Transform Your Life
Depression
What causes depression?
Depression often begins during a life transition, such as changing jobs, moving, retiring, or separating from your partner. In addition, depression is a common problem that occasionally affects everyone, but sadness and low energy become a long-lasting struggle for 17% of teens and 8% of adults. Overwhelming stress and anxiety lead to depression. Many people become depressed when they have an illness or a person close to them dies. Though numerous circumstances may trigger depression, sometimes, it appears for no apparent reason. Depression can begin and last a long time because it’s associated with imbalanced neurotransmitters (brain chemicals responsible for nerve communication).
What symptoms does depression cause?
Depression ranges from mild feelings of sadness to severe symptoms that make it impossible to do anything. When your symptoms occur nearly every day and last for two weeks, you may have major depressive disorder (MDD), also called clinical depression.
If you’re depressed, you may:
- Feel hopeless, worthless, or sad
- Feel anxious or nervous
- Stay away from family and friends
- Lose interest in favorite activities
- Eat too much or too little
- Gain or lose weight
- Sleep too much or have insomnia
- Struggle to concentrate or make decisions
- Think about suicide or harming yourself
Depression often leads to physical symptoms. Many people experience digestive tract problems, muscle aches, low back pain, and chronic pain.
If you have suicidal thoughts or fear you could harm yourself, call the crisis lifeline at 988. Then follow up by scheduling an appointment at Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC. You can easily get the help you need through online telepsychiatry.
How is depression treated?
Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC, provides comprehensive care for depression, including therapy, medication, and lifestyle recommendations. Your provider creates a tailored treatment plan that takes a psychiatric and psychological perspective based on the severity of your symptoms and the cause of your depression.
Your provider uses different therapy techniques depending on your needs. During therapy, you may learn to identify and change negative thoughts, manage stress, or find new ways to cope with the problems underlying your depression.
People with moderate or severe depression may need antidepressants. These medications restore neurotransmitter levels in your brain, restoring the chemical balance that improves depression for many.
Your Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC, provider may also recommend dietary changes to ensure you get the nutrients needed to support your brain health. Following a steady exercise routine can also improve symptoms of depression.
Notes:
If you are feeling depressed and stuck in life, Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC can help you from both a psychiatric and psychological perspective. Our practice provides a holistic approach to helping you manage your mental health journey from medication to counseling.
Take the Depression PHQ-10 Scale Below & Ask Us About Non-Medication Ways to Combat your Depression
Anxiety
When should I seek help for anxiety?
Everyone experiences anxiety during daily life because it serves an essential role. Emotions such as worry, fear, or dread, trigger your brain to release hormones. The hormones immediately energize your body, giving you the ability to deal with the situation or make a quick escape.
Anxiety goes from being a beneficial response to a health problem when it becomes an ongoing feeling that seldom (if ever) goes away. It’s time to seek help when your anxiety:
- Causes uncontrollable fear and dread
- Compels you to change your daily activities (to avoid anxiety)
- Prevents you from fulfilling daily responsibilities
- Sticks around even if you don’t face a threatening or worrisome situation
Anxiety affecting your ability to enjoy life is a red flag that you have an anxiety disorder that won’t improve without treatment.
What symptoms does anxiety cause?
You can have one of several anxiety disorders, each with unique symptoms. For example, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) causes constant fear or worry over daily issues (like finances, children, and health), whether or not a real problem currently exists. By comparison, phobias cause an intense fear of a single object or activity, such as spiders or flying in a plane. Another common condition, social anxiety disorder, makes you dread public places, meeting new people, and performing in front of others.
All anxiety disorders can cause symptoms such as:
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Irritability
- Nervousness
- Loss of appetite
- Difficulty sleeping
- Stomach aches, headaches, and body aches
Though not as common, severe anxiety may cause a panic attack, leading to symptoms such as chest pain, dizziness, and difficulty breathing.
How is anxiety treated?
After learning about your symptoms and completing a psychiatric evaluation, your Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC, provider recommends a treatment plan from a psychiatric and psychological perspective that meets your unique mental health needs.
Often the primary treatment for anxiety, therapy helps many people learn to manage their feelings. Your provider is highly trained in many therapeutic approaches that improve anxiety. For example, cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches you to recognize and change the negative thoughts that cause anxiety.
With a focus on holistic mental health care, your provider may also teach techniques that help you relax and let go of the fear. If you have severe anxiety or panic attacks, they can also prescribe medication that quickly eases your feelings.
Contact Us
If anxiety seems to control your life, call Risoldi Wellness - Just Psych, LLC today at 727-223-3424.
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)
What is ADHD?
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder arising from the way the brain develops. The changes that occur in the brain affect your ability to pay attention, control behavior, and regulate emotions.
In most cases, ADHD is diagnosed between the ages of 4-7, but sometimes the condition isn’t recognized until adolescence or during adulthood. One-third of all children who have ADHD will continue to struggle with its challenges throughout their lifetime.
What symptoms does ADHD cause?
There are three types of ADHD — inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined, which includes symptoms from both types.
Children and adults with inattentive ADHD may:
- Overlook important details
- Frequently get distracted
- Make reckless mistakes
- Have a hard time following directions
- Forget to start or finish tasks
- Struggle to get organized
- Daydream when they should be paying attention
People with hyperactive-impulsive ADHD may:
- Find it impossible to sit still
- Be constantly on the go
- Interrupt or talk over others
- Speak or act without thinking
- Seek immediate rewards
- Not wait their turn
- Lack self-control
Most children and adults with ADHD have problems with their working memory. That type of memory gives you the ability to keep several pieces of information in your head just long enough to use them.
Working memory is the tool needed to pay attention, follow instructions, solve a problem, and plan the next step. For example, you may ask your child to turn off the TV, wash their hands, and set the table. If they can’t keep the information in their head, they may turn off the TV and go play because they don’t remember all of your instructions.
How is ADHD treated?
Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC, takes a holistic approach when treating ADHD, using a combination of therapy and medication to improve a person’s individual challenges.
Therapy
Therapy serves many possible roles in ADHD treatment. During therapy, children and adults can learn to manage behavioral issues, from excessive fidgeting to outbursts of anger. You can use therapy to overcome many issues caused by ADHD, whether you need to learn social skills, manage stress, or get organized.
Medication
Stimulant medications balance brain chemicals, helping to improve attention and reduce hyperactivity and impulsivity. However, your provider may prescribe non-stimulant medications if stimulants cause side effects or aren’t effective.
If you struggle to stay focused, just can’t seem to get organized, or wonder why you always need to be on the go, you may have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC, Sandra Risoldi, DNP, MSN Ed, A-APRN, PMHNP-BC, works with teens and adults, providing therapy, medication, or a combination of both to help them overcome the daily struggles caused by ADHD
Bipolar
What is bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder causes mood swings between high-energy mania and low-energy depression. However, the severity of your symptoms depends on the type of bipolar disorder:
Bipolar I disorder
Bipolar I disorder was originally called manic depressive disorder. The condition causes mood swings between full-blown mania and major depression, often with periods of neutral mood between the highs and lows. Manic episodes are typically severe, often requiring hospitalization to restore a stable mood.
Bipolar II disorder
People with bipolar II disorder have swings of hypomania and major depression. Hypomania causes the same symptoms as mania, but they’re less severe and don’t usually disrupt your daily life or need hospitalization.
Cyclothymic disorder
People with cyclothymic disorder have mood swings that cause less severe symptoms than hypomania and depression. However, you have frequent mood swings that go on for a long time, and you have a high risk of progressing to bipolar I or II.
What symptoms does bipolar disorder cause?
Manic episodes cause symptoms such as:
- Talking rapidly and frequently switching topics
- Needing little to no sleep
- Feeling very energetic despite lacking sleep
- Having uncontrollable racing thoughts
- Staying constantly active
- Engaging in risky behaviors (e.g., spending sprees, drinking while driving)
You can also have delusions and hallucinations during full-blown mania.
When your mood swings to major depression, your symptoms include:
- Feeling worthless, sad, and hopeless
- Losing interest in your favorite activities
- Isolating yourself from family and friends
- Sleeping more or less than usual
- Eating too much or too little
- Struggling to make decisions
- Feeling anxious and restless
- Thinking about suicide
You may have major depression before experiencing your first manic episode.
How is bipolar disorder treated?
Your Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC, provider treats bipolar disorder with medications and therapy. Mood-stabilizing medications can help prevent swings between mania and depression, while therapy teaches you the skills you need to manage the disorder.
During therapy, your provider may help you learn to recognize the signs of a pending mood swing, and then teach you tips for preventing it. You can also use therapy to overcome the many aspects of your life affected by bipolar disorder, from damaged relationships and unemployment to stress and anger management.
Bipolar disorder is known for causing severe mood swings, but some people have a different type of the condition that causes milder symptoms. At Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC, Sandra Risoldi, DNP, MSN Ed, A-APRN, PMHNP-BC, specializes in individualized care for bipolar disorder, providing mood-stabilizing medications together with therapy that supports a healthy, thriving lifestyle.
Autism
What is autism?
Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a developmental disorder that begins in childhood. Though some symptoms and abilities improve with treatment, the underlying disorder lasts throughout adulthood.
As a spectrum disorder, autism includes people with many abilities, not disabilities! It can look like bipolar or borderline personality disorder so much that it can often be misdiagnosed. Some children with autism don’t speak, while others speak fluently. The spectrum includes people with low and high IQs. It also encompasses those who need intensive 24/7 support, while others only need occasional assistance.
What core challenges define autism?
Though each person with autism has differing abilities, everyone on the spectrum has two core challenges:
Communication and socialization challenges
Everyone on the spectrum has difficulty communicating and socializing, but their challenges range from mild to severe. A few of the most common issues include not sharing others’ interests and being unable to have a back-and-forth conversation.
Repetitive and restrictive behaviors
Restrictive behaviors refer to having one specific interest to the exclusion of others. Repetitive means preferring to follow a predictable routine and wanting to repeat the same activity (revolving around their interest).
What are the signs of autism in teens and adults?
Though autism symptoms are noticeable in early childhood, some people aren’t diagnosed until adolescence or adulthood.
In teens and adults, common autism signs include:
- Feeling awkward and uncomfortable in social situations
- Monopolizing conversations with their interest
- Struggling to make friends
- Not making eye contact
- Interpreting language literally
- Repeating words and phrases
- Not picking up on nonverbal cues like body language
Many people with autism are highly sensitive to smells, tastes, sounds, textures, and lights.
How is autism treated?
By not knowing anything about your personality, making the same mistakes over and over again, while ruminating on something until you stay up all night, lash out at friends and family then isolate yourself. Your Risoldi Wellness - Just Psych, LLC, provider completes a psychological assessment, identifies your strengths and challenges, and recommends a treatment plan.
There are many possible therapies for people with autism. The one that’s best for you depends on the emotional, behavioral, and functional goals you need to achieve. Though there aren’t currently any medications for treating autism, your provider may prescribe some to help with symptoms like irritability and aggression. They may also prescribe medications to help with co-occurring disorders like depression.
Whether you or your teen need ongoing therapy and support for autism, or you wonder about your symptoms and need an assessment, you can depend on comprehensive care at Risoldi Wellness-Just Psych, LLC.
