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Coping as a Family With Mental Illness

Posted September 9, 2020

When someone in your family struggles with mental illness, you may feel helpless and not know what to say. Many people don’t know how to help or where to go to find competent professional care. Because every person’s experience with mental illness is different, there is no one size fits all plan of care. The way you approach the situation depends on the circumstances. However, here are a few tips that may help you approach your loved one in a caring and compassionate way that lets them know you only want to help. Continue reading →

Updated Mental Health Systems Diversity Statement

Posted July 22, 2020

To Our Community,

The team at MHS has spent the past several weeks in personal and professional reflection as we have struggled with the events in our community throughout the months of May and June.  Out of this reflection, we remind ourselves that we support our community and are proud to serve it.  We write this to reaffirm our commitment to our community – to our unwavering support of the BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and other underserved and marginalized individuals and communities.

At MHS we are committed to our ongoing growth and learning – as an agency and as individual members of the team.

And we can do better. Continue reading →

Getting Help for OCD Through Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Posted May 5, 2020

Can DBT Help OCD?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is one type of treatment that your clinician may recommend to help with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). You may be wondering how DBT can help and how it’s different from other courses of treatment. DBT is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in that it focuses on how the things you feel and the emotions you experience influence your behavior.

True to its CBT roots, DBT focuses on mindfulness, acceptance, validation, and the building of trust. Originally, DBT was developed by Marsha Linehan in the 1970s at the University of Washington to help clients with Borderline Personality Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, it’s now used to treat a variety of mental health conditions. The primary way DBT differs from other forms of treatment is the concept of acceptance of all thoughts, both good and bad.

Continue reading →

Emotional Regulation Skills and Stability

Posted May 1, 2020

Emotional Regulation Skills and Stability

Every human emotion has a purpose. Some bring pleasure, others keep people safe, and still, others allow sadness and mourning. Emotions are a normal and healthy part of life. However, people must be able to understand, interpret, and regulate emotions to maintain healthy functioning. One person’s emotions can affect the feelings of those around them as well.

When trauma or mental health problems interfere with the ability to regulate emotions, therapy can help. DBT may be an effective form of treatment, as it focuses on acknowledging feelings as neither good or bad and managing reactions to them. DBT involves one-on-one sessions with a trained therapist and group sessions.

Continue reading →

Eating Disorders and DBT

Posted March 12, 2020

Eating Disorders and DBT

The Core Components of DBT

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is one type of cognitive-behavioral therapy. It has demonstrated effectiveness with a variety of mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Though it was developed in the 1980s by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., as a therapy for suicidal thinking and self-harm, DBT has found applications for many more substance abuse disorders as well as mental health diagnoses.

 

How Can Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Help With Eating Disorders?

DBT focuses on the fluid nature of acceptance and change, two concepts that may seem mutually exclusive. Practitioners believe that people need to learn new behaviors to find satisfaction in their lives. Supporting and validating clients helps them to gain the motivation to learn and practice new things. DBT demonstrates effectiveness in addressing eating disorders using the five components of the treatment. Continue reading →

DBT and Borderline Personality Disorder

Posted March 12, 2020

DBT and Borderline Personality Disorder

What Is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental health diagnosis that involves difficulty regulating emotions. When someone with BPD experiences intense stress over an extended period, it can be tough for that person to de-escalate to a “normal” level of functioning. This feeling may express itself as self-harm, unhealthy relationships, and impulsivity. Individuals diagnosed with BPD are 75% female, though professionals suspect that men are often misdiagnosed.

What Are the Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder?

Characteristics of borderline personality disorder vary by the individual, but some are more usual than others, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Here are some of the most common symptoms of BPD: Continue reading →

Super-users in Health Care. MHS’ Dr. Mark Carlson Leads Training on Clients with Chronic Conditions

Posted March 3, 2020
Did you know that 5% of the general population accounts for about 50% of health care costs?  Coined super-users, these clients struggle to engage, burn out providers, and often have poor outcomes.  For many of these clients, traditional therapy techniques are either ineffective, or make the situation worse.  “Therapists and health care providers often haven’t seen the research and don’t know the strategies that work with these clients”, says Dr. Mark Carlson, who has spoken nationally on super-users.  “Fortunately, there are clear strategies that work across approaches that help engage clients, improve outcomes, and lead to therapists and care providers feeling better about their work with high need clients”, Dr. Carlson continued.
Held on March 6th, click here for more information and to register for this event.

Parasympathetic Nervous System and Trauma

Posted March 2, 2020

What Is the Parasympathetic Nervous System?

The parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), sometimes called the feed-and-breed or rest-and-digest system, is part of the autonomic nervous system, along with the sympathetic nervous system. Located between the brain and spinal cord, the PSNS is tasked with saving the body’s energy by slowing the heart rate and increasing the activity of the intestines and glands during periods of rest. It also relaxes the sphincter muscles in the gastrointestinal system.

Here are some of the body functions stimulated through the parasympathetic nervous system. The PSNS uses acetylcholine as its primary neurotransmitter, but other peptides may act on the PSNS as well. Continue reading →

Fear of Abandonment

Posted February 24, 2020

How Abandonment Happens

For healthy development to occur, children need physical and emotional love and care. When those needs go unmet, abandonment issues can happen. Abandonment develops when a person doesn’t have the physical and psychological presence of a significant person or people. Death and divorce are two everyday situations that can result in feelings of abandonment. While often rooted in childhood, abandonment issues can appear in adults as well, and they take different forms.

Physical abandonment means that a person’s physical needs are neglected, unmet, or unaddressed. For children, this can take many forms: Continue reading →

Datura: A Deadly High

Posted January 28, 2020

What Is Datura?

Datura is a flowering plant often used in ornamental gardens for the beautiful pastel trumpet-shaped flowers it produces. Datura is the genus with between nine and twelve species under its umbrella. As part of the nightshade family, it has been part of religious and cultural rituals for thousands of years, especially in ancient Chinese medicine. The plants grow to about three feet tall all over the world in tropical and moderate climates. Datura seeds develop inside a capsule covered in spines; as it ripens, it splits open and distributes the sees onto the ground.
Continue reading →

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