This blog is written by the clinicians at Jonah Green and Associates, a mental health practice based in Kensington, MD that provides quality services for children, teens, families, and adults. It is intended as a resource for families who are seeking to expand their knowledge about mental health and mental health services, and also as a resource for families who are seeking quality mental health services, especially in the mid-Atlantic region. Please feel free to post questions and comments on any of the entries as well as on any topics or articles from our companion web site www.childandfamilymentalhealth.com.
Avoidance is a natural response to fear and anxiety. Fear is adaptive and serves as an alarm to move us out of harm’s way. Many stressors, such as running across a busy street or scaling a tall building, should be avoided. Each time we successfully stay safe, our brain rewards us with a flood of relief; we survived, and we like that feeling.
Impulse control and self-regulation are a large part of many therapies with young children who have difficulty with waiting, stopping, following directions, and accepting limits. These skills are part of a larger set of abilities called the “executive functions,” which include emotion regulation, organization, attention, inhibiting one’s actions, and time management. Research shows that the area of the brain responsible for these complex tasks, the pre-frontal cortex, continues to develop into one’s mid-twenties. No wonder our little ones are still learning and growing and in these areas! With practice and persistence, we can help our little ones gain connections and strengthen executive functions. The games below are used to do just that.
Many parents become undone when a child lies to them. Projecting in the future, parents fear that deceit will become habitual and last into adulthood. Yet kids lie for many different reasons. Some kinds of dishonesty are developmentally normal, and call for a measured response. It helps to understand the reason a child is lying in order to come up with an appropriate way to encourage their moral development.
It’s 11 pm and the homework battle soldiers on. You’re standing in the door frame, trying to convince your 13 year old daughter that it’s time for bed. She has spent the last 6 hours preparing for her science test and the best thing she can do now is rest, but she won’t close the books. Your sweet, stressed, bleary eyed girl is positive that if she sleeps all will be lost and her quarter grades will be unrecoverable. Sound familiar?
This has been an incredibly mild winter here in the DC metro area. I felt the effect myself over this past unusually warm weekend. Exercising outside at the park, abundant sunshine, and more time socializing with friends and neighbors seemed to have everyone in a better mood. That being said, we still have more frigid days in our future. For many people dark and short days, limited sunshine and more time stuck indoors can create a case of the “winter blues”. For others, the changing seasons can prompt a more serious condition known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). SAD is a form of depression that is directly linked to the changing seasons. It includes symptoms of sadness and depression combined with lack of motivation and increased sleeping and eating. Researchers aren’t sure as to the exact cause of SAD although lack of light is thought to affect melatonin and serotonin brain activity which in turn affects mood. Here are some tips for managing this frustrating annual condition:
