Diana M. O'Neill, NCC, LPC, BCN

03/18/2022

Depression usually requires professional treatment to manage, but part of that involves finding places in your life where you can make things easier for yourself. Many of those are simple, but require consistency. https://psychcentral.com/depression/how-to-feel-better-when-depressed

Depression is common and treatable. Here are some things you can do, alongside treatment, to feel better fast.

03/17/2022

Wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

03/15/2022

ADHD is a common diagnosis, but a lot of people have never heard it described formally. As a result, there are some widespread misconceptions about it. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/adhd-awareness

Raising ADHD awareness helps create welcoming, accessible schools and workplaces, and ensures doctors can properly treat ADHD. Learn more.

03/11/2022

Avoidance is a behavior that causes anxiety to continue. But avoidance is not the same thing as choosing to focus your attention on the things you can control. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understanding-the-anxious-mind/202002/avoidance-uncertainty-generalized-anxiety-explained

Learn why your anxiety may be about fear of the unknown and what to do about it.

03/08/2022

Depression is more than sadness. It can include lesser-known symptoms such as restlessness and physical aches. https://psychcentral.com/depression/depression-versus-the-blues

Are you sad or experiencing depression? How can you tell? You can find out how here.

03/04/2022

ADHD creates uncertainty, and it's normal for uncertainty to make people feel anxious. But anxiety often recedes as people with ADHD gain greater self-knowledge. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rethinking-adult-adhd/202112/adult-adhd-and-anxiety

Making sense of this all-too-common combination.

03/01/2022

Fear of uncertainty often holds people back from making decisions. But avoiding choices doesn't eliminate uncertainty; the only solution is to become more comfortable with it. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-sticky-mind/202111/behind-chronic-indecisiveness-desire-certainty

How anxiety makes even trivial decisions torturous.

02/25/2022

Depression often masks deeper feelings. Therapy allows us to access them in a safe environment and to find healthier ways to engage with them. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-new-normal/202009/coping-depression

How to acknowledge, understand, and manage symptoms of depression.

02/22/2022

Recent studies suggest that patients using neurofeedback therapy had less of a reliance on medication. https://bit.ly/2Wui7Bi

02/18/2022

Don't feel embarrassed if you're still struggling with pandemic stress. It's hard to conserve out strength when we don't know how long this will last, but there are things we can do to replenish it. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-resilience/202010/dealing-burnout-covid-19-s-psychological-marathon

How to cope with a pandemic that feels like it will never end.

02/15/2022

Have you ever heard of Neurofeedback Therapy? It teaches the brain by changing how it functions and thinks. https://bit.ly/3drFfYk

02/14/2022

Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!

02/11/2022

The challenges facing us are often more manageable when we break them into their component parts and separate which things we can and can't control. That's true even for things like stress from the ongoing pandemic. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/breaking-the-cycle/202011/building-resilience-during-the-pandemic

Learning how to overcome pandemic fatigue.

02/08/2022

We imagine all sorts of terrible situations when we're anxious. But if you really thought those scenarios through, they would lose a lot of their power. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/liking-the-child-you-love/202010/7-words-overcome-your-anxiety

The powerful, calming question you may be forgetting to ask yourself.

02/04/2022

ADHD never really goes away, but its symptoms often change as people get older. Many also benefit from having more experience managing it. https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/can-you-outgrow-adhd

Can you outgrow ADHD? Learn why ADHD may seem less noticeable in adulthood, the differences between ADHD in adults and children, and tips for treatment and management.

02/01/2022

Stress is normal, but burnout isn't. If you feel emotionally flat, it's time to make some changes. https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/26/health/staying-well-burnout-jeanie-chang/index.html

A therapist's advice for preventing burnout

01/28/2022

People with ADHD often struggle to complete tasks because they have less working memory. But that doesn't mean tasks are beyond their ability when they have the right management tools. https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adhd-memory

Here’s what you need to know about the relationship between ADHD and different types of memory, as well as tips and treatment to improve memory symptoms.

01/25/2022

Talking about your problems out loud can help you get a better handle on them. Even if it's hard at first, you'll get better with practice. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-be-burden/202110/you-should-talk-about-your-problems-more

Here are some instructions for self-disclosure.

01/21/2022

ADHD is a lifelong condition, but that doesn't mean it can't be managed or that it makes a person any less worthy. Sometimes, they just have to go about things in a different way. https://theconversation.com/what-causes-adhd-and-can-it-be-cured-170179

Even when the condition lasts a lifetime, there are behavioral treatments and prescription drugs that make it easier for people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to thrive.

01/18/2022

Don't wait until you crash to start doing good things for yourself. Developing a sense of routine will help you enforce your boundaries. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/view-the-mist/202110/burnout-who-me

Ways to decrease the chance of burnout in your life.

01/14/2022

A burst of adrenaline causes physical changes that can help us get through threatening situations. The problem is when we can't turn adrenaline production off. https://psychcentral.com/blog/fight-flight-freeze-stress-response

The stress response serves its purpose. Learn more about what it does to your body and what happens if it becomes chronic.

01/11/2022

The habits we engage in to keep ourselves safe may sometimes be overblown or counterproductive. We have to give ourselves permission to let go of them in order to care for ourselves effectively in the long term. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/managing-health-anxiety/202111/safety-behaviors-the-great-paradox

Learn about how certain behaviors used to reduce health anxiety make it worse.

01/07/2022

Switching between tasks is the time when things are most likely to go awry for a teen with ADHD. These can go more smoothly if you know to plan for them. https://www.additudemag.com/task-switching-adhd-difficulty-transitions-teens/

There’s a lot more to task switching and transitions than meets the eye. ADHD-related issues with focus and executive dysfunction complicate the process of moving from one task to the next. Here, take a deep dive into transitions and learn how to help your teen get over the hump.

01/04/2022

Social media allows people to connect when they otherwise might not have had the chance, but it can also spur depression and anxiety. If you're having trouble with it, you might try some ways of reducing your screentime to a manageable amount. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/social-media-and-mental-health

Social media has associations with depression, anxiety, and feelings of isolation. However, it can also have a positive influence on individuals and communities. Learn more.

12/31/2021

Anxiety is often fueled by unexamined assumptions. Part of therapy is training yourself to question leaps in logic. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anxiety-in-high-achievers/202111/5-questions-calm-your-anxious-mind

2. What are the odds that my fear will become a reality?

12/28/2021

Having an accurate understanding of your own skill level doesn't have to prevent your from developing a growth mindset. Just because you haven't mastered something yet doesn't mean you never will. https://www.additudemag.com/limiting-beliefs-overcome-teens-adhd/

Your biggest critic may live inside your own head. Your limiting beliefs about your character, capabilities, and potential may be holding you back from greatness — in high school and beyond. Try these three strategies to mute your inner critic, develop a growth mindset, and increase your confidenc...

12/24/2021

Depression has physical symptoms, as well as mental ones. Therapy can help people to cope more effectively with those, as well. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/depression-physical-symptoms

Depression's physical symptoms can include fatigue, appetite changes, sleeping more or less than usual, and pain. Learn more here.

12/21/2021

There are a lot of things we can do to avoid the things that make us uncomfortable. But many of those strategies don't help us to improve our situations, and fearing discomfort makes us uncomfortable even when the direct cause isn't there. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stop-avoiding-stuff/202110/understanding-your-avoidance

Avoidance is about control, and it can have unintended consequences.

12/17/2021

Not all the symptoms of ADHD are well-known. A person may be muddle through some of the more subtle ones without realizing they could benefit from help. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychiatry-and-sleep/202110/high-functioning-adhd-is-often-subtle-still-mountain

ADHD can hide its manifestations in intelligent, highly functioning individuals.

12/14/2021

Catastrophizing is a pattern of false beliefs that increase a person's pain and anxiety. It doesn't means that a person's feelings aren't real, but it does mean they're unhelpful and there are other things a person could do instead. https://www.verywellhealth.com/managing-anxiety-and-catastrophic-thinking-5192375

Catastrophizing, also known as catastrophic thinking, is one form of cognitive distortion. People focus on negative thoughts and disastrous thinking.

12/10/2021

The exhaustion and cognitive fog caused by depression make it hard for someone who has it to describe what it's like. Therapists can provide practice and resources for explaining it to loved ones. https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/how-to-explain-depression

Explaining depression can be challenging. Here are a psychologist's tips for choosing words and finding allies to help.

12/07/2021

When everything feels like an emergency, you need to create a system for prioritizing. For that, you have to give yourself permission to weigh some things as less important than others. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-way-adhd/202110/learning-prioritize-adhd

What is my plan, what's most important, and where do I begin?

12/03/2021

Once you've figured out how to manage anxiety symptoms, the next step is to figure out where they're coming from. This will require you to be kind to yourself. https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/getting-to-the-root-of-your-anxiety

Coping techniques help you manage anxiety, but understanding the root of your symptoms can offer you lasting results. Here's how to explore the whys.

11/30/2021

You shouldn't have to feel ashamed of your emotions. But if they're causing you persistent distress, they may qualify as one of these mood disorders. https://psychcentral.com/health/all-about-mood-disorders

If you experience euphoric or depressive episodes for long periods of time, or if your mood changes frequently, you could be living with a mood disorder.

11/26/2021

To cultivate self-compassion, we must learn to recognize negative self-talk when it has become automatic. Until then, we have to make a conscious effort to focus on the good parts of ourselves. https://www.additudemag.com/self-compassion-practice-adhd-shame/

“Self-compassion allows you to be good enough as you are, with your warts, with your foibles, sometimes off-balanced, sometimes more reactive than you'd like, sometimes disorganized, but fundamentally perfectly imperfect as a human being, just like everyone else.”

11/23/2021

What do you do when someone else is too stressed to maintain a productive conversation? You may be able to turn down the heat and come back later without bruised feelings. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/friendship-20/202106/5-more-helpful-things-say-calm-down

In times of conflict, here's how to not add fuel to the fire.

11/19/2021

ADHD is complicated, and people who have it tend to react differently than other people to different kinds of motivators. With structure, understanding, and practice in certain skills, teens can learn to channel it happily. https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adhd-symptoms-in-teens

Many people with ADHD have at least some symptoms that continue into adolescence and adulthood. Here are the signs and information that can help.

11/16/2021

Making small decisions can accumulate into a lot of anxiety. But we can remove some of these problems by establishing routines and learning to let go of the small stuff. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-practice/202108/5-decision-making-tips-can-simplify-your-life

Decision-making can be exhausting and anxiety-provoking.

11/12/2021

ADHD doesn't usually disappear as a person gets older. But if they get coaching when they're young, they will develop skills that will benefit them throughout life. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/adhd-getting-worse-with-age

ADHD will not get worse with age if a person is receiving treatment for their symptoms. In general, the sooner a person begins treatment for ADHD, the better the outcome.

11/09/2021

A person may be coping with anxiety while still incurring a toll from it. Even if you don't have a full-blown disorder, you may benefit from stress reduction techniques. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/high-functioning-anxiety

Some people define themselves as having high functioning anxiety and often don't show any signs of anxiety. However, they may still face challenges.