I feel everyone’s eyes on me as I walk through the store. I try to sink into myself, make myself disappear, but it doesn’t work. I can feel a tic coming and I try to hold it back, but it bursts out of me and I hit my chest. Pain blooms through my collarbone. I’m on the edge of panicking,...[ read more ]

Frequently Asked Questions About Childhood Anxiety Disorders and Treatment Diagnosing Anxiety Disorders Q: What are anxiety disorders? A: Anxiety disorders are mental health conditions characterized by worries and fears that are persistent and excessive. The worries are out of proportion to the stressor and/or may be inappropriate for the person’s developmental level. The majority of anxiety disorders require a duration...[ read more ]

By Ashley Butterfield, PsyD “All of us have worries. We worry because we are intelligent beings. Intelligence predicts, that is its essence; the same intelligence that allows us to plan, hope, imagine, and hypothesize also allows us to worry and anticipate negative outcomes.” – Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that Changes Itself Throughout the course of your life, you...[ read more ]

The OCD Cycle   We live in a society that collectively has difficulty tolerating anxiety and accepting ambiguity. Anxiety is an emotion that is associated with a lot of negative connotations and generally leads us to quickly seek out solutions to escape the discomfort. For some people, anxiety becomes connected to everyday, seemingly neutral things such as other people, social...[ read more ]

There is a close and complex relationship between physical and mental health. Having both a medical condition and a psychological disorder can make it difficult to cope and to make the right treatment decisions. Here is a brief overview of some common medical conditions that may resemble anxiety disorders and tips for managing the overlap: Anxiety disorders often have a...[ read more ]

You likely have previously heard about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, in some context. With roughly a 2% prevalence rate in the general population, millions of people experience clinical-level symptoms of OCD each day. Despite this wide prevalence, the true characteristics of OCD are not as widely understood amongst the general population as other mental health disorders, such as depression or...[ read more ]

School anxiety and school refusal are experienced by around 28% of children and can negatively impact both academic and social functioning. As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the incidence rates of school refusal have increased within the last few years and prevalence rates of school-related anxieties surged once students were able to resume in-person learning. Our school and mental...[ read more ]

The OCD Cycle We live in a society where we do not like to be uncomfortable and where we have difficulty tolerating distress. Anxiety is an emotion that has a lot of negative connotations and leads us to quickly try to find solutions by going into problem-solving mode. For some people, the danger signal gets attached to everyday neutral things...[ read more ]

The OCD Cycle We live in a society that collectively has difficulty tolerating anxiety and accepting ambiguity. Anxiety is an emotion that is associated with a lot of negative connotations and generally leads us to quickly seek out solutions to escape the discomfort. For some people, anxiety becomes connected to everyday, seemingly neutral things such as other people, social situations,...[ read more ]

The OCD Cycle We live in a society where we do not like to be uncomfortable and where we have difficulty tolerating distress. Anxiety is an emotion that has a lot of negative connotations and leads us to quickly try to find solutions and go into problem solving mode. For some people, the danger signal gets attached to everyday neutral...[ read more ]