Articles

Definition: Bipolar Disorder I is a form of major depression. It is characterized by one or more manic episodes usually followed by a major depressive episode. This cycling between mania and depression is where the term “manic-depression” comes from. These manic...

Definition: An array of stress-induced syndromes that occur within 3 months after exposure to a distressing (traumatic or non-traumatic) event, such as marital or financial conflict in adults, family conflict, school problems, death of a family member, sexuality...

By Lisa Aranas, MA, JD, LCPC Am I just sad, down, feeling blue or am I depressed? And what does it mean when I hear that someone is suffering from depression, anyway? If we haven’t already, at some time in our lives we will experience some event that will cause us to...

By Greta Nielsen, LCPC “As Winter approaches I get that feeling that I just want to go to bed and stay there until March. Do I have Seasonal Depression?” This time of year in this part of the country most of us would like to fast forward to the warm, sunny days of...

Note: Recently Post-traumatic Stress Disorder has been re-classified as a trauma or stressrelated disorder instead of an anxiety disorder. This might help de-stigmatize PTSD since it is no longer an anxiety-related mental illness but a disorder caused by an external...

Definition Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) occurs within one month in an individual after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, such as a death, threat of death, serious injury or physical violation. ASD is characterized by the development of severe anxiety, fear,...

Specific Learning Disorder Definition: Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) is a disorder that disrupts the normal pattern of learning academic skills for at least 6 months. A key feature is that the individual’s performance in a particular area is well below the average...

Managing Stress During Challenging Times By Scott Stolarick, LCPC It seems like every day there is some type of distressing news for the public to digest. In this age of technology and mass media, it is hard to escape these messages. It is important for us to identify...

Definition: Agoraphobia (AG) is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and often avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed. The anxiety is caused by the fear that there is no way to escape or get...

Definition: Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder with persistent and usually unexpected panic attacks. These panic attacks are marked by the continual fear of future attacks, shifts in behavior to avoid future attacks, or both of these issues, for at least one month....