Blog Archive

During pregnancy, a woman's body goes through a number of physical and chemical changes. These changes can have an impact on the pregnant woman's sexuality and sexual function. Dr. Wendy Hookman, Reproductive Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Washington Center for Women's and Children's Wellness, has been treating pregnant women's...

According to new federal data released last Monday, teen girls reported record levels of violence, sadness, and suicidal ideation in 2021, experiencing distress at twice the rate of teen boys. The nearly three-in-five teen girls who felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021 represented a 60% increase from a decade...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders in children, but the disorder doesn’t simply go away once you become an adult.  ADHD entails poor frontal lobe regulation. The frontal lobe is the part of the brain responsible for more sophisticated tasks such as future planning, problem-solving,...

The transition to menopause is unique to every woman. Some women experience mild changes, while others experience debilitating symptoms.  Most women enter menopause between the ages of 45 and 54. The transition period can last anywhere between 7 and 15 years, depending on the individual.  During this time, your body...

Also known as talk therapy, psychotherapy is a safe space in which you can explore, under the guidance of an expert, your thoughts and feelings to find tools that will better your life. Research shows that about 75% of patients who choose psychotherapy experience benefits from using it.  Anyone can benefit from...

Dealing with the hurdles of infertility, the treatments, and the uncertainty is stressful. Therefore, it’s no surprise that women who suffer from infertility are more likely to experience depression than their fertile counterparts.  If you suspect you may be suffering from depression, read on. Below, we asked our experts at Washington...

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental disorders, affecting up to 30% of adults at some point in their lives.  If your feelings of anxiety are related to several areas in your life — including your health, relationships, work, and finances — you may be suffering from generalized anxiety disorder...

Studies show that, on average, women suffering from mental health conditions have their lifespan shortened by 7 years.  Fortunately, treating mental health disorders — either through therapy, medications, or a combination of both — has been shown to improve symptoms and prevent the development of other conditions. Below, we asked our experts...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder found in children and adults diagnosed with symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.  Every child is inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive once in a while. However, to be diagnosed with ADHD, a child must have at least six symptoms that persist...

Almost everyone experiences periods in which they feel sad or anxious. These emotions are normal, as they help us navigate through emotionally distressing situations.  However, when these emotions persist in the absence of a threat, they can put the body in a permanent “flight or fight” state.  This stress response...

Women put off seeking help for postpartum depression for many reasons. They may think they simply have a temporary case of the "baby blues," or they may even feel too depressed to do anything, especially going to appointments. Women may feel too ashamed or too afraid to admit to the...

The holidays are an ambivalent period for most people, a time for celebration but also for more complicated feelings. We’re here to help you through the challenges this time of year brings. Read recommendations for ways to cope, whether it’s dealing with difficult relatives or avoiding burnout from all the...

Many of our patients are asking for advice on how to handle the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The answer we’re all hearing in the news, “It’s too early to know for sure,” while true, isn’t very helpful. Is Omicron more or less dangerous than the variants...

We’ve been hearing from so many patients how tough this school year has been for teens. A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association declared the mental health crisis a national emergency. The resulting teen mental health...

With COVID-19 cases rising and uncertainty surrounding its variants, many patients have told us recently that it feels like there’s not a light at the end of the tunnel right now and are reporting poor sleep, fatigue, or less productivity at work. “At the beginning of the summer, we expected...

In the best of years, going back to school is one of the most stressful times for families. This back-to-school period brings with it a number of unprecedented challenges: a return to in-person learning after last year’s exhausting remote or hybrid learning experiment, a rise in cases of COVID-19 among...

With the rise in delta variant cases as kids return to school and fight over mask mandates, the current period is in certain ways more stressful than lockdown. With everything in flux, it may be more difficult to have any kind of routine. But if you made positive changes during...

As the world has started to reopen over the last few months, many patients are finding themselves overwhelmed and confused. On the one hand, we can gather with family and friends again and return to the activities the pandemic forced us to stop. On the other, we’re quickly realizing that...

Ah! The joys of summer – sun, vacation, bike riding, swimming, and hiking. All good things for our mental health. Generally. The thing is that lots of animals love this time of year, including ticks. And where there are ticks, there is Lyme Disease. The black-legged tick is the only...

During this reopening period, many of our patients are enjoying summer, yet still feeling anxious about navigating the specifics. These feelings can be further complicated by the fact that, although many adults are vaccinated, kids under 12 remain ineligible to receive the vaccine and, though case rates are dropping in...

With re-openings and loosened mask restrictions, many patients have told us they have mixed feelings about going back into the world again. There is also some embarrassment about admitting this. Shouldn’t I want to see my friends and extended families, send my kids to school and camp, and get back...

Telehealth: Online video sessions continue to be the most convenient method of meeting for our patients so we are seeing patients in person upon request only. While Montgomery County has lifted the mandate on wearing masks indoors, we care for many children, who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, in-person....

As we start to emerge from the isolation of the pandemic, the term collective trauma is being used quite a bit to describe what we’ve all been going through. The is the first time in my memory that the term is being used so widely outside of psychotherapeutic circles and we’re being...

Knowing when to seek professional help can be difficult. Here are a few questions to help guide your decision. 1) How severe are my symptoms? How large is their negative impact on my life? 2) How long have I been in this state of distress? 3) Am I becoming more...

The unfortunate truth is that eating disorders are prevalent in our society. According to surveys conducted by the National Eating Disorders Association (www.nationaleatingdisorders.org), current estimates are that 20 million women and 10 million men in the US will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives. Parents are...

The practice of meditation has existed for thousands of years, and it was originally meant to help deepen one’s spiritual self. However, today it has evolved to also be used as a purposeful way of quieting the mind and encouraging deep relaxation and stress control. When practiced regularly, meditation provides tremendous health...

As the seasons change and sometimes as the days get shorter, some of us can experience changes in mood and in energy. For some people, this could be signs of “SAD” or Seasonal Affective Disorder. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons...

How to Recognize Depression Feeling down from time to time is a normal part of life, but when emotions such as hopelessness and despair take hold and just won’t go away, you may have depression. Depression makes it tough to function and enjoy life like you once did. Just trying...

Creating Work-Life Balance Our busy modern lives seem to demand so much from us these days. Everyone is juggling multiple tasks between our work and home lives. Technology seems to make us all available 24/7. And for many of us, it seems more impossible than ever to carve out quality downtime and...

Having a new baby can be such a wonderful time in a woman’s life, but it can also produce some unexpected emotional side effects. You think this should be a joyous time in your life, but instead, you may find yourself with overwhelming feelings of sadness and emotions that are...

What is Play Therapy? “Because play is a child’s language and toys are a child’s words.” (Landreth 2002) Play therapy refers to a large number of treatment methods, all applying the therapeutic benefits of play. Play therapy differs from regular play in that the therapist helps children to address and...

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that causes individuals to have constant disruptive thoughts or ideas and/or compulsive behavior. It can also drive repetitive behavior such as checking and rechecking things, repeated hand-washing, and can be emotionally disruptive and distressing. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that OCD affects...

I’ve been “prescribing” meditation to my patients for years but it can be very difficult to establish a regular practice on your own. One of the simplest solutions is Guided Meditation. What is Guided Meditation? Guided meditation is simply “meditation with the help of a guide”. It’s one of the...

We all experience personal challenges and high levels of stress these days and on multiple fronts. We have stress at work where we may be trying to get recognition for our efforts or we want to get ahead. We have issues at home perhaps with difficult teenagers or overbearing parents....

What are the Different Types of Meditation? There are quite a few different types of meditation to choose from, literally hundreds of distinct ways to practice. For those who may be just getting started with meditation, we are going to focus on three of the more traditional types, what they...

Whenever I speak to my patients about self-healing they usually look at me with that perplexed look that says “you’re the doctor, you spent all those years in training if I thought I could do it myself I wouldn’t be here!” When I tell them that they are responsible for...

Why is it important to validate your child’s feelings? It sounds like it might be complicated but it’s really quite simple. It is recognizing the child’s feelings and acknowledging those feelings as true and important. It does not mean that you are approving of any behavior that is being displayed...

The number of Americans who are sleep-deprived is alarmingly high. According to the National Sleep Foundation, forty-five percent of Americans say that poor or insufficient sleep affected their daily activities at least once in the past seven days. Lack of sleep or sleep deprivation can lead to many problems from...

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” –Winston Churchill Resilience is a key ingredient in determining an individual’s ability to succeed in practically every aspect of life. But what is resilience exactly? It’s a skill set that defines the strength and speed of our response to...