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By: Lauren Cruz What is the Right Level of Mental Health Support Living your best quality of life is feeling connected, capable and engaged in life. If you are grappling with symptoms that make everyday life difficult, finding the right level of mental health support can help you achieve your best you. In this article, we will explore three modes of support that can help you feel connected, capable and engaged in life: Professional Therapy and Counseling Medical and Clini

Recent headlines about antidepressants can be confusing. Pacific Mindscape explains what SSRIs are, how they work, their safety profile, and what decades of research tell us about their role in treating depression and anxiety.

By: Lauren Cruz How do you know when the challenges of life are “everyday” stress or it’s time to seek more support? Most people have experienced both stress and anxiety at some point in their lives, yet the two terms are often used interchangeably. They share similar symptoms such as feeling overwhelmed, restless, or having trouble concentrating. However, stress is a response to an external challenge with an ending, whereas anxiety can exist all the time. Understanding the

When the Mind Gets Louder in the Dark Understanding Your Mindscape Series By Louisa Steiger MD, MPH During the day, many people can outrun their thoughts. There are emails to answer, people to care for, tasks to complete, and distractions everywhere. The mind stays occupied by whatever is immediately in front of it. But at night, when things quiet down, the mind often gets louder. You finally get into bed, exhausted and ready to sleep, only to find yourself replaying convers

Have you ever found yourself replaying something that happened at work or in a relationship? And it has a name: most people would call it overthinking. From a psychological perspective, this is rumination. Pacific Mindscape explores on rumination, how it affects the Mindscape, and how to gently interrupt the loop.

Understanding Your Mindscape Series By Louisa Steiger, MD, MPH How Depression Reshapes Your Inner World When people think of depression, they often imagine sadness—crying, despair, or a visible heaviness that others can see. But many people living with depression don’t feel especially sad at all. Instead, they feel flat , exhausted, disconnected, or quietly overwhelmed by life in ways that are hard to put into words. Depression is not just a feeling. It’s a shift in your inne

Defense mechanisms is an unconscious strategy to help manage distress, soften emotional impact, and help you stay functional in challenging moment. Therapists often describe these coping strategies along a continuum: mature (adaptive) or immature (maladaptive).

By Louisa Steiger, MD, MPH Alexithymia Ever have trouble telling someone how you feel? Or even naming the emotion for yourself? You’re not alone. This is such a common phenomenon that there is even a word for it: alexithymia. I have always found languages to be really cool and what I love about the term “alexithymia” is that its roots tell you exactly what it means. It is derived from the following Greek roots: -”a” meaning “without” -”lexi” meaning “word” -”thymia” meaning “

By: Lauren Cruz As I sat restlessly at my desk, I started to wonder... if I can shop away an overthinking mind, could I sweat my way to...

by Louisa Steiger, MD, MPH I love sleep. There’s nothing better than a good night’s sleep—and sometimes, it feels like there’s nothing...

by Louisa Steiger, MD, MPH At Pacific Mindscape, we believe that meaningful mental health care begins with the foundations: sleep,...

by Louisa Steiger, MD, MPH At Pacific Mindscape, we believe the most profound mental health care begins with the basics. In an age that...