The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

By: Christine Hammond LMHC At first glance, Megan appeared to have ADHD. She couldn’t sit still, struggled to focus, was easily distracted, and frequently forgot things. She even convinced a doctor that she had ADHD and took some medication which only made matters worse, not better. Frustrated and confused, she became worried that she had a more severe mental disorder and thought she was losing her mind. One of the commonly overlooked areas in mental health is sleep disorders. A person can appear to have depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, thyroid problems, and chronic fatigue syndrome when actually they have a sleep disorder. This was true for Megan who actually had narcolepsy and not ADHD. When she took the stimulant medication, this made her sleep patterns worse resulting in an increase of her symptoms. To help sort through the possible sleep disorders, it is best to be evaluated by a sleep expert. Their analysis is far more thorough through use of a sleep study and...

By: Christine Hammond LMHC John regularly told his wife, Jane, “I feel all alone in this world (within our family, at my job, or in our neighborhood).” In the beginning of their marriage, Jane erroneously believed that she could fill that void in his life and went to great lengths to demonstrate that John was not alone. However, he would have only temporary relief at best and in most cases, her efforts were never enough to stop the comments.   After ten years of attempts, Jane became discouraged and gave up trying to satisfy John’s loneliness needs. This is when John’s loneliness intensified even more. Loneliness is a common thread in people with a personality disorder (PD). The feeling of loneliness is due to three main reasons, all of which are part of the definition of a PD. First, a person with PD has an inaccurate perception of reality.   So while they might actually not be alone they tend to feel isolated due to their unique perspective on the world. Secon...

By: Christine Hammond LMHC Typically Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is viewed as a female disorder but it is not. Just like their female counterparts, males also have an intense and persistent fear of abandonment that permeants nearly every relationship. It could manifest in a marital or partner relationship, a father to a child relationship, or an employer to an employee relationship. Early on in life, male BPD is often confused with oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, conduct disorder, or bi-polar depression. One of the determining factors in accurately diagnosing BPD might just be that they have been previously diagnosed with most of these other disorders over the course of their life. Most male BPDs also display signs of other personality disorders. They look narcissistic when they attack others and make nearly every discussion about them. They appear anti-social in their risk-taking sexual behaviors...