barrybhart's blog

Motivation to change is the best predictor we have of how successful you will be will be in your desire to change your behavior.  For instance, if you want to stop smoking or lose weight, this simple but accurate test will give you a reasonably good idea of how well you are likely to respond to treatment.

        Rate yourself on these four aspects of motivation.

1)    How IMPORTANT is it for you to change NOW?
        0____1____2____3____4____5____6____7____8____9____10

Anxiety is an extremely common problem that affects both children and adults. Anxiety causes a lot of unhappiness and can affect your relationships and ability to work.
 
Types of anxiety include: 
 
Acute stress disorder – becoming very anxious within one month of experiencing something extremely stressful
 

There are a number of reasons that someone may wish to have a mental status evaluation. They are usually required for people wishing to adopt a child outside the USA, and, police departments often require one after making an offer to a police candidate, before s/he can start training. Or, you may simply wish to have a professional opinion of your mental health, as a periodic check-up, just like you have a yearly physical exam. Give me a call to discuss booking an appointment.

Pain and Fibromyalgia Pain that lasts for more than 3-6 months is called chronic. It does not tell us anything useful (i.e. it has no 'signal value') and does not respond to standard medical treatment. The nerve pathways that transmit the sensation of chronic pain up the spinal cord go to different parts of the brain, including the emotional center called the limbic system, Therefore, our emotions can effect how we experience pain. In that sense, pain is a complicated perception and not just a sensation.

Student threat assessments of violence potential are carried out for schools who are concerned about a student who may have made a threat against other students or the building. Schools need to know if the student is really a serious threat or not, and a psychological threat assessment is the way this is done. Teachers, parents, and the child are all interviewed according to Secret Service guidelines. I have carred out more than 30 evaluations for York County schools in the last four years and presented this work at a PPA Annual Conference.

Many athletes get nervous before an event. Sometimes, it can even be helpful to have the adrenaline flowing, but just as often it can interfere with doing your best. This is due to anxiety having the effect of tensing up muscles and causing you to tell yourself that you're going to mess up. And thus you probably will, because what the mind says, the body follows. Blushing is a great example of how the mind can affect the body.

Being nervous when taking examinations is very common, whether it's for tests at school, taking finals, or even a driving test. I started using cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and hypnosis with groups of students for this problem many years ago when living in England. There were many reasons why students worried about taking tests, some of which were due to their teachers' off hand remarks; some due to high expectations by parents; but most were caused by what the students were telling themselves.