HELPING YOUR TEEN DURING THE CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC

Everyone is affected by the world pandemic we have endured for a year now. Daily life has been severely impacted on so many levels some days it can feel like there is nothing to do but sit down and stare at the wall. The bills are due, the job is gone, responsible people have practiced social distancing, wearing a mask, and staying home as much as possible meaning no bars, no social events, no sporting events, extreme stress and high anxiety. Congratulations if you and your partner have figured out how to be together doing fun activities and chores without sniping or outright arguing. Generally, that requires agreed upon alone time that you use to go into a room where you are alone, and read, paint, meditate, work on crafts, do something on the computer other than work or porn or pretending you’re single and cruising dating sites. You can do anything, research, read all kinds of interesting articles, catch up on social media, send emails to friends or chat with a friend or friends from the privacy of your alone time. It’s even more important at this time to maintain social and familial connections than before the pandemic began....

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THE NATION IS GRIEVING

I happened to see Deepak Chopra on a news show this morning. He was bring interviewed about COVID and said that he believes the nation is grieving. So startled, I stopped walking to listen to the rest of what he had to say about that. I know about grief and grieving, have had my fair share, but it never occurred to me that the nation is grieving. I thought, dissolving, having a collective nervous breakdown, using violence as a coping mechanism, and being submissive trying to survive fear itself, but not grieving. Yes, I thought, that’s right, the nation is grieving. It is going through all of the stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In other dire situations, the stages of grief aren’t linear, and they can overlap. The nation is grieving for itself, no matter what you believe, no one is getting what they want, no one. Before I saw that news clip, I was going to write about despair, and how difficult it is and has been these past months, how in the beginning, we thought it would be over maybe not sooner but for sure later. No one could imagine being quarantined for six...

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DURING THE TIME OF CORONA VIRUS

People are scared, anxious, depressed, feel helpless, feel hopeless. It’s all true. Most of us have been on some type of quarantine for months. We’ve learned to wear masks and talk, to stay six feet away from everyone we’re not living with, and to use tubs of hand sanitizer along with washing our hands frequently. We scour stores looking for toilet paper and paper towels, a box of Kleenex is a real score. We didn’t sign up for this, nor did wet see this coming. We couldn’t have imagined the nightmare we’re living through, but like all nightmares, no matter how horrible they are, eventually they are over, we put them away and try not to look back. We go on, shaken up, having learned a new way to live, learning things about ourselves we didn’t know before we were called to courage, hope, faith, and a whole lot of grit to get from the first announcement of a world pandemic to where we are today. Instead of reading a Steven King novel that scares us witless, we feel like we’re inside of a Steven King novel, unable to find our way back out of those pages of life that...

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EARLY CHILDHOOD TRAUMA

This is an important video explaining what happens to developing brains that are traumatized, and gives us a better understanding of childhood trauma, and why talk therapy in adulthood and childhood, for as long as it takes to help the client heal, is the best course of treatment. Without healing, the damage creating unhealthy responses in children continues into adulthood, and can severely impact adult relationships. It's the story that needs to be told and heard with caring and empathy. .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyEEMlMMb0&feature=youtu.be

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Interesting Abstract About Online Counseling

Medscape Medical News from the • American Psychiatric Association (APA) 2015 Annual Meeting This coverage is not sanctioned by, nor a part of, the American Psychiatric Association. Medscape Psychiatry An Internet Depression Therapy as Effective as Drugs? Bret S. Stetka, MD; Jan Philipp Klein, MD Editor's Note: While browsing a poster session at the American Psychiatric Association's 168th Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Medscape spoke with Dr Jan Philipp Klein of the Lübeck University (Lübeck, Germany) Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy about the efficacy of a new Internet-based depression therapy. Medscape: What was the objective of your study[1]? Dr Klein: We were interested in studying Internet-based psychological interventions for depression, in part due to the large treatment gap associated with the condition. Many patients don't get adequate treatment for depression. Prior to starting the study we knew that there is an evidence base for psychological Internet interventions in treating depressive symptoms. However, in previous studies, the sample size was much smaller, and depressive symptoms were only self-rated. This was the first study to also include clinician ratings over time. Medscape: How big was the study? Dr Klein: We recruited over 1000 participants with mild to moderate depressive symptoms, and...

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DEPRESSION, WHAT IT IS, WHAT NOT TO SAY TO SOMEONE WHO HAS IT

Here is a link to a blog article about depression and what well intentioned people shouldn't say to anyone who is depressed. The interesting thing about what not to say is that most people will be tempted to say at least one of the eleven listed because they seem so, well, helpful or distracting or humorous. None of these eleven statements are helpful to people suffering from depression. Depression can be situational or a person may have a genetic predisposition for depression and, in either case, there are better things to do. For one, encouraging a depressed person to share with you what they're feeling then listening and responding with empathic statements like, "It sounds like you're having a hard time right now," or "Tell me how you're feeling so I can try to understand." Taking the time to listen without comparing what they're saying to what you feel or your Aunt Gertrude feels can be very comforting and even helpful to a depressed person. Here's the link to what not to say: www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/blog/11-things-you-should-never-say-to-someone-with-depression  

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