Behavioral & Mental Health

Stay­ing informed about cur­rent events is impor­tant — but so is main­tain­ing your men­tal health. Here are 3 strate­gies to help you do both.

This Nation­al Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion Week, Eliz­a­beth Kuri­an, DO, Behav­ioral & Men­tal Health, Psy­chi­a­try, shares details on the trig­gers and warn­ing signs of poten­tial sui­ci­dal behav­ior in chil­dren as well as the influ­ence the inter­net and social media have on sui­ci­dal behav­ior, and steps par­ents or loved ones can take to dis­cuss sui­cide with their children.

Car­ing for an aging loved one can be reward­ing — but also chal­leng­ing. Here are 9 tips to help care­givers pri­or­i­tize their own phys­i­cal and men­tal health.

As COVID-19 pan­dem­ic rates decline, many are return­ing to their pre-pan­dem­ic social life includ­ing work­ing from their company’s office or see­ing their friends and fam­i­ly for in-per­son activ­i­ties. While some are excit­ed to get back to their pre-pan­dem­ic social life, oth­ers are expe­ri­enc­ing ele­vat­ed anx­i­ety symptoms.

We have all expe­ri­enced moments of stress in our lives. When some­thing unex­pect­ed or alarm­ing hap­pens, a part of your brain, the hypo­thal­a­mus, sets off an inter­nal alarm. This alarm sig­nals your adren­al glands to release hor­mones, adren­a­line and cor­ti­sol, into your ner­vous sys­tem that cause your heart rate to increase, your mus­cles to tense and your breath to quick­en. This is referred to as your fight or flight response, and your body is ready to take action to pro­tect itself from harm.

Dr. Eliz­a­beth Kuri­an explains how men­tal health issues can man­i­fest in chil­dren, how to rec­og­nize them and when you should reach out to a health provider.

Devel­op­ing a health-relat­ed New Year’s res­o­lu­tion can be a great way to kick start a health­i­er year ahead. Instead of just focus­ing on your phys­i­cal health, it is impor­tant to rec­og­nize oth­er areas as well such as your men­tal and social health and well-being. 

Dr. Sal­ly Salman, Inter­nal Med­i­cine, out­lines com­po­nents of the health tri­an­gle to help you deter­mine what your health res­o­lu­tions should focus on in the new year. 

Some peo­ple may expe­ri­ence anx­i­ety that is focused specif­i­cal­ly on ill­ness or the fear of ill­ness as a result of liv­ing dur­ing a pan­dem­ic and flu sea­son. Stacey J. Feuer, PsyD, MLD, pro­vides strate­gies to man­age this type of anxiety.

Effec­tive inter­per­son­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion is hard. When you add in the chal­lenges and stres­sors of a glob­al pan­dem­ic, it can feel noth­ing short of impos­si­ble. You may find it more dif­fi­cult to respond to stress­ful sit­u­a­tions calm­ly. You may find your­self snap­ping at your part­ner or feel­ing like you just need some time to your­self. You may feel angri­er than nor­mal. Giv­en the unprece­dent­ed and uncer­tain times, that all makes sense. It’s impor­tant to rec­og­nize and val­i­date how you are feel­ing in order to work towards mean­ing­ful change with­in your relationship. 

Being an ado­les­cent is dif­fi­cult enough with­out a pan­dem­ic, but here we are. What can you do to help your teen under­stand and fol­low social distancing?