PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a common ailment that is often misdiagnosed. That's because the symptoms of PTSD are similar to many other mental health disorders listed in the DSM manual. These include but are not limited to ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Adjustment Disorders, Depressive Disorders, Borderline Personality Disorder, OCD, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Surprised?

Last night I woke at 2:45 AM from a nightmare drenched in a cold sweat. In the dream, I was trapped at home with my kids, while something strange was going on outside. We had to hide, lest we be shot at through the windows. The worse part was we weren't quite sure what was happening, so we did not know what to do to stop it. All of my nightmares are similar to this one.  I am in the middle of a war zone, hiding-- knowing that at any minute, I will be found by the enemy.

Big Pharma contributes to mental health stigma in its attempts to sell psychiatric drugs. Big Pharma's message is that people with depression need anti-depressives like diabetics need insulin and talk about chemical imbalance in the brain. They appear to be taking the blame away from person, but they are not. We eat this up and agree and repeat it thinking we are being politically correct. We think this helps people with mental illness feel less stigmatized. But it helps Big Pharma sell its message, and sell their medications.

I know I feel it, the cantankerous anxiety that seeps into my soul when I watch the news. How with every murder report, every bomb, every child drowning, every political mudsling; my faith in the future shrivels up a bit. My helplessness fills to the brim. So what is the answer? Not watch it? Avoid all negativity? Pretend it doesn't exist? No.

Flexibility is a main ingredient in countering anxiety Anxiety usually wants us to think that we need something a certain way "or else."  (Not that it tells us what the unsavory consequences are: Anxiety is always vague, never clear. This is how it holds it's power.) So when things don't happen that certain way, darn it, that good-for-nothing Anxiety has us all up in arms. Tied in a knot. Fumbling and immobilized. Discombobulated.

‘Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.’ – Mark Twain The best selling book Feel the Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers is a must read for anyone suffering with anxiety. Her pearls of wisdom are never ending, and she helps the reader build the confidence they need to act.

If someone is talking about suicide, he or she must still be alive. I take this fact as seriously as I take the desperation I hear behind thoughts about suicide. He or she is still alive. And I want to know why. Being alive means choosing to live, at least for now. The reasons people who contemplate suicide chose to keep living tells a story of what is most important to them.

At some point, we recognize that to live completely, we must live free from fear. Not free from fear of bears or cobras - some fear is practical. But to live free of fear to be yourself, to follow your dreams, to try something new... those are the fears from which freeing ourselves will allow us to live completely. Practice the following skills and you will live free from fear.

Do you look to nature to ease your anxiety? If not, please try it! Forest Bathing Recently it has been all over the internet how Japanese scientists have discovered that the scent of trees, the sound of brooks, and the feel of sunshine have a calming effect. Japanese engage in an activity they call shinrin-yoku, "forest bathing." And we can all do this.

My anxiety shot through the roof when I became a parent. Everything seemed a little more important. I had a huge responsibility to keep this other human being safe and happy. Not just responsibility, but a strong desire to give him the world and never let him suffer.