Silver Hill Hospital is currently accepting enrollments for our Adolescent Group Intensive Outpatient Program.

Dealing with anxiety during the COVID-19 crisis

Mental wellness is a broad term that goes beyond being mentally fit.

How To Beat Anxiety In The Summertime

Suicidal Thoughts? Symptoms, Help and Prevention Tips

When you’re a parent you’re bound to feel anxious at times. It’s normal to feel some anxiety when sending your child to school for the first time, leaving them overnight for the first time or sending them off to summer camp. All parents feel a certain amount of anxiety, but when you have an anxiety disorder, it’s easy for it to spiral out of control.

1 in 4 people use social media worldwide. Most people login to social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, multiple times a day. For some, it’s the first thing they see when they open their eyes in the morning and the last thing they see before bed. Although it seems harmless to scroll through your Facebook newsfeed to see what’s going on with your friends, it does come at a price. 

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and with good reason. Being bullied is linked to many mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, substance abuse and even suicide. Cardinal signs of school bullying include school avoidance, academic difficulties, changes in sleep patterns and health problems. The impact can last a lifetime.

Summer vacation is just beginning, but before you know it, it will be time for many teens to start a whole new chapter in their lives and leave home to begin their freshman year of college. A certain amount of stress and anxiety is bound to come with the transition to independence no matter how excited a kid is to leave the nest. 

You struggle to get out of bed in the morning and then have all you can do to make it through your day once you get to work, so how can your doctor even think to suggest that you add exercise to your to-do list? It’s because research has shown there are multiple benefits for your mental health. 

People often use the terms mental health and mental illness interchangeably, but just as with any other medical condition, you are healthy or you are ill. It is a serious mistake to call it a mental health issue when someone has a mental illness. They are sick. It is real, and because people do not understand the difference, it can interfere with proper treatment.

Your child is begging to come home from camp. Maybe you suspect bullying. What should you do? Dr. Aaron Krasner, Adolescent Transitional Living Program Service Chief, gives parents a few tips. 

What are the benefits of sending your son or daughter to camp?  Summer camp is a wonderful opportunity to experience a trial separation from the nest – it gives kids a chance to grow their independence under supervision, develop mastery in areas that interest them, and experiment with developing their own ideas and approaches to socializing outside their customary context.  If we think of home as a secure base – just like we think of moms as secure bases for infants – camp allows kids to experiment with exploring their environment and learning about themselves and their world.

1 in 5 children, either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental disorder. Most of these disorders begin by the age of 14, but often treatment isn’t sought until years later. 

As we sit and watch the Super Bowl and look forward to the Olympics, it's easy to think our child might be the next sports prodigy. If only they showed some discipline, went to their trainers, worked hard. It may well be your child is a gifted athlete, but pushing them or becoming an over-involved sports parent will not only embarrass them, it creates unnecessary anxiety for them -- at a time when they need it least -- and can be detrimental to their long term development.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and it’s more important than ever to raise awareness of the horrible epidemic of bullying and cyberbullying. Although not every person shows signs of being bullied, many do. If any of the signs below are observed in your children, don’t ignore them.

For Children and adolescents, it is estimated that one in every five has a mental health disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, half of all chronic mental illnesses begin by the age of 14 and fully three quarters have begun by age 24. However, few receive appropriate psychiatric services treatment until years, even decades later. The reasons for this include stigma, lack of resources, and a dearth of trained professions.

As people age many experience medical conditions that cause physical impairment, but mental health is often overlooked in the older population.

According to Stopbullying.gov, bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.  More than just physical abuse, it also includes making threats, spreading rumors or excluding someone from a group on purpose.  Bullying seems to be reaching epidemic proportions.