April 1, 2025- Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder that causes great discomfort with someone whenever they are in certain situations that cause them extreme anxiety. It generally ranges from such fears as being with persons, being in wide open spaces, driving in a car, standing in line, using public transportation, being in an elevator, being on a plane or many other situations where the person becomes very uncomfortable being around people or in certain anxiety producing situations. When you add panic attacks, which cause symptoms that a person can actually feel they are dying with a heart attack, it is evident that this is a very difficult situation to live with. A further complication is that some persons who have panic attacks often will go to the emergency room in the hospital because they actually believe they are dying. Typical symptoms of panic attacks include heart racing/palpitations, trembling, difficulty breathing, sweating, chest pain, shortness of breath and sometimes with the fear of dying. That is how severe the symptoms can be. Persons with agoraphobia also have many of the same symptoms of persons with social anxiety. Agoraphobia is a broader problem area because it can relate to almost any situation with or without persons. The unfortunate result of agoraphobia with panic attacks is that persons become afraid of being around other persons and can lose contact and become isolated. They also fear losing control in public or being around other persons. They may have feelings they are weird or strange and do not want to be around persons. When they do, the symptoms of panic attacks come back. They also will avoid many places where they have had difficult problems of the past such as a large or small store,a mall,an elevator, a certain seating in a car or an office or any possible situation that one can imagine. I personally have been amazed how many things can cause agoraphobia with panic attacks. This only leads to their world becoming more and more narrow. Comorbid conditions that exist with agoraphobia with panic attacks would include depression, social anxiety,OCD along with many physical symptoms that can come from having this intense emotional pressure from fears and panic attacks. In order for one to have the diagnosis, the characteristics need to have been in place for six months. Women tend to be diagnosed twice as often as men. Successful treatment usually includes some combination of medication,self help and mental health counseling that includes some aspects of cognitive behavioral therapy treatment and exposure therapy. The number of persons with agoraphobia with panic attacks are probably somewhere around 2,000,000 in the United States. While this number may not seem high, it does if you are one of the persons with this condition. You know how debilitating and difficult this can be from both a physical and emotional perspective.

Chronic procrastination is the type of procrastination that a person constantly has and leads to
them not completing activities they desire or are mandated by work or other life responsibilities.
Chronic procrastination can be so devastating to the person that it can ruin and even end
relationships and can make work advancement and even keeping a job impossible. It is actually
amazing how many persons who have this condition do not overcome it. It is not unusual for
therapists to work with persons in their 40s and 50s and even older who have not learned how
to overcome chronic procrastination even if it has had major negative effects on all aspects of
their lives. Even though procrastination is a problem that most persons have at times, the
person with chronic procrastination has it all the time. Reasons for it would include
anxiety,depression,perfectionism,low self esteem, fear of failure, lack of discipline, psychological relief from not having the burden of doing something, laziness,
rebellion against others, or self-destructive behaviors that can lead to problems in all aspects of
their lives. As I have previously stated before, chronic procrastination is also a major hallmark of
ADHD. Following are ways to overcome chronic procrastination: 1. Accept you have a problem
that needs to be resolved. 2. Believe you can overcome chronic procrastination. 3. Set up a plan
to do it. 4. Set up daily goals of what you plan to complete and work at them on the priority of
importance. 5. Keep track of your list of daily activities to complete and cross them off as you
complete them. 6. Make sure you do not go off track by regularly looking at your list of daily
activities and crossing them off as completed. 7. Enlist the support of a family member or friend
to help keep you on track if you find you lose track of time and even have what could be called
time blindness. 8. Break down complex required activities into smaller parts and work at each
one individually rather than getting overwhelmed by a large task that for one reason or another
you are not doing. 9. Begin with the hardest or easiest part of a long project depending on which
one will help motivate you the most to complete the activity. 10. You may seek out a trained
therapist in procrastination to help you if you find regardless of how hard you try, you are not
able to overcome chronic procrastination. It is not a form of weakness to admit a problem is too
much for you to overcome on your own. It is a sign of strength.

November 19, 2024- While it is true that many persons are happy and relieved to be divorced when the love and caring have ended with their spouse or partner. With that said, often forgotten in the equation are the children and their future relationships not only with both parents but with important and loved family members. Divorced parents need to never forget they divorced each other but the children have not divorced anyone and want a loving relationship with all family members. Partners who put the needs of their children ahead of themselves work together to make sure the children are able to have good loving relationships with both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other extended members of the family. Partners that do not do this too often do it out of anger at the ex, and use it as a form of punishment for them. When this occurs, the feelings and any trauma and sadness the children are experiencing due to the divorce is not being considered, and that is very inappropriate. In a divorce, part of the process needs to be not just how to settle their legal affairs but also what will happen to the children. The following are things couples need to do to best help the children adapt to the divorce and allow all family members the opportunity to give love and receive love from the children: 1. Accept your marriage did not work and is going to end. 2. Make every effort to try to at least get along with each other for the sake of the children. This may initially be very difficult, at least during the initial period of the divorce because of raw nerves and possible feelings of abandonment, betrayal and poor treatment. 3. Even if you have these bad feelings, it is important to try to get over them to the level you realize your children belong to both of you and it is best that they have loving and caring relatives that are available and desire to have a good relationship with them. 4. What is mentally healthy interaction with the two families needs to be worked out with appropriate rules and boundaries that are set up and everyone agrees. 5.I firmly believe each parent in the divorce needs to do all they can do to make the children’s lives be as stable as possible. This is certainly helped by allowing them to have all the love, affection and caring they can have from grandparents and other members of the extended family. 6. If the two of you find your anger and hurt are so strong you cannot effectively interact with each other and reset interactions your children have with your ex- partners’ family members, this is a time to recognize this is inappropriate behavior. 7. Seek the support of a therapist experienced in divorce and the aftermath trauma and anger who can help find ways to allow healthy interactions with the family members of the ex-spouse could be very helpful to both you and your children…The ability of children of divorce to have good relationships with families of both spouses is clearly a major area of concern in divorces that too often is not discussed before and after divorce or relationship breakup. For emphasis, we need to make sure our children have the opportunity to interact with all family members with the goal of having them be able to love who they choose to love and be loved by important family people in their lives.