When a Loved One Faces Mental Health Challenges, Be Sure to Keep Self-Care on Your Priority List

Christina Barker, LCP, NCC, is a licensed professional counselor and completed National Certified Counselor Certification. She serves as the Manager of the Behavioral Health Ambulatory Program for Inova Behavioral Health Services. Mental health is just as important as physical health is. After decades of dismissing the role of mental wellness in a person’s overall wellbeing,…

Read More

Surprising Symptoms of Depression and When to Talk with Your Provider

Chandni “Chunnu” Bhatia, MS, LPC, NCC, CMHIMP, is a licensed clinical professional counselor, she serves as an Integrated Behavioral Health Therapist with Inova Behavioral Health Services. When we think of the word “depression,” often times many of us get a certain picture in our minds of an individual closed off from the world in a…

Read More

What to Expect on an Adult Mental Health Inpatient Unit

Mohammed (Ashi) Azam, MD, is a board certified psychiatrist. Although they can be just as devastating, mental health challenges have long taken a backseat to physical illnesses. This often-invisible suffering, and the stigma surrounding it, cause many people to choose not to seek care for mental health concerns. Mental illness is more common than you…

Read More

Tips to Help Moms Reset Their Personal Boundaries

Chandrika Balgobin, DO, PMH-C, is a perinatal psychiatrist with Inova Women’s Behavioral Health Services. What are boundaries, and why are they important? In psychological terms, a boundary is a mental line that helps determine what is and is not “okay.” A boundary serves to “protect the integrity of an individual or group or that helps…

Read More

Dads and Depression: Raising Awareness

Tara Croan, LCSW, PMH-C, women’s behavioral health therapist, Inova Women’s Behavioral Health Services;  Sarah Orrison, LCSW, women’s behavioral health therapist, Inova Behavioral Health Services; and Rushi Vyas, MD, psychiatrist. When a couple welcomes a new baby into the family, everything changes. The parents tend to focus on the new baby’s needs and on the new…

Read More

Shielding Your Kids from Harmful Social Media Content

Feyza Basoglu, MD, is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist. She serves in the Inpatient Adolescent Mental Health Unit on Inova Fairfax Medical Campus for Inova Behavioral Health Services. Whether you call them iGen or Generation Z, today’s adolescents and young adults are connected online more than ever. Over the past few years, we have…

Read More

The Mental Health Benefits of Gratitude

Karyn L. Flannagan, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist. The positive effects of gratitude have gained traction over the last 10 to 15 years. While we’re only beginning to understand the profound connection between mind and body, cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is built on the idea that what you think about affects your behavior. By…

Read More