Anxiety Archives - Heather Hayes & Associates https://heatherhayes.com/tag/anxiety/ Interventions & Treatment Consulting Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:08:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.3 https://heatherhayes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-HH_logo-32x32.png Anxiety Archives - Heather Hayes & Associates https://heatherhayes.com/tag/anxiety/ 32 32 Before They Leave: What Every Student, and Every Parent, Needs to Know Before College https://heatherhayes.com/before-they-leave-what-every-student-and-every-parent-needs-to-know-before-college/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:00:18 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7761 Every August, millions of parents load up SUVs with comforters, mini refrigerators, laundry baskets, and enough snacks to survive a natural disaster. We make one last trip to Target. We hang pictures on dorm walls. We hug our children goodbye and tell them how excited we are. Then we get back into the car. Some […]

The post Before They Leave: What Every Student, and Every Parent, Needs to Know Before College appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> Parenting Through the Pressure: Supporting Young People in a World Obsessed with Image and Achievement https://heatherhayes.com/parenting-through-the-pressure-supporting-young-people-in-a-world-obsessed-with-image-and-achievement/ Fri, 17 Jul 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7753 We are raising young people in a world that never turns off. It is a world of curated perfection, constant comparison, performance metrics, public identities, artificial intelligence, viral success stories, academic, social, and athletic pressure, unreasonable beauty standards, achievement and productivity culture, and social media algorithms that quietly reinforce the belief that worth is earned […]

The post Parenting Through the Pressure: Supporting Young People in a World Obsessed with Image and Achievement appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> Why Families Often Miss the Early Signs of Psychosis https://heatherhayes.com/why-families-often-miss-the-early-signs-of-psychosis/ Fri, 10 Jul 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7748 Understanding the Quiet Changes that Come Before a Crisis Psychosis rarely begins with hallucinations or delusions. By the time someone is hearing voices, convinced others are watching them, or unable to distinguish reality from imagination, the brain has already been struggling for some time. What most families do not realize is that psychosis usually develops […]

The post Why Families Often Miss the Early Signs of Psychosis appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> Benzodiazepine Addiction: The Quiet Epidemic Hidden Inside Modern Anxiety Treatment https://heatherhayes.com/benzodiazepine-addiction-the-quiet-epidemic-hidden-inside-modern-anxiety-treatment/ Fri, 29 May 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7595 By the 1960s, medicine believed it had found a safer answer to anxiety. The era of barbiturates, which carried high overdose risks and profound sedation, appeared to be ending. In their place came a new class of medications that promised calm, sleep, and emotional relief with far less danger: benzodiazepines. What began as a pharmaceutical […]

The post Benzodiazepine Addiction: The Quiet Epidemic Hidden Inside Modern Anxiety Treatment appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> Why Multidisciplinary Approaches Matter in Complex Mental Health Cases https://heatherhayes.com/why-multidisciplinary-approaches-matter-in-complex-mental-health-cases/ Fri, 27 Feb 2026 11:40:12 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7299 Every individual’s path to healing is different, particularly when complex mental health challenges are involved. What appears to be anxiety or depression may be layered with trauma, dysfunctional family dynamics, medical conditions, substance use, and ongoing social stressors. While two people can share the same diagnosis, they can have entirely different histories, triggers, coping strategies, […]

The post Why Multidisciplinary Approaches Matter in Complex Mental Health Cases appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> Challenges of Adolescence: Coping with the Pressure to Be Perfect https://heatherhayes.com/challenges-of-adolescence-coping-with-the-pressure-to-be-perfect/ Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:45:16 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=6741 The teen years can be extremely challenging. We tend to romanticise adolescence once we have left it behind, remembering it as a time when we were carefree and had many paths open to us. In reality, the years between thirteen and nineteen are fraught for many young people as friendships emerge and erode, academic pressures […]

The post Challenges of Adolescence: Coping with the Pressure to Be Perfect appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> The Link Between Psychological Homelessness and Addiction https://heatherhayes.com/the-link-between-psychological-homelessness-and-addiction/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/difficult-months-raising-awareness-around-seasonal-affective-disorder-copy/ Recovering from addiction requires a great deal of inner work. It is a lifelong process and not merely a matter of stopping the problematic behavior that characterizes addiction. It entails healing from the trauma that so often lies at its center. But, how do we begin this process of healing which is so critical to […]

The post The Link Between Psychological Homelessness and Addiction appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> How Is TRE Effective in the Trauma Space? https://heatherhayes.com/how-is-tre-effective-in-the-trauma-space/ Fri, 16 Jun 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=5741 “All humans have an innate capacity to heal from traumatic experiences. As a species we are genetically encoded with the capacity to heal ourselves.” – Dr David Berceli Trauma release exercises (TRE) are somatic practices for people with anxiety, trauma, or PTSD that are gaining popularity and recognition around the world.  TRE is designed to […]

The post How Is TRE Effective in the Trauma Space? appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> The Disease to Please: Hypervigilance Around Others’ Needs https://heatherhayes.com/the-disease-to-please/ Sun, 13 Mar 2022 05:05:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=4814 People-pleasing, known as sociotropy in the field of psychology, is defined by the APA as, “the tendency to place an inordinate value on relationships over personal independence (…) in response to the loss of relationships or conflict.”[1] People-pleasers, or those with sociotropic tendencies, wish to make other people happy, often at the sake of their […]

The post The Disease to Please: Hypervigilance Around Others’ Needs appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> Are You Triggered by Abandonment? https://heatherhayes.com/are-you-triggered-by-abandonment/ Sun, 09 Jan 2022 05:05:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=4734 “If you feel safe and loved, your brain becomes specialized in exploration, play, and cooperation; if you are frightened and unwanted, it specializes in managing feelings of fear and abandonment.” – Bessel A. van der Kolk All humans will experience some form of abandonment anxiety because the fear of abandonment is universal to our experience […]

The post Are You Triggered by Abandonment? appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> The Codependent Teen https://heatherhayes.com/the-codependent-teen/ Sun, 05 Dec 2021 05:05:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=4707 “A codependent person is one who has let another person’s behavior affect him or her, and who is obsessed with controlling that person’s behavior.” ― Melody Beattie Teenagers can often struggle with codependent relationships without their families noticing. Often, it is under the guise of an intense friendship or romantic relationship, which masks the fact that […]

The post The Codependent Teen appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]> Signs of Social Anxiety in Children https://heatherhayes.com/signs-of-social-anxiety-in-children/ Thu, 25 Nov 2021 10:57:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=4699 Social anxiety involves feelings of intense panic or fear during social interactions with others. It is one of the most common mental health disorders, with approximately 15 million Americans suffering from it.[1] The fear experienced is disproportionate to the situations and can significantly impact someone’s wellbeing and enjoyment of life.  The average age for social […]

The post Signs of Social Anxiety in Children appeared first on Heather Hayes & Associates.

]]>