It’s easy to brush off mental health issues as just a “bad day” or a “tough time.” After all, everyone experiences some degree of sadness, worry, and compulsiveness from time to time. Mixed emotions are part of being human. The line is drawn at your ability to perform your everyday tasks, according to Gail Saltz, MD, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine.
“It’s when these things are taken to the degree that they interrupt our ability to function,” says Dr. Saltz, “that they are then are called a disorder.”
Dr. Saltz is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine and a psychoanalyst with the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.
Dr. Samuels is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry and clinical pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and an assistant attending psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Dr. Watkins is a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she's the Associate Director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, and was previously the Associate Training Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program.
Dr. Hartstein is the owner of Hartstein Psychological Services, a group psychotherapy practice in New York City.
Dr. Michaelis is a clinical and media psychologist in New York City.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Warning signs of mental illness.
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). Know the warning signs.
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