Let’s face it: no one likes vomiting. But if your fear of vomit takes over your thoughts, shapes your decisions, or limits your life, you might be dealing with emetophobia—a specific phobia of vomiting that goes far beyond the everyday “ugh, gross.” How do you know if your dislike of…
Riding the Wildfire Wave | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA
This blog was originally written in 2017 About the Santa Rosa Wildfires 2 am Monday morning. I am awakened by the sound of my husband’s cell phone ringing. He doesn’t answer it and I reach for the light. The electricity is off. My throat feels raw and the air is…
ADHD: Common Signs in Children and Teens and the Connection with Anxiety
What is ADHD? Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder that is estimated to impact 7 million children between the ages of 3 and 17. Since ADHD symptoms differ from person to person, it’s important to understand common signs. At the most basic level, ADHD symptoms fall into…
Panic Disorder: Minimizing Fear, Tolerating Symptoms, and Building Skills
Panic attacks, particularly when you don’t know what they are or where they are coming from, can be incredibly frightening. Having recurring panic attacks and continually fearing having another one, clinically categorized as panic disorder, can be terrifying, debilitating, and interfere with daily functioning. ADAA member Simon Rego, PsyD, ABPP,…
Embracing Accomplishments: A New Year’s Perspective
As we welcome a new year, it’s common for us to set resolutions and goals for the months ahead. While looking towards the future is important, it’s equally important to take a moment to reflect on the past year and appreciate our accomplishments. Often, we are so focused on what…
Two Ways to Resolve Feelings of Dread About the Future
Life affords many opportunities to feel dread. It’s an emotion that is highly unpleasant, feels uncontrollable, and comes from getting stuck in your head. You become preoccupied with some experience you’re about to face and all you can think about is how bad it will be. You try to think…
Dating Anxiety? | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA
Changing The Way You Date Most of us have some anxiety when meeting someone new. But when it comes to dating, the stakes seem extra high — especially for folks with social anxiety. People who are socially anxious worry excessively about how they are perceived by others. They feel pressure…
Understanding Emotional Avoidance and Learning to Tolerate Uncomfortable Feelings
Fear, grief, shame, embarrassment, and other uncomfortable emotions are not pleasant. From time to time it is quite normal to avoid a situation, person, place, or thing that might trigger an undesirable emotion, but when it interferes with your daily functioning and/or becomes a problematic recurring issue, it is clinically…
ADAA Keeping it in the Family
ADAA Blog Content and Blog Comments Policy ADAA provides this Website blogs for the benefit of its members and the public. The content, view and opinions published in Blogs written by our personnel or contributors – or from links or posts on the Website from other sources – belong solely…
Shame Vs. Guilt: The Psychological Difference and How to Overcome Toxic Shame
I’ve been learning about shame and guilt lately. As a writer, those words sound very similar to me. In fact, their psychological impacts couldn’t be more dissimilar. Guilt is normal and even helpful, while shame can have a toxic mental health effect. Let’s talk about how we all experience guilt…