Tagged as Mental Health

Catastrophic thinking might not hit everyone all the time, but for those of us who have this tendency, it can feel like a nightmare when it does come. Our thoughts can be crushing, even when the scenarios we’ve spun are nowhere near grounded in reality. Catastrophic thoughts, or what some call intrusive thoughts, can take on a life of their own especially when we’re missing information or feeling emotionally...
September 19, 2022
Anxiety disorders are extremely common, affecting about -40 million adults- in the U.S. each year. While anxiety disorders are highly treatable, a large percentage of people with these disorders do not receive adequate treatment or any treatment at all. So the day-to-day grind of living with anxiety and coping can often fall to loved ones to help in times of flares and/or crisis. If you have a partner,...
July 28, 2022
Even for those who do not suffer a mood disorder, some decline in mood can occur during colder weather, during longer nights and sometimes when we set our clocks ahead and back. Feelings of sadness, hopelessness or anxiety may manifest, along with disruptions in sleep, leaving one fatigued and irritable. Limited exposure to sunshine can produce depressive symptoms by disrupting our circadian rhythms....
December 21, 2021
Have you ever noticed how the people you surround yourself with the most can affect your moods and overall health? As a mental health advocate, I understand how this can be because I suffered from mental health issues most of my life. Now that I’ve overcome the majority of those issues, I realized how much my moods, mental states, and overall health improved dramatically after letting go of toxic people...
December 18, 2021
Happiness is not something that just magically happens for some people but not for others. The way you view yourself, others, and the world around you is the key your own happiness. If you genuinely want to be happy more often than you are, you CAN make changes necessary to bring about that peace. Although everyone has bad periods in their lives that can last from hours to even months at a time, those...
November 23, 2021
We all know people, either in the public eye or personally, who just “succeed.” They may come from difficult backgrounds and have fought an uphill battle to get to where they are now. Somehow they have this mysterious quality, some intangible way about them that seems to just catapult them into success in unexpected ways. I have studied many successful people through my work over the years and I have...
September 27, 2021
Our brains are like sponges when we’re young, and most of us are eager to take in and process new information as it comes. The ability (and desire) to learn new information remains with us in most cases, but some issues may slow that drive down as we reach middle age. One of those issues could be our motivation to tackle new info, which may take a heavy hit upon reaching our 50s. Here's why. We're...
May 12, 2021
Most people have at least one friend or family member who suffers from a mental health disorder. Or maybe they are that person who has a mental illness. And if we love them, or are them, it's hard to think about the stigma that follows them around. Those who live with the stigma often have lives hard hit by misinformation, apathy and sometimes even downright cruelty. People with mental illnesses may...
April 2, 2021
Times have changed. Where home offices weren’t terribly common even a few years ago, 2020 saw -42% of US workers- making their living from home. The situation might work well for many of us. What's not to love? Attending meetings in pajama pants and having your dog as your new office assistant. But it also creates some issues that may affect our mental health. Spending too much time between the same...
March 4, 2021
We’ve been at this for over a year now, and many of us have begun to feel defeated. We miss our loved ones and we miss the human connection of being around friends and family. But the vaccine is here and many of us are wondering if this means we can soon get back to hugging the vulnerable elderly in our lives. There have been a lot of questions surrounding the changes we can expect with vaccine rollouts,...
March 2, 2021