Mental Health

New Technology in Mental Health Treatment

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I recently returned from a conference of the Anxiety and Depression Association in Denver. They were less far along in the progress of spring there, and it snowed on my first day- but who cares? I spent most of my time inside of the Sheraton anyway, choosing between the many promising sessions. I wish I could have attended them all. The most exciting thing about the conference for me though, was the new technology designed to treat mental illness that it introduced. I left feeling very inspired, and hope to incorporate this tech it into my practice soon. Here are … Read more…

Self-Care Is Getting A Bad Rap

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What is and isn’t self-care? I have been noticing a cultural turn against the term “self-care” lately, especially online. I just came across a meme that was representative of this attitude. It was mocking self-care as a response to the news about the ongoing war in Ukraine. It implied that everyone should spend every waking moment organizing, thinking, worrying, and praying about the crisis and framed doing self-care in response as a frivolous, selfish, purely capitalistic reaction. Implying that it would involve indulgent spa days, charcoal face masks, and bath bombs. The meme is not representing what therapists mean by … Read more…

Health Anxiety

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Every so often, patients book appointments with me for anxiety treatment and it turns out that they are suffering from a very specific kind of anxiety. These patients are suffering from what is called “health anxiety”. In other words, they are experiencing immense amounts of worry and fear around interpreting benign physical sensations as an indication of a serious medical condition. These clients have so much distress about possible illnesses that it’s hard for them to even function. Increased prevalence due to COVID Health anxiety has increased during the pandemic. Researchers have noticed that COVID has tipped a lot of … Read more…

Anxiety or Harmful Perfectionism?

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I see many anxious high school and college-age clients in my practice. As I get to know them, I have noticed that a large number are anxious because they are struggling with harmful perfectionism. While it is good to challenge yourself to do well and improve your performance it is possible to take it too far. There is a big difference between having challenging goals and having standards that are impossible to meet.  Standards so high that meeting them sacrifices your social life, physical health, and mental well-being. Many of my clients who have gone too far. They have swallowed … Read more…

Anxiety First Aid

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Anxiety Anxiety is a natural emotion, it’s easy to feel when your anxiety is being triggered. Some people’s telltale signs are fast breathing, racing thoughts, or an elevated heart rate. Many people find, especially in these uncertain times that uneasiness and worry are escalating and interfering with their lives and peace of mind. There is a complicated process going on in the brain when anxiety escalates. As you become nervous and worry sets in, your brain’s primitive fight or flight response is triggered and stress hormones flood your body. The purpose of this ancient automatic response is to give you … Read more…

What is Anxiety?

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What is anxiety? Anxiety is one of your body and brain’s survival mechanisms. The emotion and discomfort of anxious feelings helped primitive man notice impending danger and flee from it and avoid taking dangerous risks. Modern people are not often in physical danger in the same way as primitive man was and we experience chronic stress and social risks rather than attacking lions and bears. Anxiety is not the key to human survival like it used to be and can cause problems at work or in relationships. What are the signs of anxiety? The following is an inventory of anxiety … Read more…

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Lucia Wallis Smith, LPC, NCC, CCATP
707 Alexander Rd #208 Princeton, NJ 08540

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