Category: Mental Health
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An Overview Of Chronic Insomnia
What is insomnia? Chronic insomnia is a sleep disorder that is associated with difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and/or waking up too early. Beyond this general definition, there are a few important aspects of insomnia that I believe are important for people to know. First, insomnia is not just a nighttime disorder. It is a…
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Using The Downward Arrow Technique For Anxiety
Getting to the root of your fear Anxiety can sometimes be quite tricky to deal with. It tells us we should be afraid of something and get away from the fear as quickly as possible – this is known as avoidance. Avoidance is at the root anxiety disorders; it leads to short-term relief but long-term…
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Why You Shouldn’t Always Give Yourself 20 Minutes To Fall Back Asleep
The problem with the 20 minute rule People with chronic insomnia have often heard the advice to get out of bed if you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes. Inherently, this is not a bad idea. The recommendation comes from an evidence-based treatment for insomnia, known as stimulus control. The components of stimulus control are…
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How To Wake Up In The Morning Not Feeling Tired
A case of morning moodiness When people wake up, they often find themselves to be in a bit of a state of sleep drunkenness. They are tired, groggy, a little drowsy, and may be somewhat cognitively and physically impaired in terms of concentrating and moving with purpose. The problem is that some people, especially…
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The Importance Of Interpretation In Anxiety
What do anxiety symptoms mean? The physiological symptoms of anxiety are actually quite ubiquitous and somewhat vague. What I mean by that is the symptoms we usually see in anxiety (racing heart, shaking, hyperventilation, feeling hot) can happen in many different situations and may not be particularly specific to that situation. For example, physiologically we…
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Diagnosing Depression: What Clinical Psychologists Look For
The purpose of diagnoses When we diagnose a person with a psychological disorder, it’s purpose is not to create stigma or to generate as many potential diagnoses as possible and label somebody with every disorder under the sun. Diagnoses are meant to be helpful. They are way to understand a person’s current challenges and determine…
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How To Stop Feeling Tired And Sleepy Using Sleep Science
A pedantic discussion of fatigue and sleepiness People tend to use the terms feeling ‘tired’ and ‘sleepy’ interchangeably in daily life. However, in sleep science we like to make a distinction between being tired/fatigued and sleepiness. It sounds a little pedantic, but the reason is because there are important distinctions between these two states. Moreover,…
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Why We Feel Embarrassed Just Existing In Social Anxiety
Walking in public with unconfidence For people with social anxiety disorder, there may be times when we are walking down the street minding our own business. Suddenly, we start feeling super self-conscious, being very aware of how we are walking, what our facial expression is like, how we look, and whether other people are staring…
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Myth Busting Six Common Worries In People With Insomnia
Scary worries in the dark People with chronic insomnia have some pretty scary thoughts when they are anticipating another sleepless night. “I’m not going to be able to sleep and I won’t be able to function” “Tomorrow is going to be terrible” “Why can’t I sleep? I can’t handle another crappy night” As you might…
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Why Experiencing Negative Feelings During Mindfulness Can Be Good For Distress Tolerance
My experience teaching mindfulness as a clinician As a mental health clinician, I often provide mindfulness training as part of a larger treatment protocol. Mindfulness is beneficial in a variety of mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, among others. My patients usually enjoy mindfulness practices quite a bit. They find the experience to…
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