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As the Executive Director of ADAA, I am always thrilled when we realize our work is making a difference and that we are reaching farther and wider. So, when the Hadassah Foundation, a mental health organization in Cameroon, contacted ADAA with a request to access our free member-created, publicly available, evidence-based resources, we not only acquiesced, we collaborated.  

As parents we don’t like or want to see our children struggling. But worries, fears and anxieties are a natural part of life, and we have to understand that children go through these processes just like adults do. But as parents and caregivers, we should also be in tune with the degree, severity, frequency, and nature of our children’s fears and worries and know when a child might need some help.

Does the thought of using a public restroom fill you with dread? Shy bladder syndrome, or paruresis, is more than a minor inconvenience; it represents a significant performance anxiety disorder affecting countless individuals

Fear is one of the six basic human emotions, with a clear evolutionary purpose: to help us respond to danger and survive. In Exposure Therapy, providers create a safe environment to intentionally “expose” their clients to objects, activities, or situations they fear.

In conjunction with the recent webinar "Holiday Parenting Q&A: Coping with Stress and Anxiety", psychologists Colleen Cummings, PhD, Susan Wilson, PhD, and Nina Shiffrin Starin, PhD, provide their top 3 tips for parents to help cope with stress and anxiety during the holidays.

Check out our ADAA members' new books - CBT for social anxiety, an action mindset for teens and thriving with anxiety. Helpful resources to support your mental health journey.

There can be confusion when differentiating between body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and eating disorders (EDs). They both involve pre-occupying appearance-related thoughts and repetitive behaviours, but are treated differently.

Therapy can vary from patient to patient, clinician to clinician, but two ADAA members who presented at the 2023 Annual Conference believe therapy for SAD and other related disorders can benefit from an additional tool. Their conference session, Me Talk Funny One Day: Teaching Social Skills for Social Anxiety and Other Disorders, not only confirmed that belief but explained it.

The headlines and the CDC report are indeed alarming, but they should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yes, we should think seriously about why we are seeing a steep decline in the mental health of teenage girls, but we have to come together now as parents, family, friends, educators, clinicians, providers, and as a society to support, enhance and establish more preventive measures for our youth.

OCD often manifests as intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors (compulsions) in an attempt to try and 'fix' or neutralize the thoughts. One form of OCD that is important to discuss and highlight is Relationship OCD. 

To the untrained eye, the behavior of those with emetophobia may appear very similar to those with eating disorders. Outwardly, both may seem to have a strained relationship with food, their body, and certain physical bodily sensations; however, they are two separate and distinct conditions.