Blog Archive
Pica is a rare eating disorder that affects about 1.1% of women and men, as well as 5% of youth aged 5-7 years. Although it’s usually found in developing countries, where it may be a response to malnutrition and food scarcity, pica is found in the United States, too. Babies...
Sexual abuse is a crime that can change the way a person feels about themselves and the world in which they live. If you suspect that a loved one has been sexually abused, or if they tell you that they have been, what should you do? How do you get...
In 2022, the average family in the United States consisted of three members. These days, of course, it would be difficult to predict what the makeup of those three (or more, or fewer) members would be. Are they a blended family with stepchildren? Two kids raised by a single parent...
Everyone knows that adolescence is a time of change and turmoil, both physically and emotionally. Your teen’s body is flooded with hormones that alter the way they look, feel, and act. Though you may still think of them as your “baby,” they probably feel like an adult. They push against...
Grief and loss are tightly intertwined. When you lose someone or something that’s valuable to you, you go through a wrenching emotional experience called grief. You may feel grief when you experience a: Death of a loved one Death of a pet Divorce or breakup Job loss Financial loss Loss...
More than 8% of women and men in the United States experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2021, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Depression is a serious mental health disorder that can reduce your quality of life and increase your risk for self-harm or suicide....
In June of 2019 – even before the world was sent into an anxious and angry panic by the COVID-19 virus – 84% of women and men in the United States said that Americans were angrier than they’d been a generation ago. About 42% of them also said that they,...
According to the National Eating Disorder Association, 9% of women, men, and kids in the United States will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives. Worse, every 52 minutes, someone in the country dies as a direct result of an eating disorder. If you suspect your teen...
Couples counseling, by its definition, takes two. No matter how much you’d like to improve your relationship and strengthen communication between you and your partner, the first step is to make sure that your partner is on board. But what if they aren’t? Is that a sign it’s time to...
Depression is a mental health condition that’s one of the most common mental health conditions across the United States. Unfortunately, it’s also misunderstood and under-treated. Because almost everybody feels depressed, sad, or blue from time to time, clinical depression isn’t always recognized as a serious health issue. You may dismiss...
The second most common eating disorder in the United States is one that you may not ever have heard about, but may be struggling with yourself: binge eating disorder (BED). About 1.7% of women, 1.7% of men, and 1.8% of adolescents of all races and ethnicities have BED. If you...
You’re never mad without good reason. The problem is, you’re surrounded by good reasons to be mad. Angry outbursts can make you feel powerful and in control for a few brief moments. But once the adrenalin fades, you’re left with the wreckage of your anger, which could include permanent damage...
Nearly 20% of women and men (i.e., over age 18) in the United States have some sort of anxiety disorder. But only about half of them get a diagnosis and specific treatment designed to address their forms of anxiety. Though you may be able to manage mild forms of...
Across the United States, 66% of households include at least one pet. In New York City and the boroughs -- despite lack of space, high rents, and plenty of restrictions — we have 1.1 million pets, which translates to about one pet per every three homes. If you have a...
Even though nearly 15 million women and men over age 18 have at least one major depressive episode in any given year, only 41% seek treatment for depression. That means that many adults in the workplace have untreated depression that may affect their performance as well as the company’s performance....
Everyone feels angry once in a while. Anger can give you the energy you need to counter a threat, whether it’s a situation or a person. But when you’re chronically angry and have frequent outbursts, you can cause both social and physical problems. Anger raises your blood pressure and releases...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) first came into public consciousness as an affliction that soldiers suffered after the trauma of battle. But soldiers aren’t the only ones to be affected by a traumatic event or develop PTSD. You can feel the lasting effects of all kinds of trauma, including: War or battle...
Self-esteem and confidence are often confused with each other. You can be confident in one area of your life and still, overall, have low self-esteem. For instance, you may be a wiz with math or be confident of your creativity, yet still have trouble asserting yourself in social situations. Although low...
Anxiety disorders affect about 19% of the women and men 18 years and older in the United States, but less than half of them get treatment. Of course, feeling anxious from time to time — especially during and after a pandemic — is part of the normal human experience. So...
Only about 1.2% of women and men in the United States have an eating disorder. The rarest of eating disorders — especially among adults — is pica, which is the uncontrollable compulsion to eat non-food items, some of which may actually be toxic or dangerous. Pica in adults is often...
The pandemic forced many professions — including mental health professions — to adopt technology and web-based conference calling to allow or even increase access. In fact, nearly half of mental-health visits were conducted electronically by the end of 2020 Although telehealth exploded during the pandemic, it continues to be an efficient, effective...
Although the statistic that half of all marriages in the United States eventually end in divorce seems to be a myth, divorce is still a fact of modern life. Divorce rates have actually declined since the mid-1980s, possibly because of later marriages. Divorce rates also vary by state. When you’re the...
According to the International OCD Association, at least one out of every 50 people in the United States has a mental health condition known as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) If you have BDD, you focus on a real or perceived physical flaw to the point that it interferes with your...
In the United States, almost 14.5 million people aged 12 and up have an alcohol use disorder (AUD), more commonly referred to as alcoholism. Only 10% of them receive any kind of treatment or intervention to help them break the addiction and recover. If you have blood relatives who suffer from AUD, you...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition in which a trauma from your past keeps you on edge or terrified in the present moment. Even though years or decades may have passed since you first experienced the trauma, it’s still with you. About 8% of women and 4% of men...
Sexual abuse has both physical and psychological consequences. When you've been sexually abused — whether you were a child or an adult — the scars remain with you throughout your lifetime. In the United States, more than half of women and a third of men report having been sexually abused...
Approximately 1.2 percent of all adults in the United States and 2.7 percent of all adolescents have some sort of eating disorder. Eating disorders disproportionately affect females, but all sexes and ages may develop an unhealthy relationship to food. One of the rarest eating disorders is pica. Pica is so rare, in fact,...
Global levels of anxiety increased by 25% around the globe in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Anxiety was already one of the most common mental health disorders in the US, affecting about 23.4% of women and 14.3% of men. In fact, about a third of adults will...
Americans live significantly longer now than they did a generation or two ago. Although rates have declined recently, men on average live until about 74.2 years, while women live until 79.9. About 80% of women and men in the United States say that they’d prefer to die at home, rather than in hospice...
Every life has moments of grief. When you lose someone or something that’s important to you, it’s normal, and even healthy, to go through a period of grief. Some triggers for grief include: Death of a loved one Break up of a relationship Loss of job or status Loss of...
Alcoholism is a brain disease that can actually damage your brain over the long term and alter the way it functions. If you’re one of approximately 14.5 million people aged 12 and up in the United States who suffer from alcoholism, you may experience symptoms such as: Slower than normal reaction times Slurred...
One of the first things you learn in anger management therapy is that your anger doesn’t just cause chaos in your own life. It causes chaos and pain in the lives of everyone around you. If you’re part of a couple, in fact, your out-of-control anger could endanger your relationship....
The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) estimates that 9% of people in the United States as well as at least 9% of people throughout the world will have some type of eating disorder during their lives. Eating disorders affect all ages, sexes, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds....
Most couples go through phases in their relationship when they have conflicts that are difficult to resolve or even talk about. Couples counseling provides a safe space in which you and your partner discuss what’s on your mind with the guidance of an expert counselor. At The Soho Center for...
A non-drug therapy called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) helps you recover from memories and fears that make your day-to-day life stressful. EMDR lets you process traumatic memories and events (i.e., the past), desensitizes you to current triggers (i.e., the present), and gives you the skills you need to...
Anxiety disorders come in various types and degrees of severity, but in one form or another they affect nearly 20% of adults and 32% of adolescents in the United States. Anxiety disorders are more common among females than males. If you’re anxious, you may be chronically worried or have phobias...
https://www.happify.com/hd/6-self-care-solutions-for-work-during-covid-19/ In a year full of challenges, those who count themselves lucky to still be employed often feel like they shouldn't complain about the toll work is taking on their well‑being. But the truth is, a lot of us are struggling, as we juggle work and worry, to stay focused...
Pica is a rare eating disorder in which children, teens, or adults crave and eat items that have no nutritional value whatsoever. Though it’s normal for babies and toddlers to mouth nonfood items, it isn’t normal or healthy for older children or adults. Some cultures encourage the consumption of clay...
We all learn to talk by age 1 or 2, but few of us ever learn how to communicate effectively. That lack becomes all too apparent when we’re in the middle of a relationship with somebody we love. During the honeymoon period, you might not think that counseling is helpful:...
You didn’t start abusing alcohol or recreational drugs overnight. Substance use and abuse is a complex process that may involve genetics, epigenetics (i.e., your environment), and changes in your brain chemistry that cause you to crave the substance you’re trying to ditch. You may also have begun to abuse substances...
Depression is a serious mental illness that affects the way your brain processes information, how you feel, and how you act. Although you may associate depression with someone who looks or feels sad all the time, depression has a wide variety of symptoms. If you recognize that your daily struggles...
“Name your poison” goes a joke that dates back at least to the mid-19th century. It’s a “humorous” way for one adult to offer another an alcoholic drink. However, when it comes to your brain and other organs, alcohol actually is a poison. And alcoholism is no joke. At The...
Even though most people don’t associate the male sex with eating disorders, approximately one of out of every three people with an eating disorder is a man or boy. In fact, 10 million males in the United States will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives. Binge-eating,...
The pandemic and the isolation of quarantine have caused an uptick in mental health disorders, including depression. One out of every four women or men in the United States reported feeling depressed or anxious in 2020, compared with just one in 10 in 2019. A commonly ignored sign of depression...
Trauma changes organisms — including human beings — on a cellular level. Trauma and other factors can even alter the way you express your genes, a phenomenon known as epigenetics. Since 1966, researchers have noted the high prevalence of mental health issues among children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. The...
When you first fall in love, you’re flooded with oxytocin and other hormones that make you feel you can conquer any challenge that confronts you as a couple. Unless you learn basic communication skills, though, life’s inevitable challenges may get the best of you. Our expert counselors at The Soho...
There’s plenty to be angry about these days. And feeling anger can be an appropriate response to a provocation. However, if you feel angry all the time or have angry outbursts that frighten you or others, you’re at risk of compromising your health — and theirs. Our expert counselors at...
Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in the US. More than 7% of women and men have at least one episode of major depression per year. Everyone feels down or blue from time to time — especially after a major life change, such as divorce or...
Eating disorders are on the rise. So are “new,” healthier ways of eating that may rely on still-controversial techniques, such as calorie restriction and fasting. Calorie restriction and fasting have been part of the human dietary strategy since the beginning of our evolution. What’s the difference between following a diet...
Learning how to communicate effectively — with friends, co-workers, and loved ones — is an essential skill that nobody bothers to teach us. Our school system neglects it. Our parents probably weren’t exactly genius practitioners of it, and you realize you aren’t mastering it, either. When you have conflicts with...
You love your family, but you’re also experiencing conflict with them right now. Whether your family consists of just yourself and a partner, or includes children, parents, siblings, and in-laws, effective communication and conflict resolution are key to a happy family life. The expert counselors at The Soho Center for...
If you abuse substances — whether drugs, alcohol, or food — it isn’t because you lack willpower or are a weak person. Substance abuse is a disease that originates in your brain. Some people are more susceptible to substance abuse than others because of inherited genes. But just because you...
The choices you make, the way you feel, and the things you do are all influenced by how you think. Most of the time, though, you aren’t even aware of your thinking. Instead, your thoughts are guided by unconscious beliefs that you’ve absorbed over the years. If you feel like...
Occasional anxiety is a normal part of most people’s lives. But if you experience anxiety on an ongoing basis that interferes with the way you make decisions or dampens your day-to-day joy, you may have an anxiety disorder. At The Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling, our caring and skilled...
According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), every 73 seconds someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. Every nine minutes, one of the victims is a child. One of out every six women and one out of every 33 men has been the victim of a...
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new form of psychotherapy that uses bilateral (i.e., two-sided) eye movements, tapping, or tones to “reprogram” your brain to resolve and heal upsetting memories and trauma. Counselors and therapists recommend EMDR to help heal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other troubling...
When you find out that your spouse has been unfaithful, you may feel violated, betrayed, and even humiliated. The person you trusted more than almost anyone on earth, the person you thought trusted and loved you, too, lied to you and broke their promise to be faithful. Despite ever-expanding norms...
https://commentwise.com/2020/01/03/6-things-to-let-go-of-if-you-want-to-be-a-tiny-bit-happier-this-year/
You don’t want to admit it, but you must: Something’s wrong with the way you think about and interact with food. If you have an eating disorder, it’s nothing to be ashamed about and you aren’t alone. According to the Eating Disorders Coalition, not only will a tenth of Americans...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/things-let-go-to-be-happier_l_5e0a6687e4b0843d360acb6a
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/things-let-go-to-be-happier_l_5e0a6687e4b0843d360acb6a
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has become an overused phrase in our common speech, but it actually refers to a serious mental health condition. If you have OCD, you don’t just clean things obsessively because you want to see your glassware sparkle in the sun; you clean that glassware obsessively so that...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/books-create-better-habits_l_5e149a63c5b6b5a713c119d3?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMJ3xtaG1Y3okEADz5Mwot9kGzYzKeINi6o76kDvHDfSU16Ig1TxOfT3piOBR8NXzM5n4PLDtsmTmEN0zK1sooT2dZfuLJuyKVLG3-U15tTxXWAxYfCIRBiEnpiJr1awr9BNhunj74Gue7gy39JXYsa44t0xMZqW_uj5BpBRqVFe
When you first met your significant other (SO), you both felt like you’d known each other all of your lives. Now you feel like you’re living with a stranger. If you’re having trouble communicating with your SO of any gender, you may wonder if couples counseling could reignite your romance...
When you break a leg, everyone knows you need medical help to heal properly. But if you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you may not even know that there’s help and healing available to you. The expert counselors at the Soho Center For Mental Health Counseling in Greenwich Village, New...
6 Little Things You Can Do For Someone Who Is Grieving At The Holidays
https://pressfrom.info/uk/lifestyle/health/-370916-how-therapists-deal-with-their-own-family-issues-at-the-holidays.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/holiday-family-issues-therapist-tips_l_5dc9bd5fe4b02bf57944af0b
https://pressfrom.info/us/lifestyle/health-fitness/-356267-6-little-things-you-can-do-for-someone-who-is-grieving-at-the-holidays.html
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/nightmare-meanings-tips_l_5d5ff220e4b0b59d25739acf?utm_hp_ref=ca-healthy-living
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grief-holidays-help-support_l_5dd1f358e4b0d2e79f8f1426?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000618
Nobody likes to be diagnosed with a mental illness, but if you have bipolar disorder, your diagnosis gives you a chance to manage your symptoms, so you can live the life you’ve always envisioned. At The Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling on Bleecker Street in Manhattan, our expert counselors...
No matter how happy and well-adjusted you are, when you unexpectedly lose a loved one, are diagnosed with a serious illness, or undergo an unwanted change of status — such as a divorce, or job loss — feeling grief is normal. Everyone experiences grief and loss differently, and there’s no...
thesohocenter.com - Why Your Overall Health is Dependent on Sleep It’s estimated that at least one-third of Americans are sleep deprived. In fact, the issue is so widespread and chronic that the CDC declared sleep loss apublic health epidemicin 2016. In our age of streaming TV, portable electronics, and 24/7...
At the Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling, located in Manhattan, New York City, it’s not uncommon for our psychotherapists to enmesh breathwork into your sessions. Why do we do this? because the research has shown its’ effectiveness in a variety of cases (including but not limited to: stress, anxiety,...
No matter where you live or what your background, every person on the planet experiences stress in various forms. Financial stress, problems at work or with relationships, changes in status, and even environmental stressors, including noise and pollution, all take their toll. Stressful situations are a normal part of life,...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/style/therapy-psychology-astrology-tarot-ayahuasca.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.huffpost.com/entry/nightmare-meanings-tips_l_5d5ff220e4b0b59d25739acf/amp
https://nypost.com/2019/08/15/thrivenyc-violated-the-most-basic-rule-of-mental-health-care/
https://empower-mag.com/2019/07/19/new-york-citys-soho-mental-health-counseling-center-speaks-to-empower-mag/
If you get angry so easily that it’s causing trouble on the job, in your relationships, or is affecting your health, you may wonder if it’s time for anger management. You want to do something to change the way you express yourself, because you don’t want to live with the...
According to The National Center for Victims of Crimes, one of every five girls and one of 20 boys is a victim of sexual abuse in the US. Whether you were abused once or repeatedly as a child, or sexually assaulted as an adult, the effects of sexual abuse linger...
The Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling on Vicarious Trauma
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 30 million adults and kids of all ages, races, and genders in the US are afflicted by an eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious: Every 62 minutes, somebody dies as a direct result of an eating disorder. At the...
An intimate, romantic relationship brings both physical benefits — such as lower blood pressure and fewer stress hormones — and emotional ones, too — including less loneliness and greater happiness. According to the Harvard Study of Adult Development, women and men who were in a satisfying, stable relationships in their...
Post-traumatic disorder (PTSD) first reached public awareness as the concept of “shell shock” — the debilitating nightmares, hyper-reactivity, and increased suicide risk that soldiers endured after returning home from the horrors of World War I. Now we know that PTSD symptoms can affect anyone who’s been exposed to any form...
Sometimes you’ll hear people joking about having OCD because they can’t stop checking their email or want their desks to be in perfect order. But a clinical diagnosis of OCD denotes a mental illness whose manifestations extend beyond normal worry, cleanliness, or neatness. True OCD is marked by both compulsion...
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, almost 70% of children who are seen in a pediatric health setting have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lives. Science demonstrates that childhood trauma changes you on the level of your cells and even your genes. Some of these gene...
Everyone around you tells you to “snap out of it,” but you still feel sad or hopeless. Depression isn’t a mood; it’s a disease, and it affects women more often than men. If you’re a girl or woman and you think you may be depressed, the expert psychotherapists and counselors...
Winters in New York City can be tough — the shorter days and colder temperatures force you indoors and, for roughly 10 million Americans, straight into hiding. Called seasonal affective disorder, this type of depression can have a large impact on your life for almost half of each year, which...
According to the National Institutes of Health, alcohol abuse is the third leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S. and accounts for approximately 31% of fatal car accidents. More than 15 million American women and men and half a million youths (ages 12 to 17) have medically diagnosed alcohol...
Everyone experiences a certain amount of anxiety from time to time. After all, this normal “fight or flight” emotion is a part of your body’s routine response to stressful situations that call for extra attention or precaution. But when anxiety becomes so persistent that it interferes with your life,...