Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) are common neurological disorders and they can be very debilitating. They cause problems with the brain’s management system which manifest as attention problems such as difficulty with focus or organizing tasks. Individuals with ADHD also have a varying degree of behavioral problems.

Untreated ADD/ADHD may cause not just problems with learning, appropriately interacting in social settings and workplace productivity, but also other psychological disorders including depression and anxiety.

Medications can help individuals with ADD/ADHD reach higher levels of functioning. It is also important to recognize that there are other treatment options including cognitive behavioral therapy and learning practical tools such as a pocket planner.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in adults affecting about 40 million adults in the U.S, however only about 1/3 of those people seek treatment.

While everyone feels anxious time to time, anxiety becomes extremely problematic when constant anxiety or fear starts to consume an individual’s life and holds them back from what they want to do in life or starts to interfere with their everyday life.

There are medications for anxiety such as antidepressants or buspirone but psychotherapy can be a great treatment, sometimes even more effective than medications. Even those who take medications for anxiety, some form of psychotherapy should be considered for better treatment results.

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that is classified by extreme highs (mania) and extreme lows (depression). It has enormous biological and neurological components that result in nervous system disregulation. This makes the brain go into random extreme swings in mood usually without any triggers or any specific life events.

There are varying degrees of bipolar disorder and there are different types. Bipolar disorder can be a difficult illness to live with but it tends to respond well to medication. Also, taking good care of your health with heathy diet, exercise and sleep hygiene can help you have the best course and outcome possible and live well with the disorder.

Depression is on a continuum. It can range from milder levels of depression where an individual may have lower energy, negative thoughts, etc., but certainly noticing that something is not right; to more severe levels where an individual exhibits significantly diminished interest in things, feelings of worthlessness as well as vegetative symptoms that have real impact on self care such as eating and sleeping.

At the milder and moderate levels of depression, medication may or may not work as these levels of depression may be reactive to life circumstance. At the moderate to severe levels of depression, however, medications do matter as the more severe levels of depression tends to have genetic and biological bases and may not even be reactive to life events.

OCD is a fear based condition where individuals have obsessions that make them very uncomfortable, then they engage in behavioral compulsions or rituals in attempts to mitigate the fear of a bad outcome. Individuals with OCD often recognize that their obsessions are unwarranted and problematic, however they have little or no control over their obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors which tend to be time consuming and interfere with work, school or social life to the point of causing significant distress.

OCD is considered a neurobiological disorder and may be associated with low levels of serotonin, a chemical messenger in the brain. There are effective treatments for OCD including mediations that increase serotonin in the brain as well as behavioral therapy and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT).

Almost everyone lives through something traumatic at some point in life. Most people feel distressed right after the traumatic event but they begin to feel better over time. For other people, distress lingers and causes a heightened sense of danger that makes them feel stressed or fearful even in safe situations. This phenomenon is called PTSD and it can be very debilitating and interfere greatly with every aspect of the person’s life.

Having PTSD does not mean personal failing or weakness. PTSD is a treatable malfunction of certain biochemical mechanisms that allow us to cope with dangerous experiences.

There are several cognitive behavioral therapies which are proven to help people process the trauma. Medications can also be used and have shown to be helpful in addressing some of the symptoms of PTSD which can make the evidence-based therapies easier.