In Eating Behaviors

One thing that qualifies a eating problem is if it causes severe and persistent disturbance in eating behaviors. This could be lack of eating, overeating, restricting and overeating, overeating and purging, and other variations of these behaviors. If you are experiencing these behaviors, or if someone close to you is, then it is in your best interest to seek professional help.

Distressing Thoughts And Emotions Associated With Eating

Another important qualifier is the presence of distressing thoughts and emotions that are always associated with eating. This may be a fear of food in general or of specific foods, an overwhelming fear of gaining weight when eating food, anxiety when going out with friends when food is involved, and other distressing thoughts.

Food Thoughts And Behaviors Affect Physical, Psychological and Social Function

Lastly, if your thoughts and actions around food affect your physical, psychological, and social function, then you definitely have an eating disorder. This can affect your job, your personal relationships, your professional relationships, schooling, and your overall ability to function normally each day.

To learn more about these disorders, or to contact a professional psychiatrist to help you, or someone you know, deal with this disorder, visit us today at Pandora’s House Psychiatry.

Effects Of Substance Abuse, Both Short- And Long-Term

Substance abuse is a medical term used to describe the hazardous use of psychoactive substances like illicit drugs and alcohol. One of the major impacts of substance abuse on society and humans is the negative health effects experienced by its users. It also places a heavy financial burden on families, individuals, and society. And if not treated early enough, it could lead to more serious problems like death. This piece looks at a few of the effects caused by substance abuse.

 

Effects Of Substance Abuse, Both Short- And Long-Term

Effects Of Substance Abuse on Health

Drug abuse causes a wide range of short and long-term health effects. Regardless of the type of drug a user abuses, they all have far-reaching impacts that can affect every organ in the human body. They include:

  • A weak immune system, which increases the risk of infections and diseases
  • Lung disease
  • Strain on the liver, which increases the risk of liver damage or failure
  • Stroke, mental confusion, brain damage, and seizures
  • Memory problems, lack of attention, and decision-making, which can make your daily life difficult

Impact on Behaviors

Substance abuse can also lead to many behavioral problems, both in the long- and short-term, like paranoia, aggressiveness, depression, impulsiveness, impaired judgment, addiction, hallucinations, and loss of self-control. Besides this, drug abuse has more serious consequences in one’s life, like missed school, accidents, injuries, and punishable offenses. In fact, drug addiction is partly to blame in about 80 percent of offenses that lead to jail time in the United States.

Economic consequences of substance abuse

Drug abuse inflicts immeasurable economic harm to the families of the victims. This is associated with the medical costs family members use to treat the addiction. Treatment is very expensive for such cases.

Substance abuse can affect many aspects of a person’s psychological and physical health. This is why at Pandora’s House, we are committed to helping your loved one through their addiction recovery journey. Contact us today and schedule an appointment.

Understanding Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety is a debilitating feeling that can hold you in fear, keep you from living life at your best and, in the worst case, start a downward spiral into depression. Anxiety disorders are mental illnesses that involve feelings of anxiety and worrying too much. Here you will read facts about what these disorders are.

Understanding Anxiety Disorders

Types of Anxiety Disorders

The different types of anxiety disorders are:

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
  • Panic Disorder (PD)
  • Social Phobia (SP)
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

There are also other anxiety disorders that are not as well known but still very serious and can be treated just like the above conditions. These include Separation Anxiety Disorder, Specific Phobia and Acute Stress Disorder.

Signs and Symptoms of anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are not the same as fear. Fear is an emotion that everyone feels and it can be a healthy response when in danger or facing a threat. Anxiety is an overreaction to threats, but it’s not always clear what these threats are like for someone with anxiety disorders.

Anxiety can have many symptoms and these vary from person to person, so you may not notice all of them in yourself or others:

  • Excessive worry about everyday things
  • Feeling tense or on edge
  • Becoming easily tired
  • Having difficulty concentrating on tasks
  • Having trouble sleeping (either too much sleep or too little) * Itching, sweating, nausea, dizziness

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable.

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable. There are several ways to manage symptoms of anxiety, including therapy, medication and lifestyle changes. You can also learn practical strategies for managing your anxiety through self-help techniques such as deep breathing and relaxation exercises.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to treating this disorder —the best treatment depends on you and your particular symptoms. It may take time to find the right treatment for you; don’t give up if therapy doesn’t seem to work immediately!

If someone you love is suffering from anxieties, we can help provide a better quality of life. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today! Contact us to schedule an appointment with our professionals.

 

Of Two Extremes: Bipolar Related Disorders

Bipolar and its related disorders are mood disorders affecting 2.6% of Americans or over 5.7 million American adults over 18. It is characterized by https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder unusual and unpredictable shifts in mood, activity levels, energy, and concentration to the extent that they interrupt a person’s ability to function ‘normally’.

Bipolar is usually diagnosed in a person’s mid-20s, but people can show symptoms as early as their teens or as late as their 50s. It is an indiscriminate disorder that equally affects men and women of different ethnic groups, ages, and social classes. However, bipolar is a difficult disorder to diagnose and is often difficult to treat, even though many treatments are effective.

Of Two Extremes: Bipolar Related Disorders

Symptoms

Because there are two sides to bipolar, mania and depression, there are several varied symptoms. During a ‘low’ or depressive episode, a person may experience:

  • Extreme sadness, despair, or hopelessness
  • Trouble falling or staying asleep
  • Insomnia or hypersomnia
  • Rapid weight gain or loss
  • Slow and distracted speech
  • Trouble concentrating or focusing on a task
  • Little interest in any or all activities
  • Decreased self-care and hygiene
  • Thoughts about or attempts at self-harm or suicide

During a ‘high’, manic, or hypomanic episode, a person may experience:

  • Feeling elated, ‘high’, invincible, or irritable
  • An increase in energy, agitation, or feeling ‘wired’
  • A decreased need for sleep
  • Fast and varied thoughts and speech
  • Racing thoughts
  • Impulsivity and risky behavior
  • Poor judgment and decision making
  • An elevated sense of importance, power, and talent

Mania and Hypomania

It is important to note the difference between mania and hypomania: severity. Both have the same symptoms, but mania can be so intense that the person has a psychotic episode. Psychosis is not a feature of hypomania.

Types

There are several types of bipolar disorder, each with its own distinctive characteristics. It’s important to note that not everyone experiences the same symptoms in the same way, and so there are different types. These types are defined less by symptoms and more by when and how these symptoms display themselves.

Bipolar I Disorder

A person has at least one manic episode. This follows or precedes a hypomanic or depressive period.

Bipolar II Disorder

A person has at least one major depressive episode. This follows at least one hypomanic period. A person with Bipolar II Disorder has not experienced a manic episode.

Cyclothymic Disorder

A person has had several instances of hypomanic and depression episodes for at least two years.

Mixed Episodes

A person experiences symptoms of both depression and mania or hypomania at the same time.

Comorbid disorders

Because the symptoms of bipolar are so varied, those with bipolar often have other disorders. These include:

  • Anxiety
  • Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  • Drug or alcohol abuse
  • Eating disorders
  • Psychosis

Treatment

Treatment for bipolar disorder involves therapy, medications, and other procedures.

Medications

Several medications are effective in treating this disorder, but often a combination of two or more medications. These medications are mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and atypical antipsychotics, and also include other medications to treat symptoms like anxiety and insomnia.

Psychotherapy

The purpose of psychotherapy is to help a person identify and cope with problematic thoughts, feelings, and actions. It also helps educate and guide a person and their families.

Other Treatments

Other treatment options include brain stimulating procedures like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

How we can help

At Pandora’s House, we work with you to discuss your symptoms and to help you find solutions. For more information about our services or to make an appointment, please contact us today or call (972) 784-3064. Read our blog for more information about mental health and wellness.

Understanding Depressive Disorders and Seeking Help

Depressive disorders can impact people and make life difficult. Not only do they affect the mind, but they can cause people to struggle physically and emotionally. Because of this, you may wonder what depressive disorders involve and how to seek help if you want to manage your depression.

Understanding Depressive Disorders and Seeking Help

Explaining Depressive Disorders

Depressive disorders stand out as a condition where a person feels long bouts of sadness, anxiety, or worry. While most people face depressive moments in life, depressive disorders cause people to constantly feel depressed. This can cause the person to struggle and find it difficult to function in life. For example, a depressed person may rather stay in bed all day due to concerns and fears.

Depressive disorders include many symptoms including lack of self-worth, struggling to gain motivation, and consistent negative thoughts. A person can experience other symptoms when it comes to depression, so people can’t always self-diagnose.

When You Should Seek Help

If you find yourself facing some of the symptoms above, you should see if you can receive help. Even if some of the symptoms don’t seem severe at the moment, you can’t predict how they may develop with time. This means you can see the treatment options available if you talk with a doctor about your situation.

From there, you could end up seeing a psychiatrist about your symptoms. This will help you see if you should seek medication or more meetings with the psychiatrist. Doing so will help you see how you can maintain and work through your depression.

Conclusion

Depressive disorders can pose some challenges in life if a person doesn’t manage them. This requires the person to recognize the disorder, work through it, and find ways to cope with it. This can happen through coping techniques, relieving stress, and even medication. If you think you may have a depressive disorder, you can contact us at Pandora’s House Psychiatry to receive help and guidance.