HOW is the PANDEMIC AFFECTING COLLEGE STUDENTS?
College students are feeling more depression, anxiety, and loneliness than ever before. This is based on a survey of 33,000 students from a researcher at Boston University
Read more
Author: chrisjo
WHAT RISK FACTORS for COVID 19 CAN WE CONTROL?
WHAT RISK FACTORS for COVID 19 CAN WE CONTROL? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. COVID 19 became the leading cause
Read more
HOW HAS COVID 19 AFFECTED CHILD MENTAL HEALTH?
HOW HAS COVID 19 AFFECTED CHILD MENTAL HEALTH? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. In a word, the impact of the
Read more
WHAT HAS BEEN the IMPACT OF COVID 19 on HOMICIDE RATES?
WHAT HAS BEEN the IMPACT OF COVID 19 on HOMICIDE RATES? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. During this COVID 19
Read more
HOW DO WE CHOOSE ACTIVITIES ONCE WE ARE VACCINATED?
HOW DO WE CHOOSE ACTIVITIES ONCE WE ARE VACCINATED? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. Recent blogs have been about vaccination-related
Read more
DO PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IMPACT the EFFECTIVENESS OF COVID 19 VACCINES, as well as SIDE EFFECTS?
DO PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IMPACT the EFFECTIVENESS OF COVID 19 VACCINES, as well as SIDE EFFECTS? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D.
Read more
HOW to OVERCOME the FRUSTRATIONS with SCHEDULING an APPOINTMENT for COVID 19 VACCINATIONS
HOW to OVERCOME the FRUSTRATIONS with SCHEDULING an APPOINTMENT for COVID 19 VACCINATIONS By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. In attempting
Read more
WHAT ABOUT A CASE STUDY in VACCINATIONS, SAY ISRAEL?
WHAT ABOUT A CASE STUDY in VACCINATIONS, SAY ISRAEL? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. The last blog on how effective
Read more
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE COVID-19 VACCINES, REALLY?
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE COVID-19 VACCINES, REALLY?
The most basic measure of the effectiveness of the COVID 19 vaccines is simple: thus far, only two people have died after being vaccinated, according to reports available. One death in Florida was due to a rare blood disorder, not COVID. One death in California is of still undetermined causes.
HOW HAS the COVID 19 PANDEMIC IMPACTED MENTAL HEALTH?
A recent Gallup poll reveals that Americans rate their mental health at the lowest level in the prior 20 years. Seventy-six percent rate their mental health as good or excellent, compared to 85% in 2019. Since 2001, ratings of excellent or good ranged from 81% to 89%, as compared to this year’s 76%.
Read more
HOW to HELP KIDS WITH ADHD LEARN DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
ADHD presents special challenges with school efforts and homework, all the more in the current remote learning programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being able to sit still and sustain focused effort is all the more difficult when learning is limited to screen time. Please see previous blogs and articles for some of the basic issues involved. Here are some specific strategies to help
Read more
HOW CAN WE MAINTAIN HOPE in CHALLENGING TIMES? – Part 2
“Measure it.” Evaluate your starting point, or “baseline”, and identify where you need to improve. “Read history.” History, especially of bleak periods, provides context and substance. We can see how people survived the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Civil War,
Read more
HOW CAN WE MAINTAIN HOPE in CHALENGING TIMES? – Part 1
Maintaining hope during the recent COVID surge in California and around the country is helpful, even essential, in many ways. Hope reduces anxiety, despair, and of course depression. We have more effective coping skills and recover from disappointments more quickly when we have hope. We are more skilled at problem solving, communicate better, and are more trusting of others.
Read more
CAN WE THRIVE WHEN LIFE FEELS SO TERRIBLE?
CAN WE THRIVE WHEN LIFE FEELS SO TERRIBLE? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. A community website, The Mighty, provides information
Read more
IS THERE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT the PRACTICE OF PRAYER?
IS THERE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT the PRACTICE OF PRAYER? In dealing with the COVID 19 pandemic, many people are turning to prayer. In the first stages of the pandemic, Google searches for prayer worldwide increased significantly
Read more
HOW DOES LAUGHTER HELP WITH COVID 19?
In basic biochemical terms, laughter releases nitric oxide, which reduces blood pressure, decreases clotting, and relaxes blood vessels. A study of older men and women in Japan associated laughter with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. A Norwegian study found an association between humor and a longer life, especially for women. Dr. Miller “prescribes” a “deep psychological laugh that elicits tears of joy and relaxation” each day.
Read more
HOW CAN YOU MAINTAIN an EXERCISE ROUTINE?
As the COVID 19 pandemic stretches on and on, maintaining your motivation to exercise may be more and more difficult. Even though recent blogs have cited the benefits of exercise for our immune system, as well as it being an antidote to depression, anxiety, and sleep difficulties, losing interest and energy for exercise is understandable, even predictable perhaps
Read more
HOW CAN WE PROTECT AGAINST VIRUSES?
A new study reveals greater risks for infection from cold and influenza viruses for people with “psychosocial vulnerabilities”, which can be applied to risks with COVID 19. This expands on a recent blog about strengthening our immune system.
Read more
HOW CAN WE LIFT OUR SPIRITS DURING COVID 19? – PART 2
Sacks explores a variety of unusual, and mostly very rare, ways in which music comes to dominate a person’s brain, and life. But he also describes how powerfully therapeutic music can be for patients with Parkinson’s Disease or Dementia
Read more
HOW CAN WE LIFT OUR SPIRITS DURING COVID 19?
The last few months of blogs have focused on the COVID 19 pandemic: how to cope; how to help our kids cope; dealing with grief; dealing with psychological issues such as anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, substance abuse, child abuse, domestic violence; risks of losing insurance coverage for telehealth; strengthening our immune system; maintaining exercise.
Read more
What ARE the CARDIAC RISKS of COVID 19?
What ARE the CARDIAC RISKS of COVID 19? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. Recent blogs have identified a variety of
Read more
ONE MORE IMPACT of the COVID 19 CRISIS: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
ONE MORE IMPACT of the COVID 19 CRISIS: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
In addition to anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and substance abuse discussed in previous blogs, domestic violence is one more aspect of the COVID 19 pandemic that “lurks in the shadows”.
Read more
WILL INSURANCE COMPANIES CONTINUE to COVER TELEHEALTH SERVICES?
Insurance companies are moving towards reducing the benefits for telehealth services. They may be lowering reimbursement levels to pre-COVID 19 levels so that reimbursement to providers will be lower and out-of-pocket co-pays will be higher for patients. They may also re-institute prior authorizations for services, which is a time-consuming process for providers that often discourages them from even providing service.
Read more
ONE MORE CRISIS WITH COVID 19: CHILD ABUSE
Nationwide, child abuse experts are observing a worrisome landscape during the COVID 19 pandemic and lockdown: a likely increase of more severe child abuse and neglect.
Read more
STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM TO DEAL WITH COVID 19
STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM TO DEAL WITH COVID 19 By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. Recent blogs have focused on helping
Read more
COVID 19 is a MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS TOO: DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, SUICIDE RISK, SUBSTANCE ABUSE
COVID 19 is a MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS TOO. Two-plus months into sheltering at home due to the COVID 19 crisis, and beginning to re-open our economy, we are in the midst of another kind of health crisis. This one has to do with psychological health and well-being.
Read more
IN the MIDDLE of the NIGHT I CONTEMPLATED LOSS
IN the MIDDLE of the NIGHT I CONTEMPLATED LOSS. i was laying there. trying to shut off my brain. but it just wouldn’t. i had past that point. that magical moment when sleep is possible.
Read more
COVID 19 PROMPTS GRIEF IN MORE SUBTLE WAYS
Covid 19 Prompts Grief in Subtle Ways. When we think of grief, we usually think of mourning the death of a loved one, family member, close friend, or perhaps charismatic and important leader (JFK, Martin Luther King, FDR, Nelson Mandela)
Read more
HOW DO WE HELP KIDS COPE WITH COVID 19?
The previous blog about coping with the COVID 19 pandemic was focused on us adults. How about helping our children?
First, we need to consider how staying at home is impacting kids. As we know our own kids, are they responding as they usually do at times of higher stress? Are their responses the same as usual, but perhaps more intense (as often the case with us adults)?
Read more
HOW DO YOU COPE WITH COVID 19 STRESS?
HOW DO YOU COPE WITH COVID 19? By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D. How do you usually cope with stress? Do
Read more
KAISER CONTINUES to RESTRICT ACCESS to COUNSELING
Kaiser Permanente in Northern California continues to restrict access to counseling services for its subscribers. In 2013, Kaiser was penalized $4 million for denying services by the California State Department of Managed Care, as discussed in a previous blog on this website.
Read more
HOW DO YOU COPE WITH COVID 19?
By Alan M. Solomon, Ph.D.
How do you usually cope with stress? Do you quickly take action to deal with a challenge, seek relief and resolution? Do you pause, reflect, perhaps check-in with trusted friends, family members, work colleagues, formulate a plan of action and begin to take steps? Do you try some online research to understand the problem more deeply?
Read more
Marijuana Use Among Adolescents is Increasing, While Other Substance Use is Declining
A recently released survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has revealed that teenagers are vaping marijuana and nicotine with much greater frequency, in contrast to reduced alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and use of hard drugs
Read more
AMERICANS ARE LIVING SHORTER LIVES
Drug overdoses, suicides, and also diseases involving internal organs have caused an increase in middle-aged deaths. So much so that the life expectancy in the US has actually declined since 2014 after increasing for the previous 60 years. The largest increase in deaths was in New England and the Ohio Valley. (Ken Pope: US Life Expectancy Down in Recent Years After Increasing for Decades).
Read more
NEW GUIDELINES FOR PARITY OF CARE
A recent class action lawsuit against the country’s largest mental health insurer (United Behavioral Health) has produced a ruling with clear cut principles of care that make mental health coverage on par with medical health coverage (known as “parity
Read more
UNNECESSARY – and SOMETIMES TRAGIC – SUFFERING WHEN THERAPY IS NEEDED
A recent class action lawsuit featured two instances of suffering that proved to be unnecessary, and in one instance tragic. To mental health care professionals, this is an all-too-familiar scenario.
Read more
Loneliness is Widespread
In the US, 22% of adults report “…they often or always feel lonely, feel that they lack companionship, feel left out, or feel isolated from others, and many of them say their loneliness has had a negative impact on various aspects of their life.”
Read more
How Dangerous is Bullying – Part 2
A recent blog, “How Dangerous is Bullying?” is further emphasized by a recent article from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “Bullying isn’t just a problem, it should be considered a national emergency based on the stunning statistics.”
Read more
Is Counseling a Part of Good Health Care?
“Fifty percent of the patients seeing me for cardiac care are really dealing with psychological issues.” So said a cardiac physician in an informal conversation recently. “So, I quiet myself, listen quite a bit, and then watch for an opportunity to counsel the patient about his anxiety, depression, etc.” This comment was made about patients receiving care after a procedure had been completed.
Read more
Can Reading Help Children Heal?
Does reading to children provide more than entertainment? More than stimulation for language development? More even than the cozy comfort of “cuddling” with nurturing adults? Yes, according to a recent “Fixes Column” in the New York Times.
Read more