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Children and School-Related Stress

Ashley Hodges, MSW, LCSW

School. As a parent, what feelings were elicited for you as you read that word? Was it excitement? Worry? Dread? Stress? Pressure? For some, school is all about fun, friends, and an ease of fitting in with peers. While there can surely be excitement surrounding the social atmosphere, a genuine feeling of love of learning, and of being challenged academically, for many, school brings about feelings of anxiety and/or dread. The school setting can be an awkward environment for many students. For some, this anxiety is experienced as an internal dialogue: “Is the teacher going to call on me again,” “This class is impossible,” “Everyone but me seems to...

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How to Help a Friend Who is Suicidal

David Rakofsky, PsyD

This is the final story in a 3-part series about depression and finding support. This installment is directed primarly at those who have an affected person in their life, whether family or friend.

Every day, 123 Americans take their own lives, making suicide a leading cause of death in the United States and an undeniable public health crisis. The Centers for Disease Control recently reported that the rate of suicide has increased by 30% since 1999. Forty-nine states saw a rise of suicides in 2016.

While the data paint a grim picture, there is hope. One of the...

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You Deserve Better: What to do When Your Depression Isn’t Improving

David Rakofsky, PsyD

This is the second in a 3-part series for those facing depression and hoping for help. It may also be a beneficial read for those who have a loved one showing signs of depression. Previously, we discussed how to recognize the hallmark signs of depression and how to respond.

Progress isn’t always linear when it comes to mental health treatment, especially for people with depression. Even if you are receiving treatment, your depression may stop getting better or may even worsen. Depression hurts emotionally and physically, and...

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Recognizing Depression: Warning Signs and How to Seek Treatment

David Rakofsky, PsyD

This is the first in a 3-part series for those facing depression and hoping for help. It may also be a beneficial read for those who have loved ones showing signs of depression. Previously, we discussed how to respond to episodes of sadness, but depression is different, as it is a clinical issue.

Let’s start from the beginning. How do you know if you are depressed? The most common symptoms of depression are: insomnia, difficulty concentrating, trouble remembering things and making decisions, loss of appetite or overeating, losing interest in things you...

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8 Ways to Pull Yourself Out of a Funk

David Rakofsky, PsyD

A friend recently shared something new with me. A happy-go-lucky person, he said he falls into a funk—a brief period of feeling gloomy without knowing why—once or twice a year. Each episode lasts no longer than a few days, and he asked why this occurs seemingly out of the blue. I suggested it was neither sadness nor depression. Sadness is an emotion triggered by a difficult event, experience, or situation, while depression is a recognized mental illness that makes us feel sad about everything. A...

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The art of making friends - An interview with Matt Hiller, LCSW

Matt Hiller, LCSW, is a therapist formerly with Wellington Counseling Group. His work has included therapy with adults, adolescents, children, and families.

Why has it become hard to develop friendships?

Matt Hiller: Working as a therapist with young adults, I often meet with people who have moved to Chicago and are struggling to make friends. I think this reflects a larger trend where people are relocating for work or school and feel disconnected from their older social networks. Another factor is that there are so many things that compete for people's time and attention. Long work hours, technology, and family responsibilities often reduce the time that people have available to make new connections. 

Has the...

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Relationship Endings and Behavioral Economics

Santiago Delboy, LCSW, is a Chicago-based psychotherapist formerly with Wellington Counseling Group. His work has included therapy with individual adults and couples.

A long time ago I became interested in the intersection of economics and psychology. A few years later, I was delighted to hear that the 2002 Nobel Prize of Economics was awarded to a psychologist, Daniel Kahneman. He is one of the founders of Behavioral Economics, which studies the ways consumers make biased or "irrational" decisions, and one of the developers of Prospect Theory...

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Successfully Navigating Family Life with a Child with a Newly Diagnosed Disability

Susan Silver, MBA, MA, LCPC

Wow, you’re having your first child. It’s very exciting and scary. You find yourself discussing with other people, family, friends what you’re doing to prepare, what life may be like, how you are envisioning the inevitable changes, though in reality, you can’t begin to understand what your new status as a first-time parent will truly be like. You’re wondering who the baby will look like, possibly contemplating milestones, or fantasizing about their ultimate careers. You are about to acquire a title that will never leave you once obtained, that of “parent.”

Or, you...

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Generation Compassion

Susan Silver, MBA, MA, LCPC

I am a relatively calm person, not generally prone to panic.  However, as a baby boomer, when I was told I would periodically need to post to Facebook, blog, and perform other such unnatural acts, my reaction (and that of many others in my generation) was pure, unadulterated dread. I have adapted to many new things in this fast-paced, exponentially-changing world. Social media has not been one of them. That does not mean that I do not understand the marketing benefit provided by the extensive reach of social-media platforms. But like many of my generation, I prefer individual, personal interaction and to...

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Trauma is an Experience, not an Event

Santiago Delboy, LCSW, is a Chicago-based psychotherapist formerly with Wellington Counseling Group. His work has included therapy with individual adults and couples.

It seems like "trauma" has become one of those household terms everyone talks about. I took a look at the number of average monthly Google searches for "trauma" in the U.S., and found that it has grown 22% in only one year. As with other terms that became mainstream (for instance "addiction" or "narcissism"), I suspect the price of increased awareness is a diluted understanding of what they really mean.

After hearing my patients talk about their experiences, reflecting on my own upbringing, and studying some of the literature on trauma, I believe the following can be a useful working definition:

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