Sommer Psychology Group
Mental Health Blog
Psychiatrist vs. Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner: Who to Choose?
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor, while a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) is an advanced practice nurse with specialized mental-health training. Both can evaluate symptoms, diagnose conditions, and prescribe medication when appropriately authorized. The right choice depends on the level of care you need. Medical complexity, severe symptoms,
What Does an Anxiety Attack Feel Like? Symptoms Explained
What does an anxiety attack feel like? The experience can be frightening, especially if it is happening for the first time. An anxiety attack can cause intense physical and emotional symptoms, including a racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, muscle tension, and overwhelming worry. Here’s how to recognize the symptoms
Is ADHD Genetic? Family Risk, Causes, and Signs
Is ADHD genetic? It’s a common question, especially if similar traits appear across several members of your family. ADHD is highly genetic, but it is not caused by a single gene. Family history increases the likelihood of ADHD, yet genetics are only one part of the picture. Let’s look at
Looking for a Psychiatrist in Indianapolis? Read Before Booking
Searching for a psychiatrist in Indianapolis? Choosing the right provider involves more than booking the first available appointment. Finding a psychiatrist Indianapolis residents can trust starts with understanding the type of care they provide, how treatment works, and when medication, talk therapy, or both may be appropriate. Let’s take a
Should I See a Psychiatrist or Therapist First? (What to Know)
Should I see a psychiatrist or therapist first? The answer depends on your symptoms, treatment goals, and the type of support you need. Starting with a therapist is often appropriate because talk therapy can address a wide range of mental health concerns. A psychiatrist may be recommended if a medication
6 Causes of Anxiety in College Students and What Helps
What causes anxiety in college students? Many students experience anxiety as they adjust to the new responsibilities, expectations, and challenges that come with college. While stress can be a part of college, it can become harder to manage when challenges feel constant or overwhelming. As those pressures build, they can
What is the Difference Between Anxiety and ADHD?
What is the difference between anxiety and ADHD? The two conditions can share several symptoms, which can make them difficult to tell apart. ADHD primarily affects attention, focus, and executive functioning, while anxiety is driven by worry, fear, and the body’s stress response. Although the symptoms may appear similar, the
Is OCD Hereditary? Genetics, Risk, and Treatment
Can OCD be passed down through families? It’s a common question for people who have a parent, sibling, or other close family member living with it. Having a relative with OCD may increase your risk, but environmental factors and life experiences also play a role in the development of symptoms.
What Triggers Anxiety Attacks and What Helps
What triggers anxiety attacks in the first place? Symptoms often feel sudden and unpredictable when they happen. Anxiety attacks are commonly triggered by stress, overwhelm, physical sensations, lack of sleep, caffeine, conflict, or situations the brain begins associating with danger. The body is often already carrying significant stress before panic
5 Evidence-Based Ways to Succeed in College With ADHD
How do students with ADHD actually succeed in college? It often require more independence, organization, and self-management than many students expect during the first semester. Succeeding in college with ADHD often depends on building structure, accountability, accommodations, and support systems before stress becomes overwhelming. These are the strategies most commonly
Treating ADHD With Diet: 7 Changes That Support Focus
Can diet actually help ADHD symptoms? ADHD can affect focus, energy, motivation, routines, and emotional regulation in ways that often feel frustrating and inconsistent. Treating ADHD with diet may help support steadier focus, energy, and brain function, especially when meals reduce blood sugar crashes throughout the day. Nutrition is not
5 Anxiety Recovery Stages and What Progress Really Looks Like
What does healing from chronic anxiety actually look like? The process often feels slower, less predictable, and more gradual than expected. The anxiety recovery stages usually involve recognizing anxiety patterns, learning coping skills, reducing avoidance, rebuilding confidence, and responding to setbacks differently. Recovery does not always mean anxiety disappears completely,
How to Calm Down ADHD in Adults Without Medication
How do adults with ADHD calm their mind without medication? ADHD overwhelm can make focus, emotions, and daily responsibilities feel harder to manage. Learning how to calm down ADHD starts with reducing overstimulation, improving routines, getting enough sleep, using movement to support focus and emotional regulation, and building healthier coping
How High Achievers Can Recover From Burnout
Is it burnout if you are still performing well? It can be confusing when your performance looks fine, but your energy keeps dropping. Learning how high achievers can recover from burnout is not pushing through or staying productive. It means recognizing when your capacity is already running low. What matters
Is My Perfectionism Actually OCD?
Is this just perfectionism, or could it be something more? It can be hard to tell when both look similar at first. When it comes to OCD and perfectionism, the difference is not about how high your standards are. It is about what is driving your behavior underneath. What matters
How to Stop the Cycle of Obsessive Thoughts
Are these thoughts just overthinking or something more repetitive? When you’re stuck in a loop, it rarely feels simple or easy to explain. The short answer is this: learning how to break the cycle of obsessive thoughts is not about stopping the thoughts themselves. It is about how you respond
Does OCD Get Worse With Age?
OCD can become more persistent with age, especially when patterns continue without interruption and responses to intrusive thoughts stay the same. The condition itself does not automatically worsen, but repeated cycles can make symptoms feel stronger and harder to manage. This does not mean things will keep getting worse. With
How to Stop Overanalyzing (Tips & Tricks)
Overanalyzing slows down when you learn to notice thought loops and shift your response in the moment. Instead of trying to solve every possibility, the focus becomes learning how to step out of the pattern and return to what is actually happening. You may notice this pattern through repeated thinking,
Does Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Work?
Behavioral therapy for anxiety works by changing the behaviors and responses that reinforce anxiety. Instead of trying to remove anxious thoughts, the focus is on changing how you respond to them. Anxiety often follows repeated cycles that influence behavior and decision-making, making reactions feel automatic over time. Through structured strategies,
Does Anxiety Go Away With Medication?
Medication for anxiety can reduce symptoms and make them easier to manage, but it does not always make anxiety go away completely. Its role is to lower intensity and improve how consistently you function day to day. Even with treatment, symptoms like persistent worry, panic, or tension may still affect
How Is Anxiety Treated? First Line Treatments You Should Know
Your heart races before a meeting. You lie awake replaying conversations. Even small decisions feel heavier than they should. When anxiety starts shaping your days and nights, it can feel exhausting. You may begin wondering how anxiety is treated and if real relief is possible. Anxiety is common, but that
What Are The Root Causes Of Anxiety? The Hidden Drivers
Anxiety touches millions of lives every day, slipping into thoughts, tightening chests, and disrupting sleep. If you’ve ever wondered, “Why does this keep happening to me?”, that question often reflects how confusing and unpredictable it can feel. Anxiety rarely has one single cause. The root causes of anxiety usually develop
Stress And Anxiety Physical Symptoms: What Your Body Is Trying To Tell You
A racing heart. Tight shoulders that never fully relax. An unsettled stomach that appears without warning. These sensations can feel alarming, especially when there is no obvious crisis happening. Stress and anxiety physical symptoms are not random. They reflect a stress response that has been triggered, sometimes subtly, sometimes repeatedly.
Why Am I Feeling Anxious All The Time When Nothing Is Wrong?
There is no emergency. No argument. No looming deadline. Yet your body feels tense, your thoughts stay busy, and your system does not fully settle. If you keep asking yourself, “why am I feeling anxious all the time?” the lack of a clear cause can feel deeply unsettling. When there
How Is OCD Treated? Therapy Approaches Used in Care
Many people with OCD spend years trying to manage symptoms on their own, without a clear understanding of what treatment actually involves.You may have heard that therapy helps, that medication can be useful, or that exposure work is “hard,” but the details often feel vague or intimidating. That uncertainty can
How Do You Know If You Have OCD And Should Seek Treatment?
Have you ever felt caught in a loop of doubt that never quite settles? A thought, question, or fear keeps resurfacing, and relief only comes after you do something to make it feel “resolved.” When that cycle starts repeating daily and draining your time and energy, it’s natural to ask,
ADHD and Anxiety Overlap and Why It’s Often Missed
Many people feel stuck in a cycle of worry, overwhelm, and constant mental noise without knowing why. For many, the real issue is the anxiety and ADHD overlap, a combination that makes focusing harder and anxiety stronger. When these conditions interact, everyday tasks feel heavier, mistakes feel personal, and even
What Does ADHD and OCD Together in Adults Look Like?
ADHD and OCD together in adults can create overlapping symptoms that are difficult to separate. Challenges with attention, follow-through, and organization may occur alongside rigid thinking, mental loops, or repetitive behaviors. These patterns can interfere with work, relationships, and everyday functioning. Because the symptoms pull in different directions, they are
How to Manage ADHD in Adults for Better Daily Functioning
Living with ADHD as an adult can feel exhausting. You know what you need to do, but getting started, staying focused, or finishing tasks can feel like an uphill battle. Missed deadlines, constant overwhelm, and frustration with yourself can become part of daily life. And the hardest part? You may
ADHD Time Blindness: What It Is and How to Manage It
You know that feeling when time just slips away, you look up, and hours have passed without realizing it? Or the opposite, when five minutes feels like forever, and deadlines always seem to sneak up on you? For many adults with ADHD, that isn’t carelessness, it’s ADHD time blindness. This
OCD vs Anxiety: Key Differences, Overlap, and Treatment
Mental health conditions like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders are often misunderstood, despite having similar symptoms. This confusion can make it difficult to find the right path to treatment. If you’re dealing with intrusive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, or excessive worry, understanding the differences between these two conditions is crucial
What Not To Say To Someone With OCD: Understanding With Care
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is more than a personality quirk or a passing worry, it’s a serious mental health condition that affects how an individual thinks, feels, and behaves. For those living with OCD, intrusive thoughts and compulsions can interfere with daily life, relationships, and self-worth. While many people want to
Busy Parents: Signs of Anxiety in Teens You Might Be Missing
Parenting a teenager today is no small task. Between managing work, school schedules, and extracurriculars, it’s easy to assume your teen is just “going through a phase” when they’re acting differently. But sometimes, those subtle changes in behavior are early signs of anxiety, and they’re easier to miss than you
Debunking Common Myths About Online Therapy: A Clinical Perspective
The landscape of mental health care is evolving rapidly in today’s digital world. Increasingly, individuals are turning to virtual therapy services, particularly in response to the rising prevalence of anxiety, depression, and stress-related conditions. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (n.d.), approximately 1.1 million adults in Indiana are
ADHD Parenting: When to Get Help and What Therapy Looks Like
Parenting a child with ADHD is both gratifying and demanding. Your child’s development and well-being require understanding how and when to seek professional help and what therapy methods will benefit them. Understanding ADHD in Children Children who have ADHD experience this neurodevelopmental disorder, which disrupts their ability to focus and
Why Online ADHD Therapy Is a Game Changer for Busy Adults
Adults who have ADHD find it difficult to perform their roles at work and maintain their family situations and personal tasks. Managing their time during meetings, executing work tasks, and organizing their household seem challenging. The ongoing battles make them suffer from stress and frustration, which can lead to low
Sommer Psychology Group in Indianapolis & across Indiana
Our evidence-based online psychotherapy is grounded in three core principles:
Integrity
We believe integrity is the foundation of effective therapy. It fosters trust, respect, and accountability, ensuring our clients receive honest, consistent, and ethical guidance throughout their journey.
Compassion
Compassion is at the heart of our practice. It nurtures emotional healing, creating a safe space where clients can feel heard, valued, and understood while developing a culture of collaboration and respect.
Quality Care
We prioritize quality care to ensure the best outcomes for our clients. By addressing both clinical needs and emotional well-being, we build trust and deliver effective therapy that supports long-term growth and success.
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