Treatment

It was one year ago in the month of July that Aaron Beck, MD, the founder of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) passed away. I write this blog post as a memorial to one of the great minds of our times and to acknowledge the tremendous impact Dr.Beck had on the field of psychotherapy.

It takes courage to successfully deal with anxiety disorders, but with lots of good information, coaching and support from your therapist and others you can learn to do it. You may not think that you have much courage because you have an anxiety disorder that make you fearful at times. However, courage is not acting without fear. It is acting despite fear. I have seen many, many examples of people with anxiety disorders who learned coping skills, to help them face their fears, and as a result got better and better over time. You can too.

A Q&A with ADAA Member Karen Cassiday, PhD, ACT answering community questions on overcoming agoraphobia.

Our growing understanding of the relationship between racism and health has enormous implications broadly and in relation to minoritized women. Black and Brown womanhood often results in the exposure to multiple oppressive and traumatic experiences uniquely dependent on the intersection among racism, sexism, and violence. 

Many mental health professionals are now conducting patient visits virtually. I am one of the only psychologists left in my building who has stayed behind to continue in-person work while abiding by COVID protocols. Since our practice specializes in refractory OCD spectrum disorders and anxiety disorders a lot of the work done at our outpatient clinic requires in-vivo exposures, which cannot be replicated on Zoom.

Addressing health inequity requires a collaborative effort between many levels of the health care system (i.e., patient, community, provider, hospital, government). However, behavioral health providers and researchers can implement strategies that promote health equity at their level of care.

While it’s pretty common to have periods of feeling down, sad, or blue, especially this time of year, sometimes it’s more serious than that. Depression is real, and it’s important to recognize it and get proper treatment.

There is an area of social anxiety that is practically a universal experience for girls and women, yet rarely gets discussed: non-touch unwanted sexual attention.Such experiences happen to all people of all ages, and between all genders. For girls, the incidence is particularly alarming. From puberty to age 18, more than 90% of girls experience such unwanted encounters.