For some, the holidays are not always happy – and now the pandemic is adding to feelings of loneliness and anxiety. UConn Health’s Mood and Anxiety Clinic offers advice on how to help minimize the stress and sadness of the season.
Anxiety
For Some Older Adults, a Pandemic of Loneliness
Because of COVID-19’s social distancing safety precautions, many people are not only living in fear of the virus daily, but many are feeling isolated and alone. UConn Today sat down with the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the UConn School of Medicine, Dr. David C. Steffens, to learn about the potential health risks of loneliness, especially during the holiday season, and what you can do to improve social connections not only for yourself, but also for your loved ones, especially higher-risk older adults.
Double Down: Election Anxiety on Top of Pandemic Stress
UConn Today sat down with Karen Steinberg, Ph.D., psychologist at the Mood & Anxiety Clinic at UConn Health and associate professor of psychiatry at UConn School of Medicine, to find out what the Clinic’s team of counselors are hearing most from patients in regards to the pandemic-induced stress, and the additional uncertainty and anxiety regarding the outcome of the Nov. 3 U.S. Presidential election.
A Pandemic of Back to School Jitters: What Kids and Parents Can Do
Pandemic or no pandemic, when children are headed back to school it can be quite stressful for them and their parents.
At Home in CT: Mental Health During COVID
For Anxiety, Single Intervention Is Not Enough
No matter which treatment they get, only 20 percent of young people diagnosed with anxiety will stay well over the long term, UConn Health researchers report in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Summer’s Most Stressful Three Words: ‘Back to School’
For students of all ages, and even their parents, hearing the three little words ‘back to school’ can provoke mixed emotions of excitement and dread, or even stress and anxiety.
Coping Through Holiday Season Anxiety
With the holiday season upon us, UConn Health’s Dr. Michael Kisicki, assistant professor of psychiatry, shares his best advice to help you and your family get through any potential stressful and anxiety-provoking holiday activities, including family get-togethers and post-election debates.
Bombings Bring Back Bad Memories
Many in Connecticut revisited feelings this week related to previous traumas, whether it was the Newtown school shootings, the 9/11 attacks or another incident. The anxiety of being under attack, unsafe and threatened was re-awakened by this week’s events and 24-hour news coverage.
“The most immediate threat to our survival is if someone else is attempting to attack us,” said Julian Ford, a psychologist at UConn. “It’s clearly a very biologically hard-wired instinct to survive and protect.”