Panoramic Counseling Blog

Faith & Mental Health

Humans are bio-psycho-social-spiritual beings. I learned this as I attended graduate school online from a Christian university to get my professional counseling degree. Problems and misunderstandings about how to respond to mental health issues often occur when people focus solely on one of the components of biopsychosocialspiritual. My journey towards becoming a therapist began when I was a junior in...[ read more ]

The Stressed Years of Their Lives: A Book Review

I've worked with people of all ages in my time as a therapist but I especially enjoy working with adolescents and young adults. I am passionate about working with these age groups because 1) I was an adolescent not too long ago 2) those were some of the most difficult years of my life and 3) being a young adult...[ read more ]

Lessons… from Anxiety

After being diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder years ago, it took me a very long time to find any positives to such a condition. Nowadays, I embrace that I'm designed differently and that having anxiety doesn't mean that I'm broken. Here are some lessons that anxiety taught me. Flexibility If I had a nickname, it would probably be Mr. Routine....[ read more ]

Bings and Red Dots- On Social Media and Mental Health

Social media, like anything else we consume, has its pros and cons. Pros: Apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat allow us to keep up with friends, network, and promote businesses; for example, I use Facebook groups to network with other therapists and to receive referrals for new clients. These apps also help families separated by distance to stay connected....[ read more ]

My First Encounter with Mental Illness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Last week, I found myself reflecting back to my earliest memories of mental illness. The first instance that came to mind probably occurred when I was around 11-years-old. My mother was dating the man that would later become her husband. Brian had a son a few years younger than me and I remember my...[ read more ]

What are PANDAS and PANS?

Recently, my wife asked me if I had ever heard of PANDAS. Since I hadn’t, I began to do some research on the topic and I thought I’d share some of what I learned with you. PANDAS/PANS PANDAS stands for pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections. As the name suggests, it’s a neurocognitive condition that seems to be...[ read more ]

Anxiety product review: Bach Rescue Remedy

Today, I want to share about a product I’ve been using to help manage my anxiety disorder. It’s worth noting that I am using this product in addition to other mental health interventions. Bach Rescue Remedy is considered homeopathic, which is alternative medicine. It is all natural, vegan, and gluten-free. Ingredients/ uses My review If you keep up with my...[ read more ]

Anxious mind? Try list-making

Let’s take a minute to imagine the inner workings of the anxious mind: fears, an overactive fight-or-flight response, racing thoughts, and much more. As someone living with an anxiety disorder, these are all thoughts, behaviors, and feelings that I experience on an almost daily basis. List making is a skill that I’ve used in my own life to help manage...[ read more ]

Why I became a therapist

Part 1(Past): A personality shaped by childhood Childhood was characterized by both good and bad. Good: I made honor roll and did well in school. Bad: I was overweight, was often bullied, and struggled with social anxiety for most of my childhood. I believe this background contributed to me becoming introverted, assertive, and hardworking in the present. Since I didn’t...[ read more ]

What is post-event rumination?

This post is about a topic that we’ve all experienced at some point in our lives but maybe didn’t know there was a term for it. What is post-event rumination and how does it occur? Post-event rumination is when a person critiques their social performance following a social event. It involves focusing on what went wrong. Though all humans have engaged...[ read more ]