The Chicago Mind Solutions team was excited to participate in the North Shore YMCA's (NSYMCA) annual Fall Fest 'Trunk or Treat' event on October 13. H...
Concussions: The Hidden Reality of Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) impact over one million people every year. They can cause various levels of issues, including impacting a person’s ...
Brain Contusions: Understanding Their Role as Traumatic Brain Injuries
Brain contusions are one of the most severe forms of brain damage and are closely related to death and disability. However, there is hope for improved...
Qigong Meditation: The 5 Principles
Qigong meditation is an ancient Chinese healing practice that helps maintain physical, mental, and spiritual health. Used for thousands of years, th...
What’s The Difference Between ADD And ADHD?
In the evolving landscape of mental health, the distinction between ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorde...
How Does Sleep Deprivation Trigger Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression?
If you have experienced increased anxiety or depression following a bad night’s sleep, you are not alone. Studies show 50 to 70 million Americans ...
What are the Parts of the Brain Responsible for Processing Emotions?
Humans experience emotions related to the events in our lives. We are influenced by everything we encounter from the weather to our sleep and hormon...
Brain Disorders that Everyone Should Know
With growing mental health awareness, families have access to more information and treatment for brain disorders than ever before. This increased know...
Neuroplasticity: What You Need to Know
Neuroplasticity occurs as we interact with our environment. Our brains learn to adapt to situations, so we continuously learn from our experiences a...
Decoding Language Processing Disorder: What You Need to Know
Language Processing Disorder (LPD) is a neurological impairment that affects how language is processed and understood, despite the individual often ha...
The Tai Chi/Mental Health Connection
Tai Chi is an ancient series of movements used to practice Chinese martial arts. However, the deliberate, slow movements are deceiving as each repre...
Is There a Correlation Between Gaming and Behavioral Problems in Children?
In today’s digital age, video games are an integral part of many children’s lives. With the increasing prevalence of gaming, concerns ab...
How to Break Up with Your Therapist
Therapy is just like any other relationship. You need to feel a connection and a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, or it just doesn’t work....
Tuning In: Unveiling the Complexities of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)
Auditory processing disorder, or APD, is a neurological condition that has an impact on the brain’s ability to process auditory information prop...
Incorporating Performance Consultation: A Holistic Approach
As individuals constantly strive for overall well being, understanding the nuances between mental health and mental performance becomes imperative. ...
Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD): More Than Just Words
In our fast-paced, verbal communication-heavy world, it’s easy to forget that a significant portion of our understanding and interaction is non-...
How Does the Brain Process Different Emotions?
If you or a loved one suffers from a mental health disorder, it impacts the ability to process emotions correctly. The brain is equipped to assign e...
How Counseling Helps Loved Ones of Those Suffering From Terminal Illnesses
Discovering that a loved one is suffering from a terminal illness triggers feelings of anger, grief, and helplessness. Whether you are a caregiver f...
Depression May Not Be Caused By a Chemical Imbalance in the Brain
Despite the belief by many that a chemical imbalance causes depression in the brain, the connection between the two has yet to be proven. In fact, rec...
The Synergistic Approach: Combining Meds and Neurofeedback for Holistic Healing
When it comes to mental health, the path to healing can take many forms. A synergistic approach, combining traditional medication with neurofeedback...
Neurofeedback is an Alternative to Stimulants for ADHD Treatment
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) causes impulsive behavior and inattentiveness that interferes with a patient’s ability to concentrat...
How to Help a Friend Who is Suicidal
The idea of someone we love wanting to end their life is a terrible scenario we hope we never have to face. However, all of us should understand how...
The Positive and Negative Impacts of Social Media on Mental Health
Humans are meant to connect with each other. We evolved as social beings who formed partnerships, raised young, and kept in close contact with our fam...
What Happens in Your Brain When You Experience Trauma?
Experiencing trauma can have lasting effects on an individual's mental and physical health. But what actually happens in our brains when we undergo a...
Understanding Dysgraphia
Dysgraphia is a handwriting impairment that can interfere with learning. Students with dysgraphia can experience issues with writing, spelling, or b...
Beyond Numbers: Unraveling the Complex World of Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is a learning disorder that makes it challenging to process math-related concepts. In most cases, symptoms appear when school-aged child...
Understanding the Role of a Family and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Family and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNP) play a critical role in mental Mental Healthcare Management. Their availability hel...
Dyslexia: What You Need to Know
Dyslexia is what is known as a language-based learning disability. It presents various symptoms that cause difficulties with language skills, most co...
Yoga and Your Mental Health — Is There a Connection?
The practice of yoga has gained global popularity for its holistic approach to fitness and wellness. It isn’t merely a physical activity, but ...
5 Things You Need to Know About Mindfulness Meditation
If you’ve been considering meditation as a way to enhance your quality of life, mindfulness meditation is one option that is worth investigating...
The Impact of Guided Meditation on Mental Health
Though we are confronted with a multitude of mental health conditions and their accompanying symptoms, it’s comforting to know that there are many d...
Understanding the Role of Anger During the Grieving Process
When it comes to the stages of grief, it’s hard for most people to avoid the anger stage. This is the second stage of grief after denial and b...
The Stages of Grief: Denial
The experience of grief is a universal one, but it is unique to each individual. Grief can be caused by a range of situations, including the loss...
Mantra Meditation: What You Need to Know
Mantra is an ancient word from Sanskrit, broken into ‘man’, meaning to think and ‘tra’, meaning tool. Mantras have been used for thousands o...
Manic Depression: What You Need to Know
Manic depression, now more commonly known as bipolar disorder, is a life-long mood disorder affecting about 2.6% of Americans. The extreme fluctuation...
Atypical Depression: Diagnosis, Symptoms, and Treatment
Atypical depression causes uncommon symptoms of depression. The American Psychiatric Association refers to atypical depression as major depression wit...
Understanding Selective Mutism
Selective mutism is a childhood anxiety disorder causing fear of speaking and social interactions in certain situations. Although the child can comm...
Breaking Down Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) causes heightened worry in children when separated from family members or the people they are closest to. Fears of...
What is Treatment-Resistant Depression?
Depression causes deep, long-lasting feelings of sadness or hopelessness. For most people, seeking help provides relief through either medication, the...
Persistent Depression: What You Need to Know
Depression causes feelings of hopelessness and deep sadness. If you suffer from chronic depression for more than two years, you could be suffering f...
What Exactly is Panic Disorder?
If you experience recurring sudden fear or anxiety for no apparent reason, you could be suffering from panic disorder. For many, panic attacks inclu...
Understanding Social Anxiety Disorder
Over 5 million people in the US live with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). SAD causes intense feelings of self-consciousness around others. As a result,...
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: What You Need to Know
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) causes excessive, uncontrollable worry about everyday life, and anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnes...
Understanding Situational Depression
Previously, we’ve written about different types of depressive disorders, including Seasonal Affective Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. The ...
Major Depressive Disorder: What You Need to Know
When most people talk about mental health, they stop at “depression.” But there are actually a handful of different types of depression, most of w...
5 Things to Know About the Relationship Between Nutrition and Mental Health
We think about the brain as distinct from the body, but the brain relies on the rest of the body, not just for nutrition, but even for the hormones th...
Depression Disorders: What Is Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Winter and even parts of spring in Chicagoland mean gray skies and snowy and rainy days. The limitation of natural sunlight can wreak havoc on your ...
How Social Isolation Has Impacted Our Mental Health
The news has been a little more positive lately. As of this writing, the U.S. is administering 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses per day. Headlines abo...
What is Art Therapy, and How Does it Help?
You often hear people say that a certain hobby is therapeutic for them, but it’s unlikely that said activity is an actual clinical treatment. Well, ...
Neuropsychological Testing: What You Need to Know
Inclusive environments mean making room for everyone to have a chance to be successful. All people are different people with unique sets of strengths ...
How to Take the Stigma Out of Mental Illness
Mental illness impacts 1 in 4 American adults each year, yet many go undiagnosed. While global acceptance of mental health conditions has increased, t...
Understanding the Spectrum of OCD
It’s not uncommon to hear people casually remark, “Oh, it’s just my OCD,” when referring to a detail-oriented task. Obsessive Compulsive Disor...
How ERP Therapy Treats Anxiety
People are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and being diagnosed with anxiety disorders in record numbers, as we’ve previously shared. Look no furthe...
The 10 Steps in Creating an IEP
We discussed the differences between an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and a 504 Plan. As we noted, if your child has one or more disabilities th...
How Neurofeedback Can Set Your Child Up for a Successful School Year
After arguably the most turbulent school year in your child’s life, they’re getting a much needed break. While we certainly don’t expect them or...
Incoming College Freshmen: How to Continue Mental Health Treatment
College freshmen leaving their homes for school experience a lot of “firsts”: first time living on a university campus; having more freedom than e...
How Does Traumatic Brain Injury Change Behavior?
As we’ve previously discussed, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) refers to an injury to the head that results in damage to the brain. It seems that we he...
CMS Supports The RPFPC
Chicago Mind Solutions is passionate about treating patients who have suffered concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI). We’ve written about the...
5 Common Misconceptions About ADHD
One of the most misunderstood mental health conditions is Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder . How often have you heard someone in a moment of di...
Dialectical Behavior Therapy: What You Need to Know
As a follow-up to our previous post on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, we’re taking a closer look at another form of psychotherapy called Dialectical ...
3 Main Differences Between Neurofeedback and Biofeedback
Quality of life is important, isn’t it? Thanks to advances in medicine and adjacent fields, average life expectancy has increased dramatically. ...
How CBT Addresses Emotional Challenges
Negative mantras that play on a constant loop in our heads, like “I don’t deserve success” can be transformed into, “Wait a minute; I do deser...
How To Talk To Your Kids About Your Mental Illness
Living with mental illness is difficult enough, but learning how to talk about it adds another challenge. This is especially true for parents, who are...
Brainwaves: What You Need to Know
A lot goes on in our brains. No organ works harder or has as much control over us, and it seems each year, medical science makes new discoveries regar...
The Pandemic & Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) occurs when a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event and is associ...
How the Pandemic Has Shifted the Mental Health Conversation
We’re finally experiencing something we haven’t for the better part of a year: light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. As of April, 2021, more th...
What’s The Difference Between an IEP and a 504 Plan?
There is a bevy of resources available to students with behavioral and learning deficiencies. These are certainly helpful, as they can make a world of...
What is the Difference Between a Learning Specialist and a Tutor?
Does this sound familiar? You sit down to help your child with homework or study for a test, and it winds up being an exercise in frustration. It’s ...
Executive Functioning When You Have ADHD
People can be flippant about ADHD. How many times have you heard someone who got momentarily distracted casually say, “Oh, it’s my ADHD,” when t...
What is the Link Between Depression and Anxiety?
Depression and anxiety are thick as thieves. Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness in the U.S., and almost half of individuals ...
4 Reasons Why You Should Consider Neurofeedback as a First Resort of Treatment
“When you are dealing with depression and anxiety, you feel like you’re lost,” said former Michigan State star offensive lineman and Miami Dolph...
How Neurofeedback Treats Traumatic Brain Injury, Anxiety, Depression, and More
Imagine if you and your therapist could actually see what your mental illness looks like in your brain. What if you had a visual of your brain’s act...
The Impact of COVID-19 on Our Mental Health
The title of this blog post suggests doom and gloom. Yes, we will discuss the negative impacts of COVID on mental health, but we’ll also offer ways ...
COVID Cases are Surging, But We are Ready with Teletherapy
The state had a nice stretch of low and plateaued Coronavirus cases, but unfortunately, as fall has progressed, we’ve seen a troubling uptick. As of...
Academic Support for Students During the Coronavirus
Student’s educational experiences have changed dramatically in recent months due to the coronavirus. There is still significant uncertainty about wh...
What is Neuropsychological Testing?
What is Neuropsychological Testing? Neuropsychological testing, also referred to as “neuropsych testing,” is an evaluation of a person’s cogniti...
Afraid of Leaving Your Home Due to COVID-19?
For the past several weeks, we have been told the importance of staying home and practicing social distancing. Although the shelter in place mandate h...
Dealing with Anxiety
What is anxiety? Anxiety involves the mental experiences of worry, nervousness, dread, or fear. It also involves many different physical experiences s...
Reopening and Returning to Society
In recent months, our world has looked very different as a result of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. After weeks of practicing proper social dista...
What is Teletherapy?
Teletherapy is mental health treatment delivered online using secure video conferencing. The type of treatment is based on the needs of the client....
Mental Health During the Coronavirus – 7 Useful Tips
The coronavirus has caused major changes and disruptions to almost everyone’s life. It can also be a source of considerable anxiety, fear, and frust...
An Advancement in Neurofeedback: BrainAvatar from BrainMaster
By: Ari Goldstein, Ph.D., Educational Psychologist, Chicago Mind Solutions In many ways neurofeedback therapy is as individual as the patients who see...
LENS Therapy vs. Traditional Neurofeedback
By Ari Goldstein, Ph.D. Educational Psychologist Chicago Mind Solutions Neurofeedback, sometimes called EEG biofeedback is designed to help patients c...
7 Steps to a Positive Neurofeedback Experience
By Ari Goldstein, Ph.D. Educational Psychologist Chicago Mind Solutions You may have heard from some neurofeedback providers or enthusiastic patients ...
Are There Any Side Effects to Neurofeedback?
Patients who are considering Neurofeedback often ask if there are any adverse side effects to the therapy. As a general rule, most neurofeedback patie...
Is ADHD Increasing Among Young Adults?
By: Ryan Roessler At Chicago Mind Solutions we try to keep abreast of the latest developments not only in the science of neurofeedback, but in the con...
Can Children Suffer from Depression?
By Ari Goldstein Most of us think of childhood as a time of freedom from responsibility, playtime and school yard crushes – when every day is fu...
Learning Disabilities vs. Autism
Is Autism a Learning Disability? The short answer to this question is “no.” The long answer is a bit more complicated. For one thing, an autistic ...
Do You Have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
If you do, you’re not alone. So do many soldiers, sailors, first responders, hurricane survivors and rape victims including Lady Gaga. (Yes, THAT La...
What is Neurofeedback and How Does it Work?
Just as biofeedback allows physicians to help patients control their heart rate and breathing to resolve physical health issues, neurofeedback enables...
What is Anxiety?
Is it Anxiety, a Phobia or just Life in Twenty-first Century? By Ari Goldstein, Ph.D. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Gene...
Is there such a thing as an ADHD diet?
By Ari Goldstein, Ph.D. Educational Psychologist Chicago Mind Solutions “You are what you eat” is an axiom that I’m sure most healthcare and f...
Why Do More Children Seem to Have ADHD Today?
According to a study conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adole...
The Parents Dilemma – Choosing the Right Therapy When Your Child Has ADHD
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 5 percent of American children have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The Cente...
Depression Part III: Modern Therapy
For the past few months, we’ve been discussing the symptoms, causes and various treatment options for depression. Currently, it’s estimated that 1...
Theraputic Options for Depression
According to Dr. Stephen Ildari, author of “The Depression Cure,” the human race is experiencing a global epidemic of depression because, “we we...
Depression: What’s It All About?
By Ari Goldstein, Ph.D. Educational Psychologist “I have had issues with depression all my life, and it’s probably true to say there was a tendenc...
The History of Neurofeedback: Part III
Ever since the 1970’s, when scientists like Dr. Barry Sterman and Dr. Joe Kamiya first demonstrated that patients with epilepsy could avoid seizures...
The History of Neurofeedback: Part II
By Ari Goldstein, Ph.D. Educational Psychologist For far too long, neurofeedback has been viewed as a therapy based more on wishful thinking than scie...
The History of Neurofeedback
There has always been a certain air of mystery about Neurofeedback. How does it work? Why is it so effective in treating brain conditions as varied as...
Chicago Mind Solutions’ 6 Steps to a Healthier Frame of Mind
Did you make any resolutions this year? How many people really declare resolutions? And how many of us actually follow through? Northbrook-based Chica...
Chicago Mind Solutions Recommends 7 Mind-Expanding Games
Whether you are looking for thought-provoking gifts for loved ones or are interested in improving your own mental sharpness, Northbrook-based neurofee...
5 Ways Parents Can Help Kids with ADHD Have A Happy Thanksgiving
Oftentimes expectations of the “picture-perfect” family get-together can put a damper on Thanksgiving Day realities, especially if somebody in you...