| |
Basic InformationMore InformationLatest NewsQuestions and AnswersBlog EntriesBenzodiazepine Use Linked to Alzheimer's DiseaseObsessions and AddictionHow Exercise Can Reduce AnxietyFear of Heights – Story of a Rock ClimberAromatherapy and AnxietyBe Careful About What You Read OnlineMeditation and AnxietyStress and Anxiety: The Impact the Government Shutdown and The Fiscal Cliff Had on PeopleStress, Anxiety and Mindfulness MeditationWhat We Fear More Than DeathEmbrace Your PastYou Are So Much More Than FearA Simple Trick to Stopping Automatic Negative ThoughtsOf Anxiety and StressEye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): Another Type of PsychotherapyHow to Ground Your Fear of FlyingThe Mental Squiggle: A Good Way to Gain Freedom from Mind TrapsTest Anxiety – When Your Mind Goes BlankYour 14:57 Minute RuleThe Helicopter Parent and the Dangers of Over ProtectingMeditation for Difficult EmotionsJust Breathe: A Practice to Calm the Anxious MindIt's Called Onychophagia or Nail BitingManaging Anxiety by Accepting your Brain's Alarm SystemDo We Need Anxiety? Thoughts for Entering the New YearDoes Anxiety Plus Depression Equal Depression Plus Anxiety? How Clinicians Really ThinkWhat are Thoughts and Who Are You?One Breath at a TimeCultivating Hope in the Eye of a StormIncreased Childhood and Adolescent Anxiety and Depression3 Steps to Silence the Inner-CriticA Way to Turn the Worry Volume DownPractice a Self-Care DietBrain: Chronic Alcohol Maintains FearWhat You Need to Know About Generation XhaustedStrangers and The Need For Personal SpaceRecognize How Precious Your Life IsTaming Anxiety's Effect on MemoryBuried Alive: Saving, Collecting and HoardingStress on the Rise? Two Simple Practices to Find ReliefKids are More Stressed than We Realize: 4 Steps to TakeWhy You Just Can't Stop Texting and DrivingGetting Unstuck: One Practice that Can HelpThe Transitional Objects and Self ComfortBeing Kind to Your Body is Healing to the MindStress Reduction, Tropical Fish and AquariumsAre You Superstitious?Dental PhobiaWhen Calmness is a Trigger for Fear and How to Change itWhy You Need to Get in Your Body Now5 Steps to Change Feelings of Anxiety Of Anxiety and Depression and PlayThe Importance of Saying "No"OCD and ReassuranceA Tip for Happiness: Turn Routine into WonderTaking Back Control of Your Mind: The Power of AcceptanceAvoidance in OCD: It's Never the AnswerResidential Programs for OCD: How Long Should You Stay?Angst in the Face of Economic Meltdown: Managing Your Anxiety When The Stress Won't Go Away! Part IIAngst in the Face of Economic Meltdown: Managing Your Anxiety When The Stress Won't Go Away! Part IWould You Want to Do Therapy Online?8 Ways to Overcome Homework AnxietySensory Overload, Tension and Stress Keep Calm and Carry On: Potential PitfallsCognitive Consistency and Cognitive DissonanceBe in the Eye of the Storm Understanding Recovery Avoidance in OCDBreaking Free from LimboCBT and Mindfulness for Social Anxiety: Train your Brain for Social SuccessHow to Work with UncertaintyNational Debt, Stress and Perception, Is It Really That Bad?Helping or Enabling...A Fine Line When Dealing with OCDGot IBS? Study Says to Try a Little MindfulnessIs Mindfulness Uniquely Buddhist? Decision Making, Who Is In Control?Can you Improve Life Satisfaction by Changing Your Focus?ERP Therapy - A Good Choice for Treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)Clear Away the Mental ClutterDepression & Panic Disorders: Jennifer’s StoryUnchecked Journalism Can Lead to Mindful MisperceptionsI Wish I Had an Illness...Mental or PhysicalDo You Know How Overgeneral Memory Can Impact Depression?Did You Know You May be Keeping Difficulty Around?Negative Self-Talk: A Culprit of Anxiety and DepressionOnline Mindfulness-Based Anxiety TherapyHow to Stop Panic Attacks and Panic AnxietyPanic Attacks: The 30-Minute RuleThe Childhood Anxiety Epidemic: What Parents Can Do About It Help for Panic Attacks & Panic AnxietyHow to Mindfully Work with Difficult EmotionsOvercoming Social Anxiety with Mindfulness TherapyThe Guilts: A Psychoanalytic and Cognitive ViewWhy We Fear Success and What to DoPTSD, Veterans and Equine TherapyAgoraphobia and Spatial Orientation: An Interesting AngleElisha Goldstein's Top 10 MentalHelp Blogs of 2010Online Mindfulness Therapy for AnxietyNewly Married Couples and Sexual FrequencyAn Interview with Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D., on the Synaptic Self and Memory ReconsolidationAnxiety TherapyAlthough We are Wired to Feel Stuck: There is Hope Let's Learn: Trichotillomania (Part 2)An Interview with Monica Ramirez Basco, Ph.D., on ProcrastinationLet's Learn: Trichotillomania (Part 1)What Does the Tetris Effect Have to Do With You? How to Flood Your Life With ConfidenceFascinating Explanations: KindlingWhat to Do in the Places that Scare You: Pema ChodronSelf Therapy: An Interview with Jay Earley, PhDReflections On A SeasonMake Your Life as Inconvenient as PossibleSelf CompassionPerceptions of Life TodayNew Study: 5 Million Californians Need Mental HelpPrepare Now: How to Get Teens to Focus with Homework You May be Trapped in Your Own MindYour Subconscious Mind May be Making Critical Errors in JudgmentOverweight? Your Brain May not Know When to StopOur Anxiety Disorders Topic Center has been Updated!Shyness and Marital ProblemsPeace not War What Everyone Should Know about the Dangers of Their MindsHow Well Do You Know the Committee in Your Mind?More Mindfulness Research for Anxiety and Depression: Here's the RubHow to Slow Down Your Racing Heartbeat When Feeling AnxiousYour Worry or Your Life? The Dark Side of Happy Anniversary Taking a Mindful Path Through ShynessYou vs. Procrastination: 1 (Mindful) Secret to Winning the BattleFreedom from Your Anxious MindAre You Wired to Worry? 3 Common Mistakes People Make When Working with InsomniaThere is No Such Thing as ADDWhat You Need to Know to Help Heal Insomnia Overcoming School Anxiety: An Interview with Diane Peters MayerAn Interview with Gail Steketee, PhD, on Hoarding and OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)In a Falling Economy, Trust Your Gut Or Reason? Avoidant Personality Disorder and Social PhobiaWhat Every Parent Should Know About School Anxiety5 Steps to Emotional Freedom: Placebo or Panacea?Can Anxiety Be a Good Thing? I Blush, Therefore I...Feeling Stuck with Anxiety or Depression? Try this Today! Catastrophizing Controlling Your Life: 3 Steps to Break FreeNew A&E Series Explores Anxiety DisordersRejection, Why Does It Hurt So Much?An Interview with Steven Phillipson, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)Anxiety, Stress and Depresion in Light of the RecessionTherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder – building a life instead of digging up the past?Young Yet Sad: The Social PhobicHow trying to avoid your fear, anxiety, and panic keeps it knocking on your doorCatastrophizing Illness: Mind and Body RevisitedAn Interview with Victoria Lemle Beckner, Ph.D. on Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)Social Phobia and Self Concept and the BrainAn Interview with Frank Ochberg, MD on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)TIME OUT! 2 Things you can practice today to stave off anxiety and depression in this hectic time. Shy Bladder Syndrome (Paruresis): Getting HelpAn Interview with Edna Foa, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)Going to the Dentist: Fears and PhobiasStuff, Why Is It So Difficult to Part With?An Interview with Michelle Craske, Ph.D. on Anxiety Disorders Research and TreatmentBlenophobia, The Fear of NeedlesAnxiety and Alcoholism and StigmaDo You Have a Shy Bladder?Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Plagued by DoubtPost Traumatic Stress Disorder and Iraqi VeteransPsychotherapy and Murder in New York: Should We All Stay Home?An Interview with David H. Barlow Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic DisordersWorried SickAn Interview with Richard Heimberg, Ph.D. on Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder Research and TreatmentTreating PTSD, Part TwoNational Stress Øut WeekHalloween...Fear With A PurposeCollege and Mental Health Problems, They Go TogetherSeparation Anxiety DisorderRecognizing emotion gets harder or easier depending on your moodThe Story of A Psychiatric Service Dog TeamEarly verbal abuse results in more adult depressionOn Being A PerfectionistChronic cortisol exposure causes mood disordersTreating PTSD with Beta-BlockersDavid Beckham has OCDCortisol May Be an Anxiety TreatmentGenetic contribution to OCD may have been identified VideosLinksBook ReviewsSelf-Help Groups |
| | |
National Debt, Stress and Perception, Is It Really That Bad?Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. Updated: Aug 10th 2011 If you are filled with anxiety, panic, gloominess, and find yourself hyper ventilating over news reports about the economy of the United States, who can blame you? You are not alone. The headlines scream such things as, "double recession," "stock market plummets," "world wide recession," and, "financial disaster." It makes it seem as though we are on the edge of the end of the world.
On the other hand, have you noticed that you, along with all the rest of us, arise in the morning and go about our daily affairs. We feed our children, clothe them, send them off to school, go to work or manage as best we can if we are unemployed. Yes, things are tough for many people right now, but they are finding ways to cope.
Psychology has shown that perception exerts an enormous influence over the way we view our lives. Base on our environment, individual physical constitution, back ground and history, we often view things differently from our friends and neighbors. For example, for those who are working and earning a good living, we are in a recession. For those who are unemployed, running out of unemployment benefits and have no savings left, we are in a Great Depression similar to that of the 1930's.
The theme behind this article is that a major driving force underlying the way we perceive the world today are news reports and how they portray the world and the nation. The way the media casts the news makes it seem as though there is only gloom, with doom about to crash down upon us. We need to ask, "Is it really that way?" My answer is "No, it is not that way."
It's important for mental health to not allow ourselves to experience life as catastrophic. Remember, our grand and great grand parents, lived through the Depression of the 1930's and survived. We, too, will survive. What is necessary is to shield ourselves from undue amounts of stress. This refers to the stress that is a direct result of our reactions to the news.
To reduce stress it's important to tune out news as much as is realistic. There people who pursue every report out of a sense of having to keep up. A much better tactic is to protect ourselves by greatly reducing the amount of time and attention given to world and national events. There are more stress busting techniques that can be learned by doing a search here, at Mental Help Net. I want to direct everyone's attention to the excellent articles written by Dr. Elisha Goldstein, a clinical psychologist who specializes in mindful living and mindful psychotherapy. Read his article and put them to good use. You will learn how to reduce your stress.
Remember what Charles Dickens wrote through his character, Sidney Carton, in the novel, "A Tale of Two Cities."
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."
An important caveat, unlike Carton, we are not facing the gallows. That makes his quote that much more meaningful.
Your comments are encouraged.
Allan N. Schwartz, PhD
Additionally - Cathy - Aug 11th 2011
The thoughts are good but in reality, we are experiencing unusually turbulent times. I think putting in a little extra effort can go a long way in relieving one's mind. For many, unemployment does loom and even if you are not touched by it, families members can be and your job can slow due to the unemployment of others so not many are immune and the other tradegy now is the weather and the "fits" it has been throwing. In my opinion, it makes sense to do what you can to be prepared but keeping it simple. Everyone should look at emergency preparedness. I don't mean stocking up with freeze-dried foods for the next 30 years and building a bunker. Keeping the cupboards a little overstocked especially with grains, beans, etc., having flashlights, batteries, having a meeting place for family members in case of a weather event or some uprising (think financial crisis) and then, knowing you have a plan, go on with your everyday life with the peace of mind in knowing that if their is a disruption in services vital to your existence, you got it covered! Lazy me has not yet prepared the 72-hour emergency packs (google it) - something to grab if we needed to leave in an emergency. An area near us was just hit by a horrible tornado and we were in the Gulf Coast when the last big hurricane hit. Being prepared for life's little hiccups or maybe a little bigger ones can set your mind at ease. It is like doing what you can, your best to be ready to deal with something and then finding peace in that. Can you do more than your best? No. |
RSS Feed
