It might be your friend, your spouse, or one of your parents. It might be a co-worker, your sister, or your child.

If you’ve never had a panic attack, however, it can be difficult to imagine how panic feels. Thus, it can be difficult to comfort someone who is legitimately panicking.

In a way, I can only speak for myself. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a therapist. I’m just another woman with panic disorder, after all.

But thankfully, I’ve established a pretty large support network in my nine or so years of dealing with panic. Friends, family members, and internet acquaintances all seem to agree on one thing: “help” can sometimes hurt.

The quotation marks are intentional. To the non-panicker, “just calm down” might be the first phrase to trip out of your mouth during a friend’s surprise panic attack. We know you mean well — really, we do.

But phrases like that have the potential to fan the fight-or-flight flames. Find out how in today’s video:

To everyone who took the time to watch this video: thank you for taking a solid step toward better understanding and supporting someone you love.

For the World of Psychology post that inspired this video, click here. For more on understanding a loved one’s panic disorder, check out this About.com guide.

photo credit: vanessa_hutd

Maybe you can. If there’s a salesperson knocking on your door, you could run away and hide in the bedroom until he goes away.

But not all masters of persuasion are dressed up in suits and ties to sell volcano insurance. We actually fall victim to many sales pitches each and every day — from television, from magazines, from friends, and from family.

It’s not your fault, really — it’s part of our nature to behave in a manner that makes us susceptible to certain persuasive techniques. In fact, it’s common courtesy.

Let’s say you head out to the bar with a friend. First round of drinks is on you.

Then what? Who gets the next round?

Your friend does, of course. Obviously. It’s only fair, right? I mean, you spent five dollars on your drinking buddy…now, he almost has to spend five dollars on you, too. Wouldn’t your time at the bar get a little uncomfortable if he didn’t reciprocate?

The need to reciprocate is powerful. We feel it in our gut. In most cases, we reciprocate automatically.

And that is just one of six under-the-radar methods that can used to convince you to part with your money, your values, and your beliefs.

Find out how these six methods work — and how to identify and avoid them — in this week’s video:

This video was inspired by this Psychcentral Library article by Steve Bressert, PhD.

photo credit: C_Dave

Blogger Chato Stewart has so many Mental Health Heroes that it took me four videos to cover them all! He’s honored each of his self-selected heroes by caricaturing each hero and writing a bio in his or her honor on his blog, Mental Health Humor.

I’ve honored Chato for doing all of that honoring by compiling his artwork and bios into videos that show you the human hero and the cartoon hero back to back.

And now, because I don’t want the word “honor” (or any of its variants) to lose meaning, I’ll stop saying it! Ha. (On my honor.)

Check out the final video below:

Previously:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Just kidding.

But did you stop for a second to look at the calendar? You know, just to make sure that May through September didn’t blindly pass you by?

You can’t find seasons at the Lost and Found

It’s true: you can miss an entire season if you’re not paying attention. Have you ever taken a shower (yes, I hope, but let me continue…) in which you’re completely blind to the fact that you’re even taking a shower until the second you shut off the tap?

This is what happens when we let our minds hang in the past or scurry to the future. We forget where we are, what we’re doing, and what the present moment holds for us.

I like showers. They’re warm and refreshing. But, sometimes, I miss them. And by “miss”, I mean this: an entire ten minutes of showertime passes until I realize that I’ve just completed a shower. I missed all the warmth. I missed all the refreshment.

You know what else I really like?

Summer. (That’d be summertime, thank you. See my name at the top of this post? Yeah. Just wanted to clear that up. My own self-esteem is nauseatingly mediocre, but that’s another day and another blog post.)

I love the warm weather. I love the flowers and the trees. I love the vacations and the camping and even the sticky air (sometimes).

I don’t want it to fly by without realizing it! Do you feel the same way? If so, this week’s video is for you:

This video is based on Christy Matta’s “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year? A Seasonal Mindfulness” post from her PsychCentral blog, Dialectical Behavior Therapy Exposed. Her latest book, The Stress Response, is available on Amazon.

photo credit: tommaync

When I first started trying to breathe diaphragmatically while under lots of stress in grad school, the whole effort was a miserable failure. Whenever I tried, even in the comfort of my own apartment, I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air. And that airless feeling, in turn, would usually trigger a panic attack.

Despite my perennial pessimism in most other parts of life, I kept trying.

I kept trying at home. I kept trying in my university’s anxiety management class. I kept trying in the library. I kept trying and trying and trying.

And now, four or five odd years later, I’m finally able to breathe out of my belly instead of my upper chest. Through mindfulness, I’m now able to notice when my breathing pattern is off — and then, I can consciously correct it.

Have you ever tried diaphragmatic breathing? Well, whether you’re an experienced belly breather or brand new to the concept, there’s a neat little free app in the iTunes store that claims to help you practice.

It’s called Belly Biofeedback, and yes — of course I’ll demonstrate it for you!

You can download the free app and use it on either the iPhone or the iPod Touch. Are you going to try it out?

How long did it take for you to master? And, most importantly, are you able to apply it during anxiety-inducing situations or can you only do it successfully when you’re calm to begin with? (This was another big problem of mine for the first year or two!)

You can learn more about diaphragmatic breathing here.

A row of split and shaved Paxil fragments, lined up in descending size, that I took near the end of my taper.

You’ve been taking an antidepressant. It’s been years, hasn’t it?

Perhaps you don’t even clearly remember a time before your days were marked by the morning ritual of swallowing an SSRI.

And now, with the help of your doctor, you’d like to get off the drugs & attack your original condition from another angle. You want to see what life is like without meds. You want to see if, over the years, you’ve developed enough coping skills to manage your depression or anxiety without a daily pill.

So, where do you begin?

Right here.

Before you and your doctor make your first dosage cut, watch this video. It comes from the heart. Back in the mid-2000′s, I tried (and failed) to wean myself off of Paxil twice. (The third time was the charm, but it still wasn’t easy by any means.)

I learned a thing or two from the whole ordeal — and I want to share those lessons with you today.

Have you ever withdrawn from an SSRI antidepressant? If so, does your experience differ from mine? What would you recommend to someone who is trying to withdraw from their meds?

(You can find the original post that inspired this video here.)

It was my first year in middle school and I reeked of awkwardness in a very “Deb-from-Napoleon-Dynamite” sort of way. Side ponytail? Check. Fascination with weird homemade lanyards and keychains? Check.

All the older kids were wearing their grunge-inspired flannel shirts and Grateful Dead t-shirts. Most of my wardrobe came from either Kids R Us or a giant garbage bag of hand-me-down clothes that my mother had collected from her co-workers.

One day, while walking home from school, a eighth-grade boy started harassing me. He’d call me names, comment on my clothing, and taunt me nearly the entire ten-block walk. My entire repertoire of comebacks, unfortunately, came straight from Full House.

“How rude!” I’d exclaim to Mr. Eighth Grade. (Ugh. I couldn’t think of anything better?)

Then, one day, he actually approached me from behind. My backpack, a navy blue Jansport, had two zippers — and on each zipper, I’d clipped at least five different neon plastic lanyard keychains. He grabbed a fistful of them, pulled hard, and ran away with most of them. I was so mad and I hadn’t the slightest idea how to get this jerk to ignore me.

So, the next day at school, I reported him to the assistant principal. As I sat down in her office, visibly upset, waiting for him to arrive for our “mediation session,” the assistant principal turned to me.

“You know,” she said, “don’t worry. The boys start wising up soon. People start doing this kind of thing less and less as you grow up.”

Now, as an adult, I’m not sure if I believe those words. From Jenise Harmon’s new “Sorting Out Your Life” blog:

Like many problems that exist throughout life, bullying doesn’t end at a certain age or level of maturity. Bullying does exist in adulthood. Sometimes it looks different or is called by different names: sexual harassment, stalking, workplace aggression, or scapegoating. But, like in childhood, bullying is one person controlling or harming someone else by use of power.

So, under that definition — as an adult, have you ever been bullied?

If so, check out these six effective ways for us grown-ups to deal with bullies:

This video is based on Jenise Harmon’s blog post, 6 Steps For Dealing With Adult Bullies. 

photo credit: IvanClow

Likewise, you are not the only person with an anxiety disorder.

But it can sure feel that way sometimes, eh? Especially on days when everyone else at the party is acting super sociable, but you’re slunked (is that a word?) down in a corner and too dizzy to talk to anyone.

It’s easy to feel alone on days when everyone else seems to be gathering their groceries from the store shelves just fine, but you’re still hovering in the breezeway, leaning on your cart, and trying to muster up the courage to walk inside.

And it’s easy to feel alone at work, too. Everyone else can pay attention to the corporate PowerPoint presentation in the conference room, but you’re sitting next to the closed door, thinking about how far you are from the office restroom, and flexing your leg muscles for a quick escape.

Every time we say “I am alone!” we are lying.

We are not alone in our struggles…and I made a video, just for you, to prove it:

Links:

• Panic! A Blog About Panic, Anxiety, Depression, and Related Topics
• She Gets a Little Nervous
• Prozac Withdrawal
• Panic About Anxiety
• Angst in Anxiety
• Anxiety & OCD Exposed

I’ve had well over… um… well, I’m not exactly counting, but it’s certainly more than 300 or 400. And I mean bona fide panic attacks. Not high anxiety — true panic.

Even after 8 years, I’m still working on coping with it effectively. A series of heart palpitations in the cereal aisle will still send me dashing for the exit of the grocery store. A twinge of nausea on a car ride will send me reaching for Xanax.

And a little unwelcome heat & humidity will make me clammy and lightheaded… just like it did today. Just as I started filming this video, I panicked. My apartment was too warm and I couldn’t get the AC to work. Frustrated, I started feeling woozy and like I needed to sit down, lest I panic. Then, when I finally did sit down, I became worried that I would simply grow hotter and hotter until I finally passed out. So, feeling even woozier, I stood up again to plead with the thermostat, shaking, and extremely fearful of passing out.

Fun fact, eh? A panic attack distracted me from recording a video for Psych Central about how to distract yourself from a panic attack. Go figure.

But anyway — on to the video. While distraction isn’t the best long-term solution, certain distraction techniques can help you to get through a difficult panic attack. Ideally, desensitizing yourself to panic triggers is key — and that can be accomplished via Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. But until your figurative “Coping Toolbox” is well-stocked, these distraction techniques can help.

In a pinch, what helps you to get through a panic attack?

(This video is based on an earlier blog post of mine from Panic About Anxiety called “6 Ways to Distract Yourself From Panic”.)

“While I know of suicidal youth as young as 5 or 6 years of age, the youngest suicidal patient that I worked with was 11 years old. She felt as though no one understood her pain and no one loved her and she felt hopeless about her life.”

That was part of Richard’s interview with Dr. Alec Miller, a professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral sciences and co-author of Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Suicidal Adolescents.

Eleven years old! And not to mention five. Five years old! It’s heartbreaking to imagine someone that young — someone who is so new to our world — feeling hopeless enough to consider suicide.

But it happens, sadly. According to Dr. Miller, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among 10 to 18 year olds.

Check out this week’s videos for more facts about adolescent suicide and the resources that are available to help prevent it:

For even more statistics on adolescent suicide, check out this data.

In today’s economy, with soaring unemployment rates, cut-backs, massive lay-offs and a consumerist culture shouts “buy, buy, buy,” it’s devastating to be jobless.

Furthermore, our cultural values are out of sync – how we value ourselves and our mental and emotional health versus the value of work, money and “stuff.”

Sandy goes on to say that this, combined with the way we tend to define ourselves by our work, can be a dangerous combination for our self-esteem. If we can’t find work, we must not be worth it. We feel like less of a person. We internalize these messages. We feel useless. Right?

These messages are sharp, painful, and only serve to increase the amount of stress that an unemployed individual already feels. So, Sandy has put forth six simple ways to combat the existential stress of being unemployed. It’s practical advice.

And now, it’s part of Psych Central’s latest video series. Check it out below:

(For more on the “hidden job market” — i.e., the huge chunk of job openings that are unlisted — check out CNN’s story on the subject.)

The days are getting longer here in the northern hemisphere — and for many of us, the extra light brings joy.

But the extra light also keeps us wakeful for longer. Soon, even 8 pm will be nearly as bright as mid-day.

That extra light — as welcomed as it might be after such a long and dark winter — can do us a big disservice. When there’s more daylight outside, do you ever feel like you pack more activities into your day? Does it take more effort to slow down for bedtime? Do you tend to go to bed later?

If you’ve answered “yes” to any of the above questions, keep reading! I made a video just for you.

Instead of reading you the top mental health & psychology news stories this week, I’ve decided to switch things up a bit. Instead of giving you an overview of the news that’s important for just that week, I want to give you a video that you can return to again and again if needed.

This week’s video dishes out tips on how to slowly ease into the evening hours. Watch it now, watch it tomorrow, watch it any time you need a refresher on how to slow down your body and mind before bedtime.

This video is based on 7 Ways to Slow Down Before Bedtime, which was originally published in my Panic About Anxiety blog.

When I was in college, I worked a few days per week as a campus computer lab monitor. (In other words, I got paid a few bucks to sit in a room with 30 computers and make sure that the printer didn’t jam up.)

I usually worked the closing (read: midnight) shift, and thanks to an incredibly competent cohort of classmates, I never had much work to do. If the printer jammed, the student who’d jammed the machine would usually walk right over, pull out the offending accordion-shaped piece of computer paper, and print their work again.

Call this job a study hall for the college set.

And study I did.

It was the perfect time to read an assigned chapter or two for my Media Law class or memorize logical fallacies for Intro to Critical Thinking. I’d study, close the labs at midnight, walk home to my cinderblock dorm room, and then go to bed.

I thought it was perfect because, frankly, I was getting paid minimum wage to study — something I had to do anyway!

But, according to new research, it was also perfect for another reason: I went to sleep shortly after studying. Why is that a good thing? Watch this week’s video podcast to find out why getting some Zzzz’s right after studying might help you brain to consolidate (and remember) the new information:

• News: Anxiety Linked to Heightened Sense of Smell
• News: Does Brain Remember Response to Antidepressants?
• News: Learning Works Best When You Rest
• News: In Older Adults, Mental Games May Protect Against Dementia
• Facebook: Psych Central Facebook Fan Page

I was a teenager. Fourteen? Fifteen, maybe? I was young.

My dad spent an hour one afternoon playing with his new BB gun. I found him in our backyard on a warm summer day taking shots at an empty cardboard shipping box. He was aiming at the “F” in “FRAGILE”.

I stood on our back deck and listened to the obligatory stories about how he and the neighborhood kids used to shoot birds and squirrels with BB guns when he was a teenager.

A teenager? Hmm. I was a teenager. I’d never shot a gun before.

I asked if I could try shooting it. If he used to play with a BB gun at his age, why couldn’t I?

Somewhat reluctantly, he let me try it.

“Aim for the G,” he said, “because it’s right in the middle. And be careful.”

Despite my best aim, my first shot went straight into the dirt. My second shot hit the top edge of the box and my third hit the wall of the garage. (I don’t remember my dad being too happy about that last one.)

I haven’t touched a gun since — BB or otherwise. I’d rather stick with pasttimes that I’m good at.

But for any reader out there who does use a gun — especially if you carry it with you on a regular basis — today’s final news story may interest you. According to new research, holding a gun may influence how you see others — in a very specific and potentially dangerous way.

Watch this week’s video to find out more:

News: Math Anxiety Has Neurological Basis

News: ADHD Diagnoses Up 66 Percent Since 2000

News: Armed and Dangerous: Those with Guns Think Others are Armed Too

Blog: Suicide Prevention on Facebook: Good Luck with That

Facebook: Psychcentral Facebook Fan Page

This month, you’ll find everything from the birthplace of psychoanalysis in America — hint: it’s not New York City — to the founder of cognitive psychology to an entire series on mental illness and last rites.

Let’s get started…

“Shrinking City”

Did you know that psychoanalysis was born in Baltimore? According to writer and psychoanalyst Mikita Brottman in this fascinating article, a group of physicians established an American branch of the Psychoanalytic Association in Baltimore after seeing Freud’s famous 1909 lecture.

Brottman introduces readers to several of the key players of psychoanalysis in Baltimore. She discusses psychiatrist Trigant Burrow, who founded group therapy and played an influential role in psychoanalysis at the time; and author and social critic Robert Lindner, who wrote the book Rebel Without A Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath.

Ulric Neisser

German-born Ulric Neisser was an American psychologist and the founder of cognitive psychology. The New York Times recently published his obituary, which goes into some detail about his work and personal life.

Also, one of my favorite blogs, Mind Hacks, includes an interesting insight about Neisser’s 1976 book Cognition and Reality, which criticized the very field he founded.

History of Psychology podcasts

Another one of my favorite blogs, Advances in the History of Psychology, recently announced a new series of podcasts about various topics in the history of psychology. In the first episode, historians explore the history of lunatic asylums in the 19th century.

“A-mazing Research”

C. James Goodwin, Ph.D, a professor at Western Carolina University, explores the use of mazes in psychological research in this Monitor on Psychology piece. Some researchers viewed mazes as the key to psychological knowledge.

Goodwin cites an interesting quote from neobehaviorist Edward Chace Tolman, Ph.D, in his 1937 APA presidential address: “Everything important in psychology… can be investigated in essence through the continued experimental and theoretical analysis of the determinants of rat behavior at a choice-point in a maze.”

“Lunacy’s Last Rites: Dying Insane in Britain, c. 1629 to 1939”

The History of Psychiatry journal just published a special issue with the above title, which looks at everything from cultural perceptions of funerals to death by suicide to perspectives on passing away in the asylums. Unfortunately, there’s no free access. (If you can get your hands on it, I’m jealous.)

But the blog H-Madness does include all the abstracts in this post. And it’s very fascinating stuff.