Brainiosis

A lot of kids are more than just grumpy. You hear it all the time. Okay, maybe YOU don’t hear it all the time, but on the front lines it’s clear: anxiety is already the most common group of mental health challenges children experience. ... And those incidence and prevalence numbers are likely to rise sharply during the pandemic postmortem. Which is why I found myself sitting in the room in my mind, disappointed with myself for not taking the wiser path. And the adventure started simply with my daughter inviting a friend to a sleepover. I had met her friend a couple times before, but I was still ill-prepared for what didn’t meet my gaze at pick up. I said hello in my cheeriest father of the year voice I could fake and she instead looked at my daughter, smiled and incredulously hopped in the back seat. As we drove and arrived and unpacked it became clear to me that there would be no full car Taylor Swift singalongs or wise facts about nature from father along the way, as the two of them huddled closely speaking in some manner I could not discern. My daughter’s friend’s lack of reciprocating all of my clearly unmet hosting needs caused me to get my back up higher than my compassion. I found myself avoiding or speaking around her when given the choice, which, after we dropped her off, I brought up with my clearly more insightful offspring. Your friend seemed pretty quiet, I said, thinking I had surreptitiously started another parental TED soliloquy (and today’s episode was supposed to be about choosing better friends), when she replied. Not really dad. She has social anxiety. Once she warms up, she talks as much or more than anyone I know. Geez, I replied, abashedly discombobulated, I thought she was grumpy. That’s funny dad- she thought you were grumpy too. That’s when I felt anxious. Which only got worse when I remembered I am a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

In order to explain Trump calling himself the early winner, it is possible he has Premature Electuation, a rare mental health disorder affecting mainly impulsive narcissists who act like huge dicks. The only other possibility is Electile Dysfunction, but that diagnosis won't become certain until the votes are finally counted.

Make a deal with your partner that anytime one of you are not in a good space, or having thinking problems, to not hold the person to the things they may have said or done, as they weren’t really in control. This would probably apply to situations like being really stressed, sad, panicking, angry, feverish, drunk, high, concussed, delirious, dementia or fighting a pandemic- whether on the front line or social distancing alone/with others. This is not to excuse hurtful behav...iour. It is just a recognition that when we ‘lose it’, these temporary moments are awful for a person to be responsible for and experience, let alone be reminded about or defined by (I will write a separate post about abusive relationships). The health of a relationship comes with the recognition by both members that we are all human and capable of greatness as well as breaking down. The single greatest threat to any awesome relationship is when both of you are running on fumes and there is no partner holding the emotional safety net. And both may be quite reasonable or expected these days, which is why we must not be blind to how covid may insidiously infect our relationships and families. Humans aren't robots yet, and stress, fear, intense emotions or head injuries can all cloud our thinking. Luckily, in many situations, it’s usually only for a few minutes to days. Covid is like pouring emotional gunpowder on someone pouring gasoline on a raging fire. Almost everyone is having many more heated arguments and getting burned by raging misunderstandings. At this exact moment you mind can manufacture the medicine necessary to protect yourself and loved ones. Your mind can produce the following meme vaccines: patience, understanding, hugs, humor, cuddles and partner-centred hanky-panky. Good luck in there.

How to help your kids with Covid from your friendly neighbourhood Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist ----------------------------------------------------------- Understanding anxiety: Anxiety is a normal response to a perceived threat of some kind. It causes the body to be on higher alert which both creates a feeling of stress inside the body, but also uses up more energy....Continue reading