Tag Archives: depression

LONELINESS & STRATEGIES TO AOID IT — NEW FRIENDS.

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     It is well known that chronic loneliness has become a public health crisis in the United States. A recent article in the New York Times offers some strategies to combat this. One suggestion for individuals is to make new friends — especially ones with similar interests. Another one, my opinion, to develop an even closer relationship if you’re a couple. Here are a few excerpts from this recent article ……….

 

 

  • Everyone feels lonely from time to time — after, say, a move to a new school or city, when a child leaves for college, or following the loss of a spouse.
  • Some people, though, experience loneliness not just transiently but chronically. It becomes a personality trait, something that’s pretty sticky.
  • Research is mounting that entrenched loneliness is bad for our health …. chronic loneliness affects the brain, and some strategies to address it.
  • Small, transient episodes of loneliness really motivate people to then seek out social connection.  But in chronic episodes of loneliness, that seems to kind of backfire because people become especially attuned to social threats, which can then make it scary or unpleasant for them to interact with others.
  • For years, scientists have known about a connection between loneliness and Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
  • The more general way in which loneliness affects mental and physical health may also factor into cognitive decline. The feeling is closely linked to depression, another condition that increases the risk for dementia. And people who are lonely are less likely to be physically active and more likely to smoke cigarettes.
  • One of the most common recommendations is a little obvious: Try to make new friends (and it’s easiest with persons of shared identities). Whether that’s through art classes, sports teams, support groups or volunteer opportunities, the goal is to put yourself in places where people come together.
  • The strategies may sound simple, but they’re easier said than done. Otherwise, I don’t think we would have the report from the Surgeon General saying we need to figure this out.           

            “Loneliness Shapes Our Behaviors.” New York Times (May 10, 2024).

Anxious Parents & University Students — Are Anxious Parents Part of the Problem?

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Mental health issues on camps are exploding. A good piece appeared today in the New York Times. It focuses on the anxiety of parents, as a newer development. The bottom line is that parents need to listen and to be supportive. Do not jump in. Mostly, student anxiety is situational. Students need a responsible adult to show them the way. This is good advice for new students, graduate students, law students and all students — and their parents. Universities, the economy and society are becoming more anxiety producing. Here is some basic advice and a few good quotes …………

 

  • Parents are allowing their anxiety to take over, and it’s not helping anyone, least of all their children …. Anxiety about anxiety has gotten so bad that some parents actually worry if their student isn’t anxious. This puts a lot of pressure on unanxious students — it creates anxiety about anxiety about anxiety.
  • As for your kids, I would like to help you with some age-appropriate remedies. If your child calls during the first weeks of college feeling anxious, consider saying any of the following: You’ll get through this; this is normal; we’ll laugh about this phone call at Thanksgiving. Or, say anything that was helpful to you the last time you started something new. Alternatively, you could say nothing. Just listening really helps.
  • I worry that the current obsession with mental health awareness is disempowering parents from helping their adult children handle ordinary things. People are increasingly fearful that any normal emotion is a sign of something serious.
  • But if you send your adult children to a mental health professional at the first sign of distress, you deprive yourself of the opportunity to strengthen your relationship with them. 
  • This is the beginning of their adult relationship with you. Show them the way.
  • The transition to college is full of excitement and its cousin, anxiety. I enjoy shepherding young people through this rite of passage. Parents should try enjoying it, too.

                “Anxious Parents Need Help.” New York Times (April 11, 2024)

Mental Illness is Our Most Urgent Problem — Anxiety & Depression — Action Needed.

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Mental Health
    A great commentary by Martin Wolfe of the Financial Times arguing that mental health is our most urgent health problem. He states “Depression and anxiety cause more misery than physical illness ….” We need to take needed action, says Martin Wolfe. Yes, this is long overdue. “Mental Illness.” Financial Times (July 17, 2014).

Prescription Medication and ADHD — Better Oversight Needed.

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Depression

The Sunday New York Times (Feb. 2, 2013) printed a lengthy article today about the downside of treating ADHD by medication and the abuse of medication by some patients. The real problem to me, as the article makes clear, is the lack of oversight by doctors prescribing them. This needs to be seriously addressed as a public health problem.

“Drowned in a Stream of Prescriptions.” New York Times (Feb. 3, 2013).

See my website at www.Counseling-Connection.net and E-Mail at SandyMalawer@Counseling-Connection.net