Moving the Needle on Mental Health
4 organizations offer unexpected, active approaches to mental health therapy in Chicago Sometimes a single experience can change everything, shifting your perspective and opening your mind to possibilities. And many in Chicago are seeking such experiences. From the pandemic to economic uncertainty, climate change to societal unrest, plenty of factors have fueled anxiety, depression, and […]
Mayo Clinic Q&A: Storm Anxiety is Common in Young Children
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have a 7-year-old son who becomes anxious and agitated whenever it storms. What can I do to help him overcome his fear of thunderstorms and tornadoes? He is always asking about the weather whenever we leave the house and if the sky darkens, he asks if need to take shelter to […]
Immersive Therapy
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The process of creating — whether through art or cooking — helps people process grief and other pain Everyone copes with grief and pain differently. For some, therapy comes in the form of using the arts. And for others, it comes through the kitchen. Don’t expect to sit on a couch during a therapy […]
Mental Health Concerns? There’s an App for That
Here’s what you need to know about therapy apps If you’ve tried to book a therapy session lately, you may have noticed that it’s more and more difficult to find one. It’s not a fluke. Demand for mental health has been increasing. First, there’s the issue of availability. Many parts of the country don’t have […]
Op-Ed: The Surprising Benefits of Remote Therapy
Chicago Health is committed to publishing a diversity of opinions. The opinions expressed in this op-ed article are the author’s own. As a therapist, I’ve learned to read between the lines with my patients, recognizing that sometimes what isn’t said is just as important — if not more so — than what is said. Sometimes […]
How Those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Cope With Angst of COVID
Before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States, Chris Trondsen felt his life was finally under control. As someone who has battled obsessive-compulsive disorder and other mental health issues since early childhood, it’s been a long journey. “I’ve been doing really, really well,” Trondsen says. “I felt like most of it was pretty […]
Music can be good medicine
Jan Stouffer, who works as a board certified music therapist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, uses music to help control patients’ pain and anxiety, to ease their adjustment to the hospital setting, and to promote physical rehabilitation. “Health is a dance back and forth between physical and emotional needs, so the […]
What men can gain from therapy
By Matthew Solan Harvard Health Blog Speaking for my gender, there are two qualities that define most men: We seldom like to ask for help, and we do not like to talk about our feelings. Combining the two — asking for help about our feelings — is the ultimate affront to many men’s masculinity. We […]
Fish oil may reduce seizures in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
Source: UCLA School of Medicine whatdoctorsknow.com LOS ANGELES — An estimated 3 million Americans suffer from epileptic seizures. Although drug therapies often successfully dampen the out-of-control neural firing that produces seizures, such drugs don’t work for everyone. A new study by researchers at UCLA School of Medicine now suggests that for such patients, improvement might […]
The Second City Training Center Gives Doses of Laughter to Autism
Photo above: The Second City Training Center Artistic Director Matt Hovde When Nick Johne, who teaches improv at the Second City Training Center (SCTC) and DePaul University, was exploring therapies for his 6-year-old daughter with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), he discovered one thing that troubled him: There were no programs in which youngsters could laugh […]
Deciphering Speech/Language Therapy
By Emily O’Brien Many people seek the services of speech/language therapists—some during early childhood and others well into their senior years. In order to determine whether speech/language therapy is needed, one must first get a better understanding of what that form of therapy is and what the treatment entails. According to the Nemours Center for […]
An Education: Psychologist Uses Group Therapy to Help Teen Patients Understand Their Anxieties
Cathy*, a junior at a suburban public high school, has dealt with generalized anxiety disorder for years. A bright girl with a bright future, Cathy has landed several internships outside of school. She is active in after-school clubs and holds leadership positions within them. Following her freshman year, two summers ago, Cathy began seeing Dr. […]
