My friends tell me I have a twisted way of seeing things (they must love me). Well, since I wouldn’t want to shatter their vision of me, I will continue from where I left off last week and examine another aspect of anxiety as I complete my great animal psychology trilogy. It’s no Lord of [...]
Category Archives: Anxiety
Alvin bites the dust!
I called him Chippy. I’m sure he had a family…don’t all rodents? Do they celebrate Father’s Day? Do they hold tearful memorials for their crushed brethren while Alvin sings Amazing Grace a cappella? Is there a rodentia heaven? These are just some of the existential questions I asked myself following the tragic incident described below. [...]
Influenza A (H1N1): From the reasonable to the ridiculous
In case you haven’t noticed yet, there is some concern spreading about the potential pandemic caused by the Influenza A H1N1 virus. The reactions range from complete indifference to utter hysteria - a wide range to say the least. I think this might be a good time to examine the nature of human anxiety when it comes to [...]
La Gestion de l’Anxiété
Voici la traduction Française d’un article sur la compréhension et le traitement de l’anxiété que j’ai écrit pour l’organisation Phobies-Zéro. Il est long mais pourrait benificier les personnes qui souffrent de ces problèmes. LA GESTION DE L’ANXIÉTÉ Les raisons de l’anxiété La douleur et les ours L’un d’entre nous aime-t-il se sentir anxieux? J’en doute. [...]
Anxiety management
Here is an article I wrote about understanding and treating anxiety disorders. It is long and may not be of interest to people who do not suffer from these difficulties. Nevertheless I decided to make it comprehensive so as to be of most benefit to those who are affected by them, either directly or indirectly. [...]
In defense of control freaks
CONTROL FREAK – such a pejorative term, isn’t it? After I wrote my last post, I had a client ask me, “I’m not a control freak, am I?” I said, “Of course you are, but that doesn’t make you a bad person.” People don’t control in order to dominate or to manipulate per se. They control in [...]
Control freaks
Sorry I haven’t written for a while but I occasionally get sidetracked by my actual job (or by my life, such as it is). Last week’s column was about control freaks. This is a phenomenon that occurs when the stress response meets perfectionnism and rigidity. The stress response is the body’s instinctive way of protecting [...]
The long and short of first impressions
Very few of us would want to give a bad impression to others, especially when we find ourselves in a new situation. That goes without saying. Unfortunately we cannot always guarantee that the impression we give others will be a good one. In general, while it is important to be aware of the effect we [...]
Mental illness discussed with class and a human touch
If you want a real sense of what it is like to be afflicted with a mental illness, I strongly suggest you check out a website called Breakdown put together by The Globe and Mail. It provides a clear and very human portrait of how lives are affected by schizophrenia, anxiety and depression. In reading [...]
The paradox of anxiety
Anxiety is a very easy to understand. When we are confronted with a danger, we feel anxiety. This anxiety then pushes us to protect ourselves by either fighting against the danger or by running away from it. Very simple. But what happens if you are afraid of being anxious? Where do you run or how [...]
