Clinical depression is different than feeling sad — although it typically involves feeling sad. Learn how to distinguish depression vs. sadness.
Everyone feels sad from time to time. In fact, sadness is one of the basic universal human emotions. Feeling sad can be unpleasant or uncomfortable. But sadness, like all feelings, exists for a reason, and feeling sad sometimes is part of a healthy emotional life.
[Read more…]Many people with OCD also suffer from depression. Dealing with both can be very challenging. Learning how to manage these conditions is important.
There are a lot of misconceptions about what OCD is. OCD is not simply a term for a preference that things be organized or clean. It is a potentially serious disorder that can become disabling for some people.
[Read more…]Certain patterns of thinking make you more likely to experience anxiety, depression, anger, and other problems. These patterns are called cognitive distortions, and you can learn to counter them.
Barriers to mental health treatment abound in the United States. The nature of these barriers is varied. Some involve people seeking but unable to obtain services. Others involve a failure to seek services. In combination, these obstacles result in a large proportion of those in need of mental healthcare not getting it.
For example, a 2008 study examined mental health problems in a large sample of military members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The study found that only around half of those veterans with depression and PTSD sought help for these problems. Unfortunately, the corresponding statistics for non-veterans are no better. Why is that?
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Deciding to seek help is a big first step. From there, it’s important to find the right therapist. But with so many psychotherapy options in New York, how can you know what to look for?
The best therapist for you has the appropriate training and expertise to treat the issues you want to work on.
When to seek therapy: It can be difficult to decide if and when psychotherapy would be helpful. A general guideline that we recommend is called the interference rule: if a problem is significantly interfering in your ability to live your life in the way you’d like, then psychotherapy may be helpful.
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