Elmwood Mental Health Partners

01/29/2026

Good evening - Welcome back to our series of educational posts about mental health!

Each Thursday you will find tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help. Tonight we are shifting gears to look at another group of disorders - Disruptive, Impulse‑Control, and Conduct Disorders. We start with Oppositional defiant disorder:

Oppositional defiant disorder is defined by a pattern of irritable mood/anger, argumentative/defiant behavior or vindictiveness lasting at least 6 months. These symptoms must be shown during interactions with at least one person who is not a sibling.

Those with this disorder may lose their temper quickly, feel easily annoyed, become resentful, argue with authority figures, defy requests from authority figures/rules, deliberately annoy others, blame others for their mistakes or be spiteful/vindictive.

Therapy can be helpful here by helping those struggling with ODD to notice triggers, manage anger and practice calmer responses. Parent Management Training can help teach caregivers how to use consistent limits, praise and consequences to reduce problem behaviors. Family therapy can help build out the family dynamic to include a more cooperative atmosphere rather than adversarial by improving communication between all members.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!

01/23/2026

Good evening - Welcome back to our series of educational posts about mental health! Each Thursday you will find tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help. Tonight we continue with our look at eating disorders, with a look at Binge eating disorder:

Binge eating disorder is when one experiences repeated episodes of eating large amounts of food quickly, often when not hungry, and then feeling intense negative emotions.

Therapy can help individuals suffering from this disorder by working through negative beliefs of the self, reducing self-criticism, separating emotional hunger from physical hunger and normalizing eating patterns.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!

01/16/2026

Good evening - Welcome back to our series of educational posts about mental health! Each Thursday you will find tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help. Tonight we continue with our look at eating disorders, with a look at Bulimia nervosa:

Bulimia nervosa involves cycles of eating in excessive amounts in a short period of time (binging) followed by behaviors to undo this such as vomiting, laxatives or fasting. Shame, secrets and loss of control are often involved with this disorder.
Therapy can help those suffering from this disorder by learning how to break the binge-purge cycle, reducing all or nothing thinking around food and learning how to regulate emotions that trigger binges.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!

01/09/2026

Good evening - Welcome back to our series of educational posts about mental health! Each Thursday you will find tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help. Tonight we shift topics over to eating disorders, starting with Anorexia nervosa:

Anorexia nervosa is a condition that leaves someone with a powerful fear of gaining weight and a distorted view of one’s body, even when underweight. This mental health condition often involves eating very small portions, tight rules about eating, excessive exercise and other behaviors that control weight. This can lead to medical issues because the body begins to lack nutrition.

Therapy can help those who suffer from this condition by challenging harsh body image beliefs, loosening rules about eating and building healthier thinking patterns around eating and exercising.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!

01/01/2026

Happy New Year! We at Elmwood wish you a wonderful 2026!

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

12/18/2025

Good evening - Welcome back to our series of educational posts about mental health! Each Thursday you will find tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help. Tonight we will continue our discussion on Trauma and Stressor Related disorders with a look at Prolonged Grief Disorder:

Prolonged grief disorder is an intense and long lasting sorrow after a loss (often a loved one, but can include any type of loss) that doesn’t ease with time, making it difficult to function.

Psychotherapy can help by providing a healthy grieving environment, education regarding the grieving process, addressing stuck thoughts that may cause intense emotions, and working through existential concerns that may arise during complicated grief.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!

12/11/2025

Good evening - Welcome back to our series of educational posts about mental health! Each Thursday you will find little tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help. Tonight we will continue our discussion on Trauma and Stressor Related disorders with a look at Adjustment Disorder:

Adjustment Disorder is when emotional or behavioral problems arise within a few months of a big change or stressful life event (moving, divorce, job change, etc). Symptoms include worry, difficulty coping, lashing out. Symptoms usually will fall away once the stress disappears.

Psychotherapy can be helpful here by building healthy coping strategies, emotional resilience, encouraging fostering of support systems and assisting with problem solving and stress management.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!

12/04/2025

Good evening - Welcome to our series of educational posts about mental health! Each Thursday you will find little tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help. Tonight we will continue our discussion on Trauma and Stressor Related disorders with a look at Acute stress disorder:

Acute stress disorder will present like PTSD, but generally only lasts for a few days or weeks after a traumatic event. Individuals may feel detached, numb, anxious and experience sleep disturbances.

Mental health counselors can be useful here in educating, supporting and teaching coping skills early before PTSD sets in. Early intervention is key in treating this disorder.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!

11/27/2025

11/21/2025

Detour! Tonight will be a bit different from our other Thursday evening educational posts exploring various mental health conditions. Since we just recently discussed PTSD, we thought it would be a good idea to discuss how emotions work through the lens of “primary” and “secondary” emotions.

Primary emotions are your initial, instinctive emotions related to an event. These emotions are generally brief but intense.
Secondary emotions are your emotions that you feel about your primary emotions. Emotions that you feel after the fact. These emotions sometimes act as a protective layer to shield one from the original, intense primary emotion.

It can be helpful to understand the difference between your primary emotions and secondary emotions for a few important reasons:

- It can help you to understand what you’re really feeling deep down, which gives you an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of yourself.
- Through this deeper understanding of yourself you may find a greater sense of self-compassion as you shed away learned secondary emotions and embrace your original primary emotions.
- Communication and developing emotional intimacy with others will come easier to you as you gain this understanding of the layers of emotions you experience.

Psychotherapy can be a useful tool for you to gain insight into yourself in this manner!

11/14/2025

Good evening - Welcome to our series of educational posts about mental health! Each Thursday you will find little tidbits of information about various mental health disorders and how therapy can help.

Tonight we will begin to discuss Trauma and Stressor Related disorders, starting with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder:

Often, many of us believe that PTSD is only developed by people who witness some type of violence, like veterans or police officers. This isn’t true - Anyone can develop PTSD after a particularly stressful experience, for example like getting into or even witnessing a car accident. Understanding this can help others find and seek treatment when necessary.

PTSD is developed after witnessing or experiencing a terrifying or life-threatening event. Symptoms include avoidance of reminders of the event, feelings of unreality, depression, feelings of panic and nightmares. Powerful and overwhelming emotions like regret and guilt are often associated with PTSD. The combination of avoidance, mood disturbances, intrusive thoughts/memories and dissociation can be disorienting and difficult to manage on our own.

Psychotherapy can help those with PTSD in a variety of ways. Through the use of EMDR, an individual can reprocess memories through eye movements in conjunction with therapy. CPT and TF-CBT can be useful in processing thoughts and emotions related to the memory of the event.

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, feel free to reach out to our group for support!