Tag Archives: Dr. Leesha

Taming the Mood Monster: The Curious Chameleon

0 comments Children's Mental Health, Parenting , , , , , , , ,

A chameleon possesses the unique ability to change the color of its skin.  Color change aids in camouflage, heat regulation, and light absorption; but, a chameleon also changes its color in response to its mood. Brightly colored male chameleons more easily attract females while a chameleon donning black coloring may be stressed. Similarly, youth with anxiety behave differently depending on the child and the setting. This is why I often refer to anxiety as the “the great imitator.” We all have the image of an anxious kid – fretful, pacing, and pensive.  He asks 20 questions while biting his fingers […]

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Taming the Mood Monster: The Fiery Dragon

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Anger. We all recognize this strong emotion. Clenched fists, stomping feet, loud and harsh words, and a menacing gaze – I envision a wrathful dragon spewing fire that destroys everything in its path. Sometimes anger even manifests as physically aggressive behavior or destruction of property.  Many children find managing their anger quite difficult, particularly if they have a psychiatric diagnosis like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Even children without mental disorders struggle with temper outbursts. My 6-year-old son is especially prone to such outbursts. While he is all things wonderful most of the time, he is […]

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Celebrating Humanity

0 comments Healthy Living , , ,

Personally, the year 2016 marked a year of milestones for me. Two were pretty big.  I turned the big “4-0,” and I saw the manifestation of my hopes and dreams embodied through the formation of my mental health education and consulting company. But 2016 has also been very painful. Our home was vandalized, our garage doors spray painted with hate-filled symbols. Students at my children’s elementary school were told that they would be made slaves and that a wall would be built to separate them from others once Donald Trump was elected president. The barrage of hate rhetoric and disturbing, violent images […]

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Lies Women Tell

0 comments Women's Mental Healthl , , , ,

We’ve all heard them, catchphrases that we recite to ourselves and to each other to motivate, inspire, and encourage us.  These slogans seem especially helpful when we are feeling overwhelmed and filled with doubt; but, they simply aren’t true. Let’s examine a few of these mistruths. 1) You can have it all This is something I have struggled with for years – juggling my roles as a wife, mother, full-time physician and medical director, and budding entrepreneur. I used to believe that I could have it all if I simply outlined my goals, made lists, prioritized my tasks, and managed my time […]

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Demystifying Psychiatric Hospitalization

0 comments Children's Mental Health, Mental Health, Parenting , , , , , ,

What We Know 1 in 5 youth ages 13 – 18 have or will have a serious mental illness 50% of all life-time cases of mental illness begin by the age of 14 Almost 80% of youth with mental illness do not receive treatment Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for youth aged 15 – 24 90% of those who committed suicide had an underlying mental illness Rate of psychiatric hospitalization for youth are on the rise – nearly 10% of pediatric hospitalizations across the US were for a primary mental health diagnosis in 2009 Common reasons for […]

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Bullying – 10 Facts to Know

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1) Bullying is a defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that is repetitive, involves a real or perceived power imbalance, and is designed to cause fear, distress or harm 2) There are 4 types of bullying – verbal, social, physical, and cyberbullying 3) Verbal bullying – saying or writing mean things, name calling, teasing, making inappropriate sexual comments 4) Social bullying – designed to malign a child’s reputation or negatively impact peer relationships, intentionally leaving someone out, telling other peers not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors 5) Physical bullying – pushing, hitting, kicking, intentionally breaking someone’s […]

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