Friday 5: Mental Health

Here is what we’ve been reading this week in mental health!

This week:   Using anxiety to your advantage, evaluating “expert” opinions, and evidence that acceptance can actually lead to greater perseverance.

• Some studies show that anxiety can actually be a path to our best selves. To be sure, severe anxiety can be debilitating. But for many people who experience it at more moderate levels, it can be helpful. The key is to learn to embrace and reframe it. How To Harness Your Anxiety (New York Times)

• With so many “expert opinions”, it can be a challenge to know what to believe. Check out this “critical thinking” guide for quickly affecting the credibility of public experts. (Stephan Guyenet)

• Are those rigid personality “quirks” actually anxiety? Read what Jamie Dana, MC, LPC has to say about this when she was interviewed by women’s magazine, Bustle.

• Worried that accepting “what is” might keep you from caring about your goals? This is a common myth about mindfulness, and studies show otherwise. Being “nonjudging” is tied to greater perseverance, and maintaining interest in goals over time. (Greater Good)