The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

 By: Brian Murray, LMHC, NCC   Covid has created a psychological mind storm since breaking out nearly a year ago. Counseling for anxiety searches on Google tripled in just one-month last March and continues to dominate as one of the leading mental health searches. Anxiety is closely followed by depression as a mental health concern. It shows that after Covid arrived in the United States there was an upheaval in people trying to get a handle on anxiety. Anxiety is a natural response our mind produces that basically gives us two choices which is fight or flight. When we feel cornered and there is no escape, we tend to fight. If we have options to escape, we tend to flee. Panic which is also a form of anxiety is when we feel like we can do neither and feel trapped with no way out. Covid has certainly created all three of these types of anxiety scenarios. If we are to flee then we isolate and avoid others and try to shrink ourselves to the threat. To fight may mean we jo...

 By: Dwight Bain, LMHC, NCC This feels like the longest year in history ... not in calendar days, which are still the same. Nope. 2020 has felt longer because of so much pandemic related stress. Working from home, social isolation with every concert and sporting event shut down, lay-offs, recession, students trying to manage school exams via zoom, conflict over the election, managing face masks to go outside, and now the reality that COVID 19 will not magically go away when vaccines are available in 2021. Coronavirus has changed the way most American's function, and ruining for some what would traditionally be a happy holiday season. USA Today newspaper captured this in a recent snapshot poll that asked, “Which best fits your holiday emotional state?” Stressed – 27% Depressed – 24% Relaxed – 18% Joyful – 31% The majority of people are overwhelmed by negative emotions and have missed the joy. What can be done to help people feeling anxious and overloaded with so many...