by guest blogger, Brad Krause You may already know the importance of self-care, but are you taking time to really put that knowledge to use? Self-care is a necessary tool in maintaining your mental health and can help you stay strong during difficult times, such as recovering from addiction. Want to know more? Here are five meaningful methods to incorporate … Read More
ADHD Sucks! – but you can do something about it
ADHD sucks! Sometimes I wish I had cancer or a broken leg! They never truly mean it. The occasional client that says something like this is absolutely not trying to diminish the experience of those suffering from other conditions, nor are they trying to imply that living with ADHD is more difficult or challenging than battling cancer or recovering from … Read More
A note from Cheryl, RN
This Fall 2016 semester, I have had the pleasure of working with Cheryl Gordon-Zupancic, RN. Cheryl is a very experienced and talented nurse who is presently in school to become a Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner like me. I asked her if she would like to write a guest blog post on some of the things that she has learned during … Read More
The horrible branding of psychiatric medication
Can I offer you a Kleenex®? Or perhaps a Q-tips®? Have you ever “Googled” for the nearest coffee shop because you needed a Starbucks®? Sometimes a product’s brand can become so pervasive that the branded name can actually replace the more generic term (i.e., tissue, cotton swab, internet search, coffee). Unfortunately, we have the opposite problem in psychiatry. That is, … Read More
Playing In the Sand – How Therapy Works
Sometimes during a meeting with a client I bring out a big box of sand and ask my clients to use little miniature-sized objects (like little plastic people, cars, rocks trees, etc.) to construct a physical representation of what is on their mind. Why would I have grown professionals spend valuable therapy time playing in the sand? Here’s why… Your … Read More
Dr. Phil Discusses Pharmacogenomics
I don’t watch Dr. Phil. And, to be honest, there was a point that I thought his show had spun off both Friday Night Lights and Walker, Texas Ranger. However wrong I may have been, I do think it is pretty cool that pharmacogenetic tests are getting some much-deserved air time:
ADHD – A Disorder of Executive Functions
Although ADHD is considered by many experts to be a disorder of our brain’s “executive functions,” this newer understanding of ADHD is not referenced in our own psychiatric manual of diagnosis, the DSM-5. When the American Psychiatric Association published the DSM-5 in 2013, it was met with some pretty heated controversy. I, however, do not mind the DSM controversy at all as it highlights some … Read More
A Journaling Habit
As I start listing recommendations and ideas to incorporate into a new client’s treatment plan, I usually get some sort of non-verbal cue that they and I are on the same page. That is until I get to the part where I say that I want them to start journaling on a regular basis. At this point the client’s eyes … Read More
Pharmacogenomics – The Mental Health Genetic Tests
If you have recently had an appointment with me you have probably heard something about a new trend in the mental health field: the use of pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s genes affect their response to medications, and this trend has resulted in the creation of several lab tests which targets those genes most relevant to … Read More
The Productivity of Low-Hanging Fruit
If productivity was a super-food smoothie, mine would be made entirely of low-hanging fruit (LHF). It’s not that all the juicer tasks are completed once I’ve cleared out the LHF, it’s more like…if the task is something other than an LHF (like learning how to use an ellipsis correctly), it shall permanently reside on the long-term task list. Now, task … Read More
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