A reader’s comment on the third post in this series has led me to rework the post that I had planned for today. In essence, I was asked if I thought that all persons with anxiety were using that as a defense or screen against depression. The short answer to that is: No, not at …
When we left off, it was with Donovan Campbell, in Joker One, trying to establish measures to deal with the stress faced by 150 Marines trying to gain control over an Iraqi city of 350,000. As a refresher, he was trying to act as a calm leader. As he phrases it: “Frantic-sounding lieutenants lose everyone’s …
[A quick administrative note. I recently entered into an agreement with MentalHelp.net to provide blog posts for them. Some of the entries made here will also appear in their blog. This is the first such post.] Back in March of this year, I was listening to NPR while driving around town doing errands. Terry Gross …
The Atlantic this week has an article entitled Surviving Uncertainty: A Few Tips by Lane Wallace. As part of her credentials on this matter, she notes that: “I’ve flown small aircraft on five continents. I’ve been stranded alone on a glacier in shorts and tennis shoes. I’ve found myself in the middle of rapidly destabilizing …
If the economy isn’t enough to give you agita (see my earlier post), then all the press about swine flu might do the trick. Let’s recall the basics of anxiety: something bad, we’re not sure just what but it’s bad, may happen in the future and there’s nothing we can do about it. I discussed …
If you have been following these posts, perhaps you will recall one entitled “The Experience of Anxiety and Panic.” In that essay, I briefly noted some of the thoughts people with anxiety disorders sometimes have about themselves. The self-attributions or labels that they attach to themselves relevant to today’s discussion include: •embarrassment •shame •guilt •a …