This article is on the future of therapy and the use of AI. It discusses the positive and negative aspects of AI therapy.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Film, TV, and even the news, spread misinformation about mental health. This causes extreme harm to those to struggle from mental illnesses, and prevents many from getting the help they need. Start viewing the media with a critical eye, and support those who need it. Check out our blog series about mental health stigma in the media.

Sports Psychology looks at how psychological factors influence all things related to athletics and sports. The Olympics have put a spotlight on the need for athletes to make mental health as important as physical health. This is a rapidly growing field and if you want to learn more, check out our blog series on sports psychology.

How are therapists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals reimbursed or funded? What kind of regulations are enforced to ensure that mental health professionals are practicing legally? These questions are important to ask and for your provider(s) to be transparent about when you seek professional help. The answers to these questions are typically written in nationwide policies, which can differ depending on the state that you live in across the United States.

The media we consume has the power to shape our personal opinions. Make sure you are thinking critically about why you hold certain opinions about others: are they based on real facts, or just a piece of fiction?

Sports psychologists often deal with problems such as overtraining, burnout, or adjustment disorder. Athletes have their own unique struggle, which is why this discipline is so important. If you want to learn more about how these disorders affect some of the most infamous athletes, check out SportsPsychMD’s podcast.

The Covid-19 pandemic has largely ransacked the world with any chance or hope of achieving normalcy again. Even if things begin to gradually get better, we have to understand and accept that we are entering a new era which has forced society to adapt to many changes in order to reintegrate ourselves to the unexpected occurrence, and this includes the surge in changes to legislative activity for mental health policies.

In order to understand why policies are in place for mental health issues, we must not overlook and address the myths present in mental health issues including how commonplace mental health issues are in the United States, that these issues promote violence, and are caused by individuals’ incapabilities to handle daily life stressors (e.g. jobs).

Representation of mental illness in the media has long been inaccurate and harmful. But, there are a few exceptions to that. In this blog post, we discuss a few positive examples of accurate representation of mental illness, and discuss how we can decrease stigma by being more honest about these portrayals.

Doctors had first looked at mental disorders as a mental/emotional issue, then they began to also look at it as an abnormality in the balance and function of neurotransmitters (a brain chemistry issue) and now, scientists and doctors are studying mental illness on the level of brain circuitry.

To tackle the stigma of mental health treatments that incorporate medicine, we as individuals must start by educating ourselves as well as the larger community on the reasons behind the importance of medical treatment.

When people think about psychedelics, they’re often picturing hippies in the 1960s experimenting with LSD or psychedelic mushrooms. Hearing that it is actually a treatment for some refractory mental disorders may confuse some people. After all, aren’t these illegal substances that our parents warned us about? Well, with the right context and administration, psychedelics can actually be an extremely powerful form of treatment.

Not only was the novel (written by Julia Walton) adaptation “Words on Bathroom Walls” a wildly impressive storytelling of an all too real mental illness, schizophrenia, but it has shaken the world of mental health like a double-edged sword.

For our last blog post in interventional psychiatry, we are going to talk about three forms of therapy that each hold a unique place in the field; nutritional therapy and exercise therapy. Though each very different, they result in very similar changes in the brain -- neurotransmitters involved in mood increase and areas of the brain involved in mood regulation change and begin to look like a more healthy brain.

In the midst of a pandemic, it is not surprising the rise of many people harboring feelings of isolation, depression, and loneliness. It is puzzling to hear that loneliness, especially a chronic case, is not classified as a recognized clinical health issue today.

People often use terms of addiction like “binge-watching” television shows or being a self-proclaimed “workaholic” in a light-hearted, joking manner to address their obsessions. But, there is always truth in jest. Through observation of the world today, in comparison with just hundreds of years ago, the amount of information to which we have access is alarmingly greater.