psychology Archives - The Health Sessions

Fighting Phobias: The Things That Go Bump in the Mind

This article is written by Jessica Smith.

Phobias are anxiety disorders that instill fear or panic in your mind. A phobia causes excessive, irrational fear in an individual about an object, a creature, an event or a feeling. A person with a phobia gets panic attacks when faced with their source of fear. They shape their lives to avoid facing the things which they consider dangerous. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America states that phobia affects almost 18.1% of the US population every year.

There are three types of phobias:

Specific Phobia: This affects nearly 8.7% of the US population. Women are more susceptible to have a specific phobia. There are further categories of Specific phobia, namely: fear of natural environment, situational phobia, blood-injection-injury phobia, and animal phobia. There are more than 350 types of phobia in these four categories, like the fear of snakes, dogs, flying, driving, heights, darkness, storm, needles and blood.
Social Phobia:It is a form of social anxiety where people have a fear of public embarrassment and humiliation that can disrupt a healthy life. Men are more likely to have social phobia than women. Another common social phobia is the fear of public speaking. The other concerns related to social phobia are of talking to strangers, being judged by others, and drinking at public places.
Agoraphobia:This is the most disabling of all phobias. It is the fear of being trapped in a place where immediate escape is not possible. People with agoraphobia avoid crowded places because of the fear that they might get panic attacks if they can’t escape. They prefer staying at home to avoid a social situation. People with chronic health issues have a fear of need for a medical emergency in public places or trapped rooms.

12 Stress-Busting Quotes to Help You Stop Worrying

No one knows what the future will bring, but that doesn’t stop most of us from wondering what might happen. While fantasizing about your dream trip, that cute date or your next career move can be motivating and constructive, worrying too much triggers all kinds of physical and emotional reactions.

When you’re overly concerned about a troubling situation, you probably have trouble sleeping and experience tense muscles, poor concentration and high stress levels. Excessive worrying may even lead to anxiety disorders, digestive problems, high blood pressure and a weakened immune system.

Just like ruminating about past events, you can stop your worrying from becoming problematic by moving your body, engaging in constructive forms of distraction and practicing mindfulness.

Take a look at these 12 stress-busting quotes about worrying to face your future, come what may, with more confidence.

Spoonie Problems: How to Decide When to Push Through and When to Stop and Rest

It’s probably a familiar scenario: you’ve been looking forward to going out all week, and then your illness messes up your plans, again. One of the characteristics of chronic illness is that symptoms can flare up at any time. Of course there’s never a good moment to feel sick, but it’s especially discouraging when you have … Read more >

10 Ways to Stop Yourself From Being Controlled by Your Emotions

This article is written by Kate Walker.

Emotions affect almost 90% of your reactions to various situations in life. However, you know you are controlled by your emotions if your mood changes depending on circumstances. Some situations are easy to handle while others are hard to control. For the difficult ones, you have to learn the skills to stop such feelings from controlling you and reduce their impact on your life. It requires a lot of practice and dedication to master the art of controlling your emotions. Nonetheless, the results are worth all the efforts.

Here are 10 ways how to handle your emotions and stop yourself from being a slave to them.

8 Mind Tricks to Cope with Chronic Pain | The Health Sessions

8 Mental Techniques to Cope with Chronic Pain

There’s an overwhelming amount of advice available about how to reduce pain. But how exactly do you deal with pain that won’t go away?

Millions of people around the world suffer from pain that continues beyond the expected period of healing. When you experience chronic pain, your body is in a constant state of fight-or-flight. This on-going stress damages your body and even changes the neural circuits in your brain. Chronic pain can also lead to depression, anxiety, sleeping disorders and avoidant behavior, which in turn worsen your existing pain.

Everyone copes with pain differently, but some ways are more effective and constructive than others. When it comes to chronic pain, there’s one group of strategies you may easily overlook: how to manage pain with your mind.