mental health

For several years in a row, the Center for Collegiate Mental Health has reported an increase in the number of college students who seek treatment for mental health issues. These students aren’t just struggling with normal college stress. According to the report, college counseling centers are seeing another increase in the number of students who… Read On »

Meditation is simply the practice of turning one’s attention to a single point of focus, such as the breath, an image, or a repeated word or phrase. While it sounds simple, it can often feel impossible to sit down, quiet the mind, set yourself free from distractions, and meditate. Meditation has numerous health benefits for… Read On »

Dr. John Dyben, DHSc, MCAP, CMHP My father grew up in Downers Grove and went to college at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His father was a delivery driver in the city. My father relayed to me a story about a tumultuous time for Chicago when there were race riots in the ’60s. As the… Read On »

Alcoholism, drug addiction, and substance use disorders lead to – and flourish in – isolation and secrecy. But, as people with addiction are forced to quarantine with their loved one, signs of substance use that may have been hidden from view come to the forefront. Substance use is often the central organizing principle of a person’s life,… Read On »

Our bodies create and release stress hormones through reactions of the nervous system. In this article, we will take a journey through that process so that we can more fully understand the stress response and its impact on our minds and bodies. It Begins in the Brain We’ve all experienced stressful situations and notice the… Read On »

For years, stress and stress management have been mainstream topics of conversation in regards to our work life. Increasingly, especially in America, we have become more stressed at work, which results in a negative impact on our mental health, as well as our overall wellbeing. What started as stress turned into chronic stress, and what… Read On »

Bipolar is a psychiatric disorder that’s characterized by states of mania and states of depression. In this two-part series, we’ll look at signs of both bipolar mania and depression. We’ll first discuss the general meaning of bipolar depression, as well as common signs and symptoms. People with bipolar disorder experience states of mania and states… Read On »

The science behind meditation is not lacking. Though the practice is thousands of years old, in the last decade science has taken a particular interest in the efficacy and benefit of meditation. Brain imaging studies, behavioral studies, and even studies conducted on the smallest parts of our cellular make up have all found that regular… Read On »

The parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems are the two parts of what’s known as our autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for controlling bodily functions that we don’t do consciously such as breath, digestion, and our heartbeat. While the sympathetic nervous system is like a gas pedal that activates the stress response… Read On »

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is often cast as one of the most difficult mental illnesses to diagnose and to treat. Characterized more often by external behaviors rather than internal causes, getting to the root of BPD can be a therapeutic challenge as a complicated web of coping behaviors that have been formulated to protect against… Read On »