By: Melanie McCabe, PhD The holidays are coming. Instead of joy you feel sad, worried, angry, or a mix of those. You might not even feel anything at all. It makes sense! Here we are, months into a pandemic and we are still learning what the new normal is for us all. The new normal shifts every few weeks. I have spoken with families from all walks of life and three things are common to them all. They want this to end, they are suffering, and they want a taste of n

By Melanie McCabe, PhD Testing time has once again arrived. A time of year that requires students from elementary through graduate school to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained. For some, this is a simple task that requires a bit of review, but for others, an assessment can be quite an uncomfortable ordeal. Most people feel some degree of stress before and during evaluations such as tests or presentations. Some stress is needed to find the motivation to study and susta

By Lori Schweickert, MD | Pediatric & Adult Psychiatrist By definition, panic attacks consist of a discrete and intense fear that peaks within 10 minutes and seems to come out of nowhere. Often, there is an urge to flee the place where the symptoms began because of feeling impending danger. Panic attacks are often felt as physical symptoms and thoughts that the person is “going crazy” or is going to die. The good news is that panic symptoms, though consisting of physical sym