Areas of focus

Anxiety, also known as distress, feelings of uneasiness or apprehension, is a normal reaction to everyday stressors. These feelings become a concern when they are coupled with physical symptoms such as chest tightness, stomach discomfort, restlessness, perspiration, palpitations, and headaches. If the combination of these physical and emotional reactions increase or persist, it may affect a person’s ability to function and can develop into an anxiety disorder. People who suffer from anxiety may also experience feelings of confusion, avoidance, and impairment in concentration. Anxiety may also present itself as an overwhelming feeling of shame or hypervigilance (i.e “People can tell I am fearful” or “I am always on guard”).

Anxiety disorders also affect people’s thoughts, perceptions, and interpretations of their environment and interactions. People with anxiety disorders may pay special attention to situations that confirm their anxious thoughts. Anxiety disorders may contribute to a person’s distorted sense of self and have an inability to control critical thoughts of themselves and others. Distorted perceptions such as these often heightens anxiety and worrisome behaviors.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults (19.1% of the adult population). Some categories of anxiety disorders are Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder (PD), and Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Anxiety disorders affect 31.9% of adolescents between 13 and 18 years old. Research shows that untreated teenagers with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, miss out on important social experiences, and engage in substance abuse.

Anxiety Disorders are treatable and many people experience symptom relief and improvement in their quality of life after receiving psychotherapy. At Hope and Healing, you will receive a comprehensive assessment and an individualized treatment plan. To treat anxiety disorders, our providers may use one or a combination of treatment approaches:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a type of talk therapy, focuses on identifying, understanding and changing thinking patterns and behaviors. CBT teaches skills and techniques a person can use to reduce their anxiety.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), uses strategies of acceptance and mindfulness (living in the moment and experiencing things without judgment) as a way to cope with unwanted thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), emphasizes taking responsibility for one’s problems and helps individuals examine how they deal with conflict and intense negative emotions.

Prescription medications can also be useful in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Medication can be a short-term or long-term treatment option, depending on how severe an individual’s symptoms are and how he or she responds to treatment. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently the medications of choice for the treatment of childhood and adult anxiety disorders.

Depressive disorders are characterized by sadness, hopelessness, irritability, or dysphoria (unease or dissatisfaction). During a depressive episode (i.e., at least 2 weeks) a person may experience periods of unhappiness, irritability, decreased interest in pleasurable activities, bleak outlook on life and oneself, changes in sleep, loss of appetite, and inability to enjoy things, people or activities. People with depressive disorders typically experience a loss of energy, feel hopeless and worthless, are discouraged, and have a persistent dysthymic or dysphoric mood. Commonly, they have disruptions in their sleep (e.g., insomnia or hypersomnia), appetite, motivation, ability to find pleasure in activities (e.g., anhedonia), and overall enjoyment of life.

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions in the US and it is the leading cause of disability worldwide. In 2020, an estimated 14.8 million U.S. adults aged 18 or older had at least one major depressive episode with severe impairment in the past year. Rates of depression are higher among young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 and an estimated 4.1 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 in the United States had at least one major depressive episode.

Depressive disorders are treatable and many people experience symptom relief and improvement in their quality of life after receiving psychotherapy. At Hope and Healing, you will receive a comprehensive assessment and an individualized treatment plan. To treat depressive disorders, our providers may use one or a combination of treatment approaches:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a type of talk therapy, focuses on identifying, understanding and changing thinking patterns and behaviors. A clinically depressed person is likely to believe themselves as being incapable and helpless, to view others as being judgmental and critical and the future as being bleak and unrewarding. CBT is a structured and didactic form of therapy that focuses on helping individuals identify and modify maladaptive thinking and behavior patterns.

Interpersonal therapy (IPT) is a time-limited treatment for major depressive disorder. It aims at reducing or eliminating depressive symptoms by improving the quality of the patient’s current interpersonal relations and social functioning.

Prescription medication can relieve depressive symptoms. A combination of medication and psychotherapy has been associated with significantly higher rates of improvement in more severe, chronic, and complex presentations of depression. Antidepressants are an effective treatment for depression. Antidepressants usually take some time (2 to 4 weeks) before they impact the symptoms. Appetite, sleep and concentration typically improve before mood begins to lift.

Bipolar disorder, previously called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs and lows. Bipolar disorder includes several subtypes; the most common of these are bipolar disorder, type I (bipolar I disorder), bipolar disorder type II (bipolar II disorder) and cyclothymia. Some symptoms individuals may experience are:

Excessive pursuit of rewards or perceived rewards despite negative consequences, such as spending sprees, excessive risk taking and hypersexuality.
Excessively high, euphoric, or elevated mood or, concurrently or alternatively, extreme irritability or mood lability.
Increased energy, activity, and restlessness.
Racing thoughts and talking very fast, jumping from one idea to another Distractibility, inability to concentrate.
Decreased need for sleep (the belief that sleep is not necessary).
Unrealistic beliefs in one's abilities or importance.

Bipolar disorder affects up to 3% of the US population. Additionally, bipolar disorder is recognized as one of the top 10 most disabling conditions in developed countries worldwide. The suicide rate in bipolar disorder is among the highest of any medical and psychiatric condition, perhaps as high as 10-15% of affected individuals. Bipolar disorder is genetic, with about an 85% risk of developing this disorder.

Treating and diagnosing bipolar disorder is complex and may require psychotherapy and psychopharmacology to receive the best outcomes. Prescriptive medication treatment may consist of various mood stabilizing/anti-manic drugs including lithium, divalproex sodium, several second-generation antipsychotics and several anti-epileptics. Although bipolar disorder may be a life-long disorder, there are various treatment options with great outcomes to improve a person’s quality of life.

Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious and debilitating reaction to trauma that significantly impairs a person’s ability to function in everyday life. Individuals may develop PTSD when exposed to trauma that threatens death or serious injury or witness a traumatic event. A few examples of trauma-inducing events include war, natural or human disasters, physical assault, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, terrorism, torture violence, or motor vehicle accidents. Some symptoms of PTSD may include spontaneous and intrusive distressing memories of the traumatic event, flashbacks, Recurrent distressing dreams related to the traumatic event, Persistent inability to experience positive emotions, avoidance of distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings, or exaggerated negative beliefs or expectations about oneself. These symptoms may lead individuals to avoid certain people, events, and feelings, or develop depression, anger and anxiety.

There are about 12 million people in the US living with PTSD. The National Center for PTSD found that about 6 out of 10 men (or 60%) and 5 out of 10 women (or 50%) experience at least one trauma in their lives. For adolescent and teenage girls, 15% to 43% of them have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lives. For adolescent and teenage boys, 14% to 43% have experienced at least one traumatic event in their life. PTSD may go untreated in adults and children due to traumatic events not being recognized or reported.

PTSD can be treated with short-term or long-term therapies or medication based on the severity. Effective treatments include:

Cognitive Restructuring (CR), an intervention that helps people make sense of their bad memories. Frequently, people may remember their trauma differently than how it happened. Cognitive restructuring helps people look at their traumatic experience with facts to get a realistic perspective on the trauma.

Exposure Therapy (ET), an intervention that helps people face and control their fears by exposing them to the traumatic memory they experienced in the context of a safe environment. The goal of this therapy is to gradually expose the individual to the trauma so that the individual becomes less sensitive to it over time.

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