Brain Health Archives - Dr. Asa Show

The Diagnosis

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Fri, 26 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Awareness of mental health issues may be increasing, but it can still be incredibly difficult to access support. That’s partially because of the difficulties in getting an accurate diagnosis. Thoughts and emotions aren’t exactly the easiest things to measure and classify. We know that the causes of mental illness can be complex. There’s often an […]

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Degrees Of Mood

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

You might not know the exact clinical definition of depression, but you’re probably aware that it involves prolonged periods of low mood that interfere with your ability to live healthily and productively. You may also know that there are different types of depression, though you might not understand the differences. Depression comes under the heading […]

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We’re All In This Together

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 06:00:00 +0000

There was a time when someone with a mental illness would be shut away in an institution as far away from society as possible. Luckily, those days are mostly behind us. Now, there’s a conscious effort to try to find community-based solutions to mental health problems, and the overall outcomes seem to be better for […]

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Harness The Fear

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 06:00:00 +0000

At its worst, anxiety can make it impossible to do anything. You end up trapped by your fears, some of them irrational, unable to make decisions or take part in activities that you might even enjoy. Daily life becomes impossible. There’s another side to anxiety, though, and that’s as fuel and motivation. If you harness […]

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Treating The Cause

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Antidepressants can play an important role in managing the symptoms of depression, but they don’t necessarily solve the underlying problem. If something’s gone wrong in your thought processes, you may need therapy to figure it out. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most common kinds. It’s a form of psychotherapy that’s often called […]

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Speaking Out

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 06:00:00 +0000

There was a time when the slightest hint of mental illness would lead to a person being spirited away to an asylum, possibly to never be seen again. Thankfully, we’re a long way from those days, but there can still be a stigma when talking about mental illness. As more and more people speak openly […]

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Panic Attacks

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Anxiety is associated with several different diagnosable conditions, but symptoms tend to overlap. Mentally, there’s the persistent and often irrational worrying. Physically, there’s everything from shortness of breath to sweaty palms and headaches. Some of the more severe reactions may fall under the category of panic attacks. A panic attack is a particularly intense period […]

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An Expanding Web

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 06:00:00 +0000

There’s depression that’s just a low mood, and there’s depression that’s an actual medical disorder with diagnostic criteria. Well, even that’s not strictly true; there are several conditions with similar symptoms that come under the heading of mood disorder and the subset of depressive disorder. What you probably think about when you hear the term, […]

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Push Yourself

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 06:00:00 +0000

There are two times when motivation is particularly important. The first is when we are about to start a new project. It can be daunting looking ahead and seeing everything we need to do, but if we can just push ourselves to take the first step, it can make everything that comes afterward a little […]

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Think It Through

Dr. Asa Andrew, MD — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 06:00:00 +0000

What are you thinking when your alarm goes off in the morning? Do you immediately jump up, raring to go, or do you groan and look at the upcoming day with dread? Most of us have trouble summoning motivation sometimes, but it can make a huge difference to how successful we are in our day-to-day […]

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