You can spend most of the year feeling emotionally steady, comfortable with the changes you’ve made, and confident in how you’re handling life, only to sit down at a family gathering and suddenly feel like a much younger version of yourself. Maybe a familiar comment makes you defensive in a way you haven’t felt in […]

You need to answer the email. The laundry has been sitting there for three days. You need to make an appointment, return a phone call, pay a bill or start a project. None of these things is particularly complicated, and you know exactly what needs to be done. You may even genuinely want to do […]

When you see a psychiatric provider for the first time, you may be surprised by how many questions we ask about people who aren’t in the room. Has anyone in your family been diagnosed with depression? Bipolar disorder? ADHD? Anxiety? Schizophrenia? Has anyone struggled with alcohol or substance use? Has anyone been hospitalized for a […]

Have you ever left a medical or psychiatric appointment and suddenly remembered the one thing you meant to mention? Maybe it was a symptom you forgot to bring up, a medication concern you wanted to discuss, or a pattern you had noticed but couldn’t quite explain in the moment. If this has happened to you, […]

Cyclothymia, also called cyclothymic disorder, is one of those mental health conditions that many people have never heard of until they or someone they love is diagnosed with it. As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I often meet patients who say, “I knew my moods changed more than other people’s, but I didn’t think it was […]

In recent years, conversations about mental health have become more practical and more focused on skills people can use in everyday life. Many individuals are no longer asking only what they are feeling. They are asking why they feel that way and what they can do about it. At the same time, artificial intelligence has […]

In recent years, concern about the future of our planet has shifted from a distant idea to something people feel in their daily lives. News about extreme weather, environmental changes, and long-term uncertainty is constant and, for many, deeply unsettling. It is no longer uncommon for patients to express persistent worry about what lies ahead, […]

If you have ever opened an AI chatbot to ask, “Why do I feel like this?” or “Can you help me calm down right now?” you are not alone. More and more people are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT, Grok and Claude for emotional support, self-reflection, and mental health information because they are fast, […]

When a news alert lights up your phone, do you feel your stomach drop? Maybe your shoulders tense as you scroll. Maybe you can sense the mood shift in your body before you’ve even finished reading the headline. If so, you’re in very good company. The American Psychological Association’s Stress in America 2024 report found […]

Catastrophic thinking has a way of escalating quietly. A small concern becomes a worst-case scenario. A single mistake turns into a predicted collapse. For many people with anxiety, this pattern feels automatic, convincing, and difficult to interrupt, even when there is little evidence that the feared outcome will occur. Catastrophic thinking is not a personal […]