Psychology Counseling

What are stress and anxiety?
Stress is any demand placed on your brain or physical body. Any event or scenario that makes you feel frustrated or nervous can trigger it. Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, or unease. While it can occur as a reaction to stress, it can also happen without any obvious trigger.
Both stress and anxiety involve mostly identical symptoms, including:
trouble sleeping
digestive issues
difficulty concentrating
muscle tension
irritability or anger
Most people experience some feelings of stress and anxiety at some point, and that isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing. After all, stress and anxiety can sometimes be a helpful motivator to accomplish daunting tasks or do things you’d rather not (but really should). But unmanaged stress and anxiety can start to interfere with your daily life and take a toll on your mental and physical health. Here’s a closer look at stress and anxiety, how they differ, and how to find support for managing both.
What do stress and anxiety feel like?
Stress and anxiety can produce a range of physical and psychological symptoms.
Stress symptoms include:
dizziness
muscle tension
digestive issues, including nausea and diarrhea
trouble sleeping
anger or irritability
headaches
increased sweating
feelings of overwhelm
restlessness
changes in appetite
increased heart rate
Anxiety can involve the same symptoms as stress, in addition to:
a feeling of impending doom
tingling or numbness
brain fog

What Is Depression?
Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.
Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:
Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
Loss of energy or increased fatigue
Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, handwringing) or slowed movements or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable by others)
Feeling worthless or guilty
Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
Thoughts of death or suicide
Symptoms must last at least two weeks and must represent a change in your previous level of functioning for a diagnosis of depression.
Also, medical conditions (e.g., thyroid problems, a brain tumor or vitamin deficiency) can mimic symptoms of depression so it is important to rule out general medical causes.
Depression affects an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year. And one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at some time in their life. Depression can occur at any time, but on average, first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Women are more likely than men to experience depression. Some studies show that one-third of women will experience a major depressive episode in their lifetime. There is a high degree of heritability (approximately 40%) when first-degree relatives (parents/children/siblings) have depression.

Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression).
When you become depressed, you may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in most activities. When your mood shifts to mania or hypomania (less extreme than mania), you may feel euphoric, full of energy or unusually irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior and the ability to think clearly.
Episodes of mood swings may occur rarely or multiple times a year. While most people will experience some emotional symptoms between episodes, some may not experience any.
Although bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, you can manage your mood swings and other symptoms by following a treatment plan. In most cases, bipolar disorder is treated with medications and psychological counseling (psychotherapy).

What Are the 5 Stages of Grief? The 5 Stages of Grief is a theory developed by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. It suggests that we go through five distinct stages after the loss of a loved one.
These stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.
Denial In the first stage of the grieving process, denial helps us minimize the overwhelming pain of loss. As we process the reality of our loss, we are also trying to survive emotional pain.
It can be hard to believe we have lost an important person in our lives, especially when we may have just spoken with them the previous week or even the previous day.
Anger The second stage in grieving is anger. We are trying to adjust to a new reality and are likely experiencing extreme emotional discomfort.
There is so much to process that anger may feel like it allows us an emotional outlet. Keep in mind that anger does not require us to be very vulnerable.
Bargaining When coping with loss, it isn't unusual to feel so desperate that you are willing to do anything to alleviate or minimize the pain. During this stage in grieving,
you may try to bargain to change the situation, agreeing to do something in return for being relieved of the pain you feel.
Depression During our experience of processing grief, there comes a time when our imaginations calm down and we slowly start to look at the reality of our present situation.
Bargaining no longer feels like an option and we are faced with what is happening.
Acceptance The last of the 5 Stages of Grief is acceptance. When we come to a place of acceptance, it is not that we no longer feel the pain of loss.
Instead, we are no longer resisting the reality of our situation, and we are not struggling to make it something different.
Sadness and regret can still be present in this phase. But the emotional survival tactics of denial, bargaining, and anger are less likely to be present during this phase of the grieving process.

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.
While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives. Psychologists can help them find constructive ways of managing their emotions.

Sexual dysfunction is a problem that can happen during any phase of the sexual response cycle. It prevents you from experiencing satisfaction from sexual activity.
The sexual response cycle traditionally includes excitement, plateau, orgasm and resolution. Desire and arousal are both part of the excitement phase of the sexual response.
It’s important to know women don’t always go through these phases in order. While research suggests that sexual dysfunction is common,
many people don’t like talking about it. Because treatment options are available, though, you should share your concerns with your partner and healthcare provider.