Different stages of development are associated with common childhood fears and child anxieties, like fear of darkness, fear of strangers, or separation anxiety. Kids might feel afraid of dogs or bees, social situations, natural disasters, gun violence, and more. You can help children with rational and irrational fears by validating…
If you’ve ever felt too much in your feelings and you can’t move on from negative, intrusive thoughts, you might be experiencing rumination. People who ruminate seem to be at higher risk for multiple psychiatric disorders, including depression and anxiety. Rumination appears to be caused primarily by difficulties in shifting…
War, even for those on the sidelines, can trigger high levels of stress and anxiety, mostly fueled by a sense of powerlessness. News updates, while keeping us informed, play a role in creating this anxiety and an escalated perception of negative events. Limiting your consumption of content related to the…
Do you remember the last time you rode a roller coaster? Unfortunately for me, it has been over 20 years. I have developed vertigo as I have gotten older, and I’m scared to go on one now. However, I can still remember the nervous butterflies as the ride creaked higher…
Human beings evolved moral emotions through living in complex societies where everyone benefits from phenomena like empathy and reciprocity. As far as morality is concerned, there’s a natural progression from sharing mammoth meat around a campfire to posting on the Reddit forum Am I the A**hole? (AITA). We like AITA…
Our mind’s eye often depicts suburban life as dreamy and picturesque—the epitome of the American dream. While the ‘burbs have their perks, they also have their shortcomings: Many community issues are aired on neighborhood watch apps like Ring’s “Neighbors” and Nextdoor. These platforms provide a virtual way for neighbors to…
Smartwatches have exploded in popularity, especially among Millennials and younger Gen-Xers: Companies like Garmin, Apple, and Fitbit all offer wearables that come loaded with features. Heavily marketed features of smartwatches include heart rate and stress monitoring, as well as blood O2 readings. While vital sign readings can be useful from…
The mental health of parents can influence their children environmentally as well as genetically. When kids are feeling anxious, it may be time to look at what fearful, overcautious parents are teaching children about themselves. Anxiety is a natural part of life, but anxious parents can model healthy coping strategies…
In this post-covid era, mental health professionals are seeing a new type of anxiety disorder, post-covid stress disorder (PCSD), appear. While the social stigmas surrounding mental health topics are steadily losing steam, the covid-19 pandemic reminded us that we often put our mental wellbeing on the backburner. While the world…
This year, “Hot Girl Summer” has a different meaning — in a post-pandemic world, it’s about self-assurance and self-compassion as we face what we’ve been through and acknowledge the mental challenges ahead. There are (at least) five mental obstacles that we have to navigate during our reemergence, one being anxiety:…
Today was hard. Hardest day so far. This virtual teaching is so hard. You feel like you’re failing at your job because nothing is easy or smooth, and nothing works like it’s supposed to work. And you feel like you’re failing your family because of the non-stop working and troubleshooting.”…
There is always something to be anxious about. Even as you have found a way to deal with one thing, very often there is something else that comes along right behind it. You can’t wait for everything to be perfect; instead, you have to find ways to cope with whatever…