HowToDoThings.com Recent Mental Health Articles

How To Cope if You Want to Become Anorexic

teen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:05:01 -0500

Sometimes the urge to become thin is overwhelming. You may reach a desperate state where you are willing to try anything, even something as dangerous as anorexia just so you can achieve ideal thinness. Take heart, there are some ways you can cope with this desperate desire that will keep you from risking your life by becoming anorexic.

How To Stop Cutting Yourself

marcalex — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:16:12 -0500

Cutting is a serious condition that has causes in stress and psychological disorders. While cutting may start as a way to release pent up emotion and tension, it can quickly become a dangerous, even deadly, activity. If you want to stop cutting yourself, follow these steps but do not try to go it alone.

How To Deal with Criticism

visionarywrite — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:47:29 -0500

How To Identify a Suicidal Person

visionarywrite — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:52:54 -0500

How To Recognize the Signs of Depression

visionarywrite — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:40:37 -0500

How To Stop Panic Attacks

marcalex — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:41:12 -0500

Panic attacks can strike when you least expect it. If you find yourself frequently overcome by panic and fear, there is a way out. Try these steps and you should be on your way to controlling or stopping panic attacks.

There are natural methods of treating panic attacks and freeing yourself from anxiety. For a comprehensive and natural plan, I recommend you visit PanicAway.

Now let's get started.

How To Calm Yourself During Panic Attacks

JimLow — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:53:09 -0500

A panic attack is a climax of anxiety symptoms that causes them to be experienced suddenly and forcefully. The symptoms may include: intense fear, rapid heart rate, hyperventilation, an urge to escape, muscle tension, dizziness, sweating and mild to moderate pain and pressure in the chest. People who experience frequent panic attacks have a condition referred to as Panic Disorder. The following four steps which are often used in variations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help those who suffer panic attacks, to calm themselves when experiencing them.

How To Recognize Teen Depression

instinctual — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:53:09 -0500

How To Master the Art of Meditation

margnorton — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:19:10 -0500

What do you think of when you hear the word meditation? Many people say they think of Buddhist monks kneeling for long periods of time, skinny people twisting their bodies in strange yoga positions, strong incense smells and unrecognizable sounds, and something that only the religious or new age type person does. But this is not necessarily true. Anyone can learn to meditate. It can be done anywhere and anytime with no special preparation. You don't have to be on top of a mountain in a foreign country.

How To Help a Woman After a Miscarriage

ellen66 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:58:26 -0600

Are you at a loss when it comes to knowing what to say or do to help a woman who has miscarried? Often, we don't know what to say or do and opt for either saying, or doing, nothing. To make matters worse, we make the mistake of dismissing her grief. I'm here to help you by offering a few simple support tips if you find yourself with a friend or loved one who has miscarried.

How To Handle Your New Bipolar Diagnosis

Lac1117 — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:13:52 -0600

The initial diagnosis of Bipolar disorder or "manic-depressive" disorder can be scary, disheartening, or depressing, all at once. It may also possibly bring relief to your life, to finally know what it is that has been draining you and overwhelming you, day after day. If you have recently been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, you may have started on a regimen of medications, psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy. Regardless of the type of treatment you've started, there are still a few "never forget" tips that will help you cope, day after day, and that are essential for your physical and mental well-being. Follow these steps daily, for every up and down:

How To Deal With Seasonal Affective Disorder

bronwyn — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:11:52 -0600

Seasonal affective disorder, also known as winter depression or SAD, is a form of depression that is often triggered by shorter days, cold weather, and lack of sunshine or natural light. Seasonal affective disorder can be quite serious and if so, should be treated by a doctor. However, for those who are suffering from a milder version of it, there are some concrete steps that can be taken to feel better even though the weather hasn't changed.

How To Help an Anxiety Patient

hamed — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:28:19 -0600

Anxiety is a mental/psychological disorder that causes many problems to the individual. It causes muscular tension, headaches, problems with memory, difficulty concentrating, hopelessness, helplessness, difficulty sleeping, etc. The most important and most serious problem, however, is the subjective pain that the patient feels. The most common and most severe symptom of anxiety is the extreme difficulty in breathing. Tension in the abdominal muscles and chest pain are also major problems to the patient.

Our lives are full of different kinds of stressors and normal people are gifted with the ability to face those stressors. Anxiety badly affects and damages this ability to bear stress. Small routine tasks become difficult or even mentally painful for the individual. Patients feel psychological pain for very trivial tasks like brushing teeth or buying a soft drink. Anxiety also makes people lazy.

How To Use Yoga to Escape from the Holiday Hustle

melbeau — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:28:47 -0600

Wings and Prayers is a beautiful, calming yoga exercise that can take you from a state of stress and anxiety to a place of quietness and calmness. All you need is your breath and a willing mind.

How To Use the Power of Touch in Your Yoga Practice

melbeau — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:15:02 -0600

When we suffer from anxiety, our minds can become scattered and our bodies riddled with tension. Yoga has the ability to pull us out of a state of anxiety and place us into an environment of physical and mental solitude. Practicing yoga enables us to use all of our physical senses to help pull us back to calmness. One powerful sense we can learn to apply and cultivate in our asana (pose) is touch. By shifting our attention into pressing our hands and feet to the earth and grounding our asana, we've established a stable environment that can be calming and healing.

How To Identify Four Common Anxiety Disorders

JimLow — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:06:32 -0500

Anxiety symptoms generally include the following; apprehension, worry, feelings of fear, rapid heart beat, hyperventilation, excessive sweating, blushing, trembling, increased blood pressure and muscle tension. These symptoms are included in what are called "anxiety disorders" and are experienced to varying degrees, depending upon which anxiety disorder a person is experiencing. The steps below help us to identify four different types of common anxiety disorders.

How To Tell the Differences Between Psychosis and Common Anxiety and Depression

JimLow — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:38:09 -0500

Common anxiety and clinical depression are types of "neurosis”. Psychosis is the term for a mental disorder that causes a person to lose touch with reality and that may cause them to have hallucinations and delusions. Mental disorders that are in the psychosis category include bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Anxiety and common clinical depression are both in the neurosis category, meaning they are stress- and nerve-related and not caused by a severe underlying mental disorder.

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How To Help a Friend with a Drinking Problem

Lorats1 — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:59:07 -0500

We all know the "one friend." He or she is the life of the party, always game for a good time. But the friend tends to go too far and ends up sloppy and troubling. Maybe she has gotten a DUI or lost her job. Perhaps he gets mean and is hard to hang out with after a certain number of drinks. Or maybe he disappears, has become unreliable and even very depressed.

One thing is certain. You have a loved one who is drinking too much and you're worried. Very worried. So what do you do?

How To Make Anxiety Work For You

JimLow — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:10:03 -0500

One of the more successful treatments for anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders is a method of therapy called "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" (CBT) and many anxiety disorder patients have had great success in overcoming and coping with anxiety symptoms through this method. Some aspects of CBT that are important parts of the therapy are:

How To Identify and Treat Depression in Men

innkblotz — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:28:50 -0500

In college, I knew a fellow student who was under some typical student-related stress: finishing coursework, applying for a business internship, dealing with family dynamics, etc. Over the semester, he became more and more irritable and moody, and his social circle dwindled as he snapped at friends and lost interest in hanging out outside the home. Although some people tried to help him cope with stress, he did not begin to feel better until his family physician prescribed an anti-depressant.

None of his friends realized it, but he was depressed.

How To Take Control of Your Negative Self-Talk

Lindasimmon — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:43:39 -0500

I overheard a conversation the other day when I was out shopping, and I realized how important it is that I share with all of you the knowledge, power, techniques, thoughts and suggestions I give my clients as part of our therapy sessions once they have decided that it is time to take action and take back control of their life and change their thoughts, actions and behavior.

How To Overcome Fear of Flying

Staff468 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:13:00 -0500

Many of us are afraid of driving because we consider it too unsafe. That fear is considered legitimate because the high frequency of car accidents tells us there is a substantial risk to driving. But the ultra-low frequency of airplane accidents would indicate to us the risk involved in air travel is extremely minimal. And yet the fear persists, which is why fear of flying is considered a phobia - aviophobia, an irrational fear. But given that humans only developed this ability to fly within the last hundred years or so, should it come as a surprise that not all of us are comfortable traveling miles above solid ground in a metal tube?

How To Overcome Claustrophobia

Staff468 — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:25:00 -0500

Two of the most well known diagnosable fears are claustrophobia and arachnophobia. But while arachnophobia had a movie named for it, claustrophobia owes its fame solely to the simple fact that a great many people suffer from it. The phobia ranges widely in its severity; some feel a non-debilitating sense of unease, but in the most severe cases, the fear prevents people from necessary activities of life. Though you may be frightened to confront the disorder, you can most definitely overcome claustrophobia.

Understand the fear. Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder in which a person experiences fear in confined places. Most people consider claustrophobia to be a fear of small places themselves, but many claustrophobes describe their fear as being more a result of a perceived inability to escape. This is perhaps one reason why many claustrophobes can cope in a particular room until someone closes the door.

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How To Understand People Who Cut Themselves

Staff468 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:43:00 -0500

Cutting oneself is pretty much what it sounds like--taking a blade or other sharp object and cutting one's own skin on any part of one's body until it bleeds. Although cutting is the most common form of self-injurious behavior, self-injury can include burning oneself with a lighted cigarette or match, biting, banging one's head, punching oneself or pulling out one's own hair (trichotillomania). People who injure themselves in these ways are typically between 13-15 years of age and female, although cutting can go on for years unnoticed by others. Some boys exhibit self-injurious behaviors as well. Here is some information that can help you to better understand self-injury:

Cutting is a coping mechanism, granted an unhealthy one, that helps people to handle intense feelings of upset or pressure.

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How To Recover from a Suicide Attempt

Staff468 — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:26:00 -0500

Surviving a suicide attempt can be an incredibly disorienting experience. You may feel anything from joy to despair over the fact that your effort to kill yourself did not work. Additionally, the circumstances of your suicide attempt may contribute to feelings of embarrassment, shame and social stigma. Finally, you may have caused physical harm to yourself that requires recovery. Here are a few tips to help you recover after a suicide attempt.

If You Have Received Treatment. If you have been treated in an emergency room or other medical facility, find out what medications and procedures you have received. Ask for a copy of your medical records and take these with you to subsequent doctor or therapist appointments.

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How To Practice Suicide Prevention

Vanessa264 — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:10:00 -0500

Suicide is a devastating consequence of depression that has not been successfully treated. 95% of all suicides happen at the peak of a depressive episode. If someone's underlying depression is recognized, addressed and successfully treated, his suicide can be prevented. In fact, many suicide attempts themselves are desperate cries for help. Here are a few tips on how to practice suicide prevention:

Know the warning signs. Most people exhibit warning signs before a suicide attempt. These may include:

Depression

Persistent feelings of sadness or emptiness

Feelings of worthlessness

Hopelessness and helplessness

Panic and anxiety

Irritability and anger

Moodiness that is out of character

Feelings of guilt and/or shame

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How To Understand a Panic Attack

Staff468 — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 00:11:00 -0600

You are seized by sudden inexplicable terror. Your pulse skyrockets, you break out in sweat, you hyperventilate and your heart pounds loudly in your chest. You may be having a panic attack. Here are a few pointers to help you understand the who, what, where and why of a panic attack:

First Timers. The first time you experience a panic attack, you may feel as if you are either having a heart attack or losing your mind. The symptoms are so sudden, extreme and debilitating that the experience is overwhelming. The recognition of the severity of your symptoms can make your symptoms even worse as your anxiety increases. Fortunately, the recognition that these symptoms are not unique and can be treated is the first step to dealing with a panic attack.

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How To Learn About Lithium

Vanessa264 — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:09:00 -0600

I once asked someone who suffered from manic-depression (or bipolar disorder) to describe his experience of the difference between mania and depression. In his words, "When I'm manic, I'm God, and when I'm depressive, I'm Satan." That explanation really brought home to me the challenges of managing a mental illness such as bipolar disorder.

The drug lithium is the drug of choice in treating bipolar disorder (and some other mood disorders). People who suffer from bipolar disorder experience profound changes in mood, as described above. The manic state can include anger and irritability in addition to the false sense of euphoria that is more commonly thought of as mania. The depressive state is primarily a feeling of hopelessness and sadness writ larg.

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How To Stay in Bed All Day

Vanessa264 — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:05:00 -0600

If you're thinking to yourself, "Who needs an article on how to stay in bed all day? I can do that in my sleep," then clearly this article is not for you. And if you already stay in bed all day on a regular basis, then I would suggest that you seek the advice of a mental health professional. But if you've never once in your life stayed in bed all day unless you were either under anesthesia or immobilized by the flu, then by all means, keep reading......you are long overdue.

Staying in bed all day is a wonderful fix for anyone who is overworked, overextended, overwrought or simply overdue for an official day off. If the stay in bed all day concept messes with your Puritan work ethic, then think "mental health day" instead. Here are a few tips to help you prepare for your all day bed stay:

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How To Understand Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Vanessa264 — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:27:00 -0600

I hesitate to tell this story because it might seem unkind. But it is true, and is an apt illustration of obsessive compulsive disorder in the real world, so here goes.....

When I was in college, a friend of mine worked in an office in a beautiful old Victorian house in the center of town. There were several different offices within the building and one of them housed a psychiatrist. One afternoon when I stopped by to pick up my friend after work, we observed from her second floor window a woman in a car in the parking lot exhibiting unusual behavior. The woman repeatedly backed her car up and made right-hand turns in a convoluted effort to exit, when there was a clear path out of the parking lot that would have required only a single left-hand turn.

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How To Understand Brain Shivers

Staff468 — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:02:00 -0600

Let's hope that Tom Cruise is not reading this article because we're going to discuss antidepressants. An unusual symptom of withdrawal from certain antidepressants is the phenomenon known as brain shivers. The antidepressants venlafaxine (Effexor), duloxetine (Cymbalta) and escitalopram (Lexapro) have all been associated with brain shivers, with Effexor leading the pack. Effexor and Cymbalta are serotonin and noradrenalin reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and Lexapro is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), all of which affect the levels of serotonin (a neurotransmitter) in the brain. Many who suffer from depression report experiencing brain shivers as a result of tapering off of these antidepressants and some people report experiencing brain shivers as a result of missing only one dose. Here are a few facts to help you better understand brain shivers.

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How To Understand Bulimia

Staff468 — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:47:00 -0600

Bulimia nervosa is a type of eating disorder also known as binge and purge syndrome. Someone who suffers from bulimia typically binges on large quantities of food and then attempts to prevent weight gain by vomiting, fasting, exercising compulsively, or abusing laxatives, diuretics and even enemas. Below are some facts to give you a better understanding of bulimia:

90% of bulimics are women.

Bulimics are not as easy to identify as sufferers of anorexia nervosa because their weight may range from underweight to normal to overweight.

Bulimic cycles vary: Some people binge and purge as frequently as several times per day (for example, after every meal) while others suffer episodes as sporadically as every few months.

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How To Understand Anorexia Nervosa

Staff468 — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 23:44:00 -0600

Anorexia nervosa is an illness that predominantly afflicts female teenagers. Anorexia nervosa differs from bulimia in that bulimics eat excess amounts of food but prevent themselves from gaining weight by vomiting and/or using laxatives and diuretics, while anorexia nervosa sufferers abstain from food as much as humanly possible. People who suffer from anorexia nervosa exhibit some combination of the following symptoms:

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How To Diagnose Bipolar Disorder

Jeanie104 — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:37:00 -0500

Bipolar disorder is a very complicated mental illness that is often misdiagnosed. Only a psychiatrist or other highly qualified professional should be trusted to properly diagnose the disorder. However, if before visiting a psychiatrist you want to assess whether you (or a loved one) may have the condition, here's what to do.

Get a good overview of the condition. Bipolar disorder has two main phases: extreme "highs" and extreme "lows." Many people have a fluctuation in moods, but in most cases that is a normal part of life. Bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic depression) is estimated to affect only 1% of the population.

Establish whether you have a family history of bipolar disorder. Bear in mind that misdiagnosis was common in the early days of psychiatry. Did anyone in your family suffer severe depression? Did anyone commit suicide? The exact cause of bipolar is not entirely understood, but it is known to run in families.

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How To Know if you Have a Drinking Problem

Jeanie104 — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 13:13:00 -0500

If you gave your great-grandma Mathilda a bottle of gin to drink in one sitting, she'd undoubtedly do the same silly things most people do when they're drunk, i.e. fall over, throw up, take her top off... You get the picture. But does that mean she's an alcoholic? Not necessarily. A drinking problem is not so much about how much you drink or the stupid things you do when you're drunk. It's about what alcohol does FOR YOU, rather than what it does TO YOU.

So how do you know if you have a drinking problem?

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How To Deal With Depression

Jeanie104 — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 09:59:00 -0500

Trying to fix a sick brain with a sick brain is a bad idea; so don't be tempted to self-diagnose or self-medicate. Below is a list of steps that will help you determine whether you have signs of depression.

Assess whether you're suffering some (or all) of the typical symptoms, which include: feelings of low self-esteem; a loss of libido; persistent feelings of sadness, apathy, or hopelessness lasting more than two weeks; diminished interest in most daily activities (particularly pleasurable ones); decreased appetite and subsequent weight loss; increased appetite and weight gain; lack of sleep (insomnia), frequent waking throughout the night (particularly in the early mornings) or conversely, an increased need for sleep; anxiety; diminished ability to think or concentrate; irritation and frequent outbursts of anger; suicidal thoughts.

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How To Live Every Day Like a New Day

Danielle16 — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:30:00 -0600

This topic hardly makes sense because every day is a new day. Only problem is, we often so busy with life that we forget. Below are ideas for trying a new thing every day. Some ideas are attempts to stimulate your senses. Others are just plain fun.

Eat a new type of fruit - Kiwano? Clementine? Gooseberry?

Add a touch of ginger or lemon zest to your fruit juice. It's taking the first step in spicing up your life in tiny measures.

Start a new hobby - Knitting? Painting? Try something you can do in front of the TV! Easy as pie.

Book a hotel for a weekend of romance with a loved one or be adventurous and travel to the unknown alone.

Have "self-time" - spend a few hours doing everything YOU want to do.

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