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Although obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is accepted as an illness with biological roots, it can’t be diagnosed using a blood sample, X-ray, or other medical tests. A mental health professional such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or family doctor or nurse with special training will usually make a diagnosis of OCD using their medical judgment and experience. Many healthcare professionals use a tool called a structured clinical interview to see if your symptoms are consistent with OCD....

Parenting a child with oppositional defiant disorder can be a challenge. Kids with oppositional defiant disorder argue, refuse to follow directions, and find joy in irritating others. If you’re the parent of a child with the disorder, you’ll need a slightly different approach to discipline. Kids with oppositional defiant disorder can be smart, creative, and caring. With the help of supportive parenting interventions, their behavior can improve over time. Provide Positive Attention If your child has oppositional defiant disorder, you might notice that their behavior tends to grate on people’s nerves....

Is there a name for the specific phobia that refers to a fear of haunted houses? Is this a fear or a phobia, and what is the difference? How are specific phobias such as this handled? Definition There is no official phobia name for the fear of haunted houses. That said, some people have coined names which resemble the true names of other phobias. For example, you may hear the unofficial term “hauntophobia....

Did you know that there could be hidden dairy ingredients in deli meat, salad dressings, and even shellfish? Many manufacturers dip fish in milk to contain the smell. So what does this mean if your breastfeeding baby is showing a sensitivity to dairy or has a cow’s milk allergy? If you’re thinking about cutting dairy from your diet, you may need to think beyond the obvious dairy sources (milk, cheese, sour cream, ice cream)....

Most of us understand the connection between nutrition and physical health or illness. But what about the link between diet and depression? Your diet may not directly cause an improvement in mood or a decrease in depressive symptoms. But there may be an association between nutrition and mood, which is promising news for the nearly 264 million people worldwide that live with depression. Connection Between Diet and Depression “Research shows an association between dietary patterns that are rich in fruits and vegetables and lower in processed foods with improved mood and well-being ratings, as well as a lower risk for depression,” says Gary D....

Spoiler alert! This article contains major spoilers for the first season of the TV show, Yellowjackets, available on Showtime. The first season of Showtime’s buzzy hit Yellowjackets contains multitudes. There’s violence. There’s sex. There’s drugs. There’s a killer ’90s soundtrack. There’s also cannibalism and maybe even malevolent supernatural forces at work. But at the core of the addictive series is a story of trauma and survival. Yellowjackets centers on the title championship high school girls soccer team, whose plane goes down in the middle of nowhere on their way to a national tournament....

If you’ve had an episiotomy during childbirth, you may wonder about optimal episiotomy wound care. Taking good care of your episiotomy stitches during your postpartum recovery will minimize the risk of infection and can help manage pain or discomfort. Proper episiotomy care includes using ice packs to reduce swelling and keeping the area clean. An episiotomy is a surgical incision made in the area between the vagina and the anus, which is called the perineum....

For many new parents, coming up with their child’s name takes an enormous amount of energy. For nonbinary parents, we also have to think about restructuring how parenting is perceived. Doing so comes with deciding on what we want to be called by our kids. The representation of nonbinary parents in media is far and few between. There are some examples: children’s book “My Maddy” by Gayle E. Pitman, “The Natural Mother of the Child” by Krys Malcolm Belc, or “Like a Boy But Not a Boy” by Andrea Bennett show what it’s like to navigate parenthood as a nonbinary or gender-nonconforming parent....

Making the decision to have—or not have—kids can be fraught with emotion. Aside from wrestling with the societal pressures to have children, you may be wondering if growing your family is something you even want to do. The choice to start a family is highly personal, and there is no one right answer for everyone. “The pressure to have kids comes from a lot of places,” says Jordan Davidson, editorial director of Health and author of “So When Are You Having Kids?...

Follow Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts Every Monday on The Verywell Mind Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Amy Morin, LCSW, interviews experts, authors, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and other inspirational people about the strategies that help them think, feel, and do their best in life. Meet Matthew McConaughey You’ve likely seen Matthew McConaughey in one of his movies, like “Dazed and Confused,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” or “A Time to Kill....

If your child has been struggling in school, you may be wondering what you can do to support them to get back on track. If you have been exploring different options for struggling learners, an individualized education plan (IEP) or special education services may have come up. But how do you know when an IEP is the right thing to ask for to help your child in school? If your child is struggling or underperforming in school, then it is important that you intervene early to keep problems from snowballing....

For busy families, it’s much easier to grab something on the go or to let everyone fend for themselves when it comes to meals. After all, who has time to cook? And how do you find time to get everyone together? There’s some compelling evidence that it’s important to make mealtimes a priority. Of course, there’s nothing saying you have to make everything from scratch or that you have to eat all three meals a day together to reap the benefits....

Caregiving for schizophrenia is often provided by family members or other close persons and plays an important role in ensuring that people with this mental illness are able to live life to the fullest. However, it’s natural for caregivers of persons with schizophrenia to experience feelings of frustration, stress, and helplessness when placed in this role. Not only do you need to quickly learn about and understand the illness and the broad range of behaviors that it can involve, but you also need to determine how best to provide care without overstepping or creating undue stress....

What Is a Scarcity Mindset? A pervasive feeling of not having enough—whether that be time, money, connection—is also known as a scarcity mindset. Having a scarcity mindset can be a self-fulfilling prophecy because these beliefs make it difficult to move forward and may keep you stuck in scarcity. It is necessary to acknowledge that scarcity is not just a mindset but a reality for many. If you struggle to meet your basic needs of affording food, housing, and paying your bills—it is not your fault and not as simple as a shift in mindset....

Your 4-year-old daughter can count to 20, knows all of the alphabet, and is starting to read. She loves to learn and is genuinely excited about the work that you give her each day. Preschool bores her, and she’s ready for more of a challenge. The start of the school year is approaching. But with your state’s minimum age of 5, is she ready to go to kindergarten early? Parents with young children who are gifted academically often think their children are prepared to get a jump on their academic careers....

Psychologist Raymond Cattell is best known for his 16-factor personality model, developing the concept of fluid versus crystallized intelligence, and working with factor and multivariate analysis. Early Life Raymond Cattell was born on March 20, 1905, in a small town in England. He developed an interest in science early on in life and went on to become the first person from his family to attend college, earning his BS in chemistry from the University of London when he was just 19....

If you don’t already know her name, you definitely know Malin Akerman’s face. The 43-year-old Hollywood darling has been in 70 movies and television shows (Showtime’s “Billions,” the “Rock of Ages” movie, and more). And although Akerman is best known as an “actor,” the title that carries the most weight for her is “mom.” The working mother to 8-year-old Sebastian says her priority is being with her family as much as possible....

Medical professionals use many calculations every day to keep babies healthy and strong in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Although you don’t have to know how to do this math when your baby is in the NICU—the healthcare providers will manage these calculations for your baby—many parents or caregivers like to know anyway. If you want to give it a try, grab your calculator and start crunching some numbers....

Psychiatric hospitals provide the highest level of treatment available to teens and are intended for the short-term stabilization of serious mental health issues. A hospital setting provides a locked environment with constant clinical supervision to ensure their safety. If your child is having suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911....

This Halloween might be the first time kids will have a semi-normal celebration in a couple of years. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down, more kids may be allowed to go door-to-door trick-or-treating. But a new concern is on many parents’ minds. Some worry about dangerous drugs that may be hiding in their children’s candy. Key Takeaways The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a warning about brightly-colored fentanyl that looks like candy, which could target children....