Why Summer Travel Can Make Anxiety Worse and What Actually Helps
Every summer, I hear a similar concern from patients: “I want to take the trip, but I am already anxious just thinking about it.” Travel anxiety is not a diagnosis by itself, but it is a very real experience. It may occur on its own or as part of generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or […]
What the Gut-Brain Connection Can and Cannot Tell Us About Mental Health
The gut-brain connection is everywhere right now. Some of the attention is deserved. Some of it moves much faster than the science. I often hear patients ask whether a probiotic, food sensitivity, or “healing the gut” could explain their depression or anxiety. It is a reasonable question. The gut and brain do communicate constantly, and […]
Can You Really Lower Your Brain Age? What the Research Does and Does Not Show
Patients sometimes ask me whether years of depression, anxiety, or chronic stress have permanently aged or damaged their brain. I understand why that question carries so much fear. The research offers a more hopeful and more complicated answer. Scientists can estimate a person’s “brain age” from MRI patterns, and those estimates are associated with health, […]