LAP Publications are released monthly featuring clinical information on important topics written by LAP’s team of experts for the legal profession.

For more information about LAP Publications or to be added to the LAP Publications distribution list for your office, association, or agency contact Shelley Sandoval: ssandoval@illinoislap.org

Fear and anxiety, driven by the uncertainty of a new pandemic, seemingly changed our world and behavior in the course of a few days.

Understanding the role of uncertainty and mental heuristics in anxiety can help us to forge ahead as we navigate the new normal. Click to read about strategies to mitigate thoughts and emotions in uncertain times, gain quick methods to identify and tackle anxious behaviors, and gain invaluable resources for today’s ever-changing  landscape. 

There has been a tremendous disruption to the natural rhythm of life that we previously engaged in prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is important to consider the facets of our lives this pandemic has impacted as we work towards our new normal. As individuals are pushed to new limits, understanding the impact on our mental health in the immediate and foreseeable future is essential to recovery and revival.

How is your decisionmaking under stress? In uncertain times? Attorneys are more resilient than most of the population, corect? No. Wrong. We are less resilient. 

Our profession is an honorable calling, but also one that can take an extraordinary personal toll. Check our ABA Barbara J. Dawson’s article based on LAP Executive Director Dr. Diana Uchiyama’s presentation.

Original Article publication credit: ABA Litigation Magazine, Spring 2020, Barbara J. Dawson

In working with law students, lawyers, and judges we are often confronted by the high internal and external expectations that legal professionals face and set for themselves in their professional and personal lives.

Maladaptive perfectionism is a term that embodies the “refusal to accept any standard short of perfection” (Oxford Dictionary), viewed clinically as a multidimensional concept with several different components.

Developing resilience through practice, learning, and rest.

Resilience is the ability to adapt, learn, grow, and thrive during times of adversity, challenge, and change. Every person and group of persons has the potential to be resilient. Read on to understand the mechanics of resiliency in today’s legal practice.

Mental well-being, everyday conversations, and achieving your best practice.

Throwing out the standard “how are you” script in an effort to move beyond mental health stigma. Identify, consider, align and validate your communication in your personal and professional life when it comes to well-being.

While anxiety can be helpful in normal amounts to motivate and accomplish goals, at its worst, it can cause serious impairment and can lead to feelings of depression, alienation, deficiency, and potentially thoughts of suicide…suffering in silence is not the answer. When anxiety crosses the threshold from normal to excessive, it’s time to seek help.