General Archives - In Balance Counseling

Are You Born With ADHD or Does It Develop?

Written by In Balance Counseling on August 30, 2024. Posted in General.

ADHD carries a lot of stigma around it, making many adults ignore the symptoms. ADHD is a neurological condition causing a combination of impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity, and often associated with misbehaving children. But this condition can affect anyone from birth to adulthood, so are you born with ADHD or does it develop?

Studies suggest it’s largely genetics that determine your likelihood to have ADHD, but environmental factors play a big part in it, too. If you suspect you have ADHD, talk to our licensed professionals at In Balance Counseling. We offer individual therapy and intensive outpatient programs to provide well-rounded mental health support. Reach out today to learn more about how we can assist you.

Possible Genetic Factors

Are you born with ADHD or does it develop? Many congenital factors may cause a person to have ADHD. Symptoms often appear in childhood, though some people aren’t diagnosed until adulthood.

The Brain

Many complexities in the brain may contribute to the development of ADHD:

Chemistry: Dopamine is a brain chemical related to your nervous system that’s responsible for motivation and pleasure. Those with ADHD tend to have lower amounts of dopamine in their brain.
Function: Those with ADHD may have a physically different brain that handles attention, memory, and cognitive control differently than those who don’t have it.
Injury: A traumatic brain injury may cause developmental issues that result in ADHD.
Structure: Studies find that people with ADHD have smaller brain volumes and various regions of the brain controlling motivation and emotional regulation.

Prenatal Factors

People who had complications during birth or exposure to harmful substances before they were born may be more likely to receive an ADHD diagnosis.

Complications include:

Exposure to alcohol, smoking, pesticides, lead, or other harmful toxins during development
Weighing under five pounds at birth
Premature birth or cesarean delivery
Oxygen deprivation before, during, or after birth

Possible Environmental Factors

Signs of ADHD may show up if a child endures traumatic events, including:

Abuse and neglect
Harsh parenting, including intrusiveness, poor treatment, and high emotions
Unsafe or unstable environment
Witnessing or enduring violence

Scientists have yet to determine if these directly cause ADHD or if they only make preexisting symptoms worse. Parents who are highly reactive with their emotions could struggle with emotional control due to ADHD symptoms, thus creating a generational cycle.

Find Mental Balance With In Balance Counseling

Are you born with ADHD or does it develop? As mental health awareness spreads and more adults dive into their well-being, we’ll ask this question more often. ADHD is not yet fully understood, but as it stands, it’s likely genetic but highly influenced by environmental factors.

If you feel the effects of ADHD in your daily life and need help overcoming them, call In Balance Counseling in Tucson, AZ. We will help you find balance in your life by exploring physical, social, emotional, and spiritual healing so you can learn how to navigate and regulate ADHD symptoms. Call (520) 722-9631.

How Can Stress Affect Your Mental Health?

Written by In Balance Counseling on July 30, 2024. Posted in General.

If you’re wondering, “How can stress affect your mental health?” you’re not alone. Millions of people struggle with stress and the mental issues that come with it. In Balance Counseling offers an intensive outpatient program in Tucson for patients struggling with addiction and mental health issues. We can help you find healthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress.

How Stress Can Affect Your Mental Health

Stress leads to the following mental health conditions.

Stress Causes Insomnia

Sleep rejuvenates the body because the brain replenishes the body in slumber. It does this via biological processes that restore important chemicals and remove toxins. Sleep also allows the brain to generate and sustain memory pathways.

Stress interrupts or prevents sleep and, thus, prevents these processes.

Even one night of poor sleep affects physical and mental function. But when this happens constantly, it diminishes:

Long-term job performance
The ability to perform daily tasks over time
The evolution of personal relationships

These outcomes compound the stress, so it becomes a vicious cycle.

Stress Causes Mood Swings

It’s not unusual for stress to cause irritability. Sleep regulates the brain region that controls mood. Therefore, a lack of sleep generates wild mood swings.

Stress Increases Substance Abuse

Many people under stress abuse substances like alcohol or drugs because they feel like it relaxes them. However, the more they do this, the more they need to feel relaxed, which can lead to addiction. The brain releases stress hormones in response to this cycle.

Stress Provokes Anxiety and Depression

Stress causes physical issues that create pain. For instance, the medical community recognizes clenched jaws and scrunched shoulders as physical manifestations of stress. Some people develop depression over what they view as an unmanageable state of decline.

Stress creates hypervigilance, too. That level of intensity makes relaxation impossible. Anxiety and depression often result because the mind and body receive no relief from arousal, which creates certain chemicals that lead to negative emotions.

Stress Leads to Isolation

Because stress causes poor health, it impairs social connections. When people struggle with anxiety or depression, they’re more likely to remove themselves from situations where they feel they have to fake feeling happy. This can lead to devastating loneliness that becomes a permanent state of being.

Answers to, “How can stress affect your mental health?” show that mental health symptoms compile on each other. They connect to physical issues. Therefore, it is hard to experience a condition like stress and only have one area of your life affected.

Contact In Balance Counseling

In Balance Counseling provides emotional, physical, social, and spiritual work for clients who want to develop healthy, all-natural coping mechanisms for stress. We highlight the importance of establishing an awareness and practice of your beliefs and values.

Our clients review their behaviors, feelings, life choices, and communication skills. This helps them recognize harmful patterns and create strategies to deal with them.

Instead of worrying about the answers to, “How can stress affect your mental health?” take positive action to control your stress. Effective behavioral changes and management skills provide the structure to do that. To make an appointment for your first therapy session, call 520-722-9631.

How To Feel Comfortable Opening Up in Therapy

Written by In Balance Counseling on June 30, 2024. Posted in General.

Opening up causes many people to panic. After all, not everyone feels comfortable displaying emotional vulnerability. However, if you want to change your life via therapy, opening up is crucial to your success with individual counseling in Tucson, AZ. The following tips explain how to overcome the worry and get the counseling you need.

Opening Up in Therapy

These pointers will help you open up in therapy.

Don’t Worry About the First Session

Some people starting therapy wonder how they’ll ever feel comfortable opening up. They think they must have it all figured out before starting the work.

Therapists work with many people who don’t know what to expect from the first session and who dread discussing their lives with anyone, anywhere. A therapist won’t expect you to show up and understand the process. Showing up for that first session takes a lot of courage, so commit to that right now.

You are there to construct a course of action that helps you achieve goals that set you on a preferred course. However, the first session is the first step. The more you open up with time, the more your therapist will understand what you want to achieve. Focus on taking baby steps to reach your long-term objectives, including your goal of opening up.

Write What You Want To Discuss

In your first session, you might find that writing what you want to achieve works better than talking about it. You can do that before the session, and it will still count as therapeutic communication.

Give your writing to the therapist and explain that you wrote your thoughts and goals because you have problems vocally expressing feelings in therapy. You can also email your words if sitting there while someone reads them makes you cringe. Remember those baby steps when you are worried about overcoming barriers in therapy.

Look at Therapy as a Choice You Made

Began building trust in therapy by viewing it as a choice you made. Next, consider that choice an opportunity to strategize actions to gain relief from habits that inhibit your well-being. In therapy, that means you have to open up.

Adopting this viewpoint gives you a sense of control over the process. After all, you know that when you open up, it is good for you. And just like a child learning to eat vegetables, time and patience will show you that you can appreciate the essential elements you are receiving from the process. This approach teaches you a gentle, manageable way of participating in therapy that won’t stress you out.

If You Are Looking for Therapy in Tucson, Contact In Balance Counseling

In Balance Counseling is an established reputable counseling service in Tucson. We work with many clients who have expressed fear about therapy session openness. Our gentle yet direct approach has proven successful with clients who don’t like the idea of opening up yet want to attain goals through significant behavior and thought modifications.

Contact us at 520-772-9631 for more information about what to expect from first therapy session and to book your first appointment.