MONTREAL PSYCHOLOGIST

Depression, Anxiety and Confidence #2

Confidence is a skill that can be developed and strengthen by your accomplishments and achievements, as long as they are acknowledged by yourself. Recognize and acknowledge your smallest accomplishment, while expanding your skills into other areas, only then you develop and practice confidence. By anchoring all your positive experiences and accomplishments you take a step away from depressive, pessimistic, and anxiety provoking thoughts. Welcome confidence and say bye to depression and anxiety.

info@drbita.com

MONTREAL PSYCHOLOGY

Depression, Anxiety and Confidence #1

Depression is feeling sad, helpless, and hopeless. Anxiety is being terrified of the unknown. Lack of self-confidence is a common factor in both conditions. You cannot feel confident AND helpless at the same time. You cannot feel confident that no matter what happens you will be able to deal with future problems AND be anxious at the same time. If you consider yourself or a loved one to be depressed and/or anxious you can help yourself (or your loved one) by increasing your self-confidence. How? More blogs on confidence to follow...

or contact Dr. Bita at info@drbita.com

MONTREAL PSYCHOLOGIST: OCD and Self-Confidence

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has several subtypes such as checking type, contamination type, and symmetry, which are all about checking, decontaminating, and creating order. An individual with OCD needs to check and recheck to reassure himself of safety, order, cleanness etc. and still does not feel reassured that he did lock the door or that his hands are clean or that an asymmetrical book shelf is not related to bad things happening. And so OCD becomes a disease of “doubts”. It increases self-doubt and decreases self-confidence. Strengthening self-confidence by increasing your knowledge (especially about the obsessions) and becoming increasingly fact-oriented are effective ways to overcome self-doubts and eventually the OCD.

info@drbita.com

MONTREAL PSYCHOLOGIST: OCD

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by intrusive repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive , ritualistic behaviors (compulsions). Compulsive behaviors serve to neutralize the (uncontrollable) obsessions and as such decrease the anxiety that is the byproduct of the obsessions. However, it is important to note that the anxiety relief following a compulsive behavior is short term and it actually strengthens the anxiety provoking obsessive thoughts. In other words, obsessive thoughts evoke anxiety, compulsive rituals are practiced to decrease the anxiety immediately, which in turn reinforce the obsessive thoughts and as such increase the anxiety in long term.

To treat your OCD, it is crucial not to respond to your obsessions and recognize that your obsessive thoughts are NOT realistic. It might help you to think of your OCD as “the monster” and of obsessive thoughts as “the monster talking”. More you listen to “the monster”, more you strengthen its powers. The best way to beat “the monster” is to ignore it. Only then you start teaching yourself that you do NOT have to engage in any compulsive behaviors in order to feel safe and calm.

info@drbita.com