Your Mind Your Body

Do you lie awake at night hashing over and over the things you messed up? Do you worry so much about what could go wrong in the future that you can’t seem to move forward? Or maybe you can’t let go of something someone said to you, and the more you think about it, the worse you feel about yourself.

This constant cycle of negative thinking is called rumination. It could be commonly confused, and even dismissed as feelings of worry. But ruminating and worrying are different because a ruminator not only worries about her problems, she worries about all her feelings about her problems, and is not able to develop strategies to solve her problems.

Filed under: Lifestyle & Behaviors, Stress, Women | Comments Off

The latest string of bad economic news – long-term unemployment at record high levels, more foreclosures and few new jobs being created – spells continuing stress for many Americans and is contributing to their gloomy outlook about the economy. As a clinical psychologist, some of my patients tell me they feel like the folks who were trying to cap the oil spill in the Gulf–each day feels more disheartening and more overwhelming than the last. Being out of control to fix one’s life can quickly lead to anxiety, and even clinical depression, if left untreated.

Filed under: Lifestyle & Behaviors, Resilience, Stress | 1 Comment »

The ongoing recession has been tough on all Americans, but new data suggests men are especially being hit hard, both physically and psychologically. The unemployment rate for men is higher than for women, and men stay unemployed longer. Men account for 60 percent of the long-term unemployed, people who have been out of work for more than six months.

Filed under: Lifestyle & Behaviors, Resilience, Stress, Work/Life | 3 Comments »