Achieve More Work/Life Balance

1) Plan Ahead: You’ve got so many tasks that you are responsible for and without taking the time to write it all down, it can really magnify in your own mind, causing all kinds of unnecessary stress. Taking a bit of prep time at the beginning of each week to completely plan out your schedule (including your time off) will really reduce your stress levels.

2) Focus, Then Unplug: With iPads and SmartPhones, work is constantly with us, long past the traditional “end of the work day”. The days of leaving work at the office are seemingly long gone, since we all have constant access to tech and more of us are working from a home office; the temptation to check emails or social media accounts is often too hard to resist. Scheduling specific time periods everyday for checking tech and commit to unplugging once the set time period has ended. This will force you to focus on the important tasks at hand and prevent getting sucked into the internet black hole, allowing for a real, concrete distinction between work and personal life.

3) Value Yourself: There’s no faster way to burn out than to under-value yourself. Your time and work are very valuable, so make sure that you are getting enough money to make working worth your while. When you aren’t being adequately compensated for your work, it can cause you to stress out about things that normally wouldn’t bother you.

-Carol Roth

Ten Kid-Friendly Rules for Texting With Respect and Dignity

How to talk with kids about netiquette and cyberbullying prevention

As a School Counselor and educator on the subject of Bullying Prevention, one of the most commonly asked questions I receive is, “What is the “right” age for youngsters to begin texting and using social media?”

As with most aspects of child-rearing, there isn’t a simple one-age-fits-all guideline, so rather than making a recommendation based on chronological age or even a young person’s grade in school, what I find most helpful is to talk with parents about how to best prepare kids to use technology–at whatever age they deem necessary and appropriate–in ways that respect the dignity of others and reflect the positive values of most schools, organizations, and families:

What follows are ten rules that speak to young people directly about how to behave well online:

1. Choose Your Words Carefully

If you wouldn’t say something to a person’s face, don’t send it via text or the internet. Technology makes it too easy to say things that are impulsive or unkind. Also, the person reading your message can’t see your facial expressions or hear your tone of voice. Sarcasm and humor often get lost in translation online, so avoid their use. Type carefully as well; avoid using ALL CAPS since they make it look like you are angry or YELLING.

2. The Internet is Not a Weapon

Don’t gossip about other people while you are online. Your words can be misinterpreted, manipulated, and forwarded without your permission. Plus, it’s not fair to talk about people when they can’t defend themselves. Likewise, social media sites should never be used to strategically exclude peers who are “on the outs” of a peer group or to “de-friend” a person after a fight.

3. What You Post is Permanent

Once you share something online, you lose control of where it goes, who can forward it, who will see it, and how it can potentially be used. As much as you might believe right now that you can trust your boyfriend with intimate photos or your best friend with secrets, you should still refrain from sending either of them any personal information online. You can’t imagine it now, but someday, that information could be distorted and used against you.

4. Who is this Message For?

What happens in cyberspace stays in cyberspace—forever! Though you may intend to send your private message or photo to a single recipient, keep in mind that it can be cut, pasted, and forwarded to an infinite number of people. Never post a photo or message that you wouldn’t want “everyone” to be able to view.

While on the subject, be thoughtful about the photos and videos that you allow your peers to take of you. Sometimes, these images start off as fun but can be used in embarrassing ways later on. Always have all of your clothes on and don’t engage in any kind of “joking” behavior on film that can be taken out of context or used against you later on.

5. There are No “Do Overs.”

Once you put something out there online, it’s almost impossible to take it back. Therefore, always be kind and do not ever use email to say ugly, nasty, or mean things about anyone or to anyone. Stop and ask yourself, “What would Mom think if she read this?” Post accordingly.

6. Take it Slow

In this immediate world of instant messaging and constant contact, you may be tempted to say whatever comes to your mind in a given moment. Don’t give in to the temptation. Slow down and think before you post whatever thought, comeback, or reaction is on your mind–especially if you are feeling an intense emotion like anger or sadness. Wait until you have had a chance to think things through and cool your head before you post a message that can’t be taken back.

7. Unplug Every Once in a While.

It is important to be able to walk away from toxic friendships. A first line of defense in stopping cyberbullying is logging off from an account temporarily. You have the ability to instantly end a digital conversation and should plan to do so the minute you recognize that cruelty has begun. In cases where the harassment is repeated, block the aggressor altogether.

8. Don’t Talk to Strangers

Remember that message your parents gave you when you were little? It still applies today and is very important to remember when you are online. Predators lurk in cyberspace and have clever, hidden ways of soliciting personal information from young people. Never share private information online, including your full name, home address, personal photos, school name, or phone number.

The same is true for online “Followers.” Please know that there is a very, very, VERY big difference between real friends and online followers. Go for quality over quantity and be sure to invest the majority of your time and energy into your real life friendships rather than in anonymous cyber-followers.

9. Set Strong Passwords

Set strong passwords on all of your accounts to protect your identity and make sure that the only person who is speaking for you is YOU.

10. It’s (NOT!) Nice to Share

For most of your life, you’ve been told that it’s nice to share with others, but when it comes to your passwords, just (DON’T!) do it! Your accounts are your accounts. It is in your best interests not to let any friend—even a best friend—post or text from your account. Ever.

The exception to this rule is your parents. DO share your passwords with them. Seriously. Don’t think of it as a violating of your privacy. Know that this is the best way for your parents to keep you safe from physical, emotional, and even legal harm.

-Signe Whitson, LSW

Stress Reduction using Mind/Body Exercise

Please feel free to adapt the following exercise in any way that feels comfortable for you.

Find a quiet place where you wont be disturbed and make yourself comfortable. Sitting is better than lying down so you dont get too comfortable and fall asleep. Place your hands gently on your lap, uncross your legs.

Starting at the top of your head and proceeding down to your toes,notice how each part of your body is feeling..noticing if there is any stress or tension or physical discomfort. Do this slowly as you are increasing your attention and awareness through this process. If you notice a part of your body that is experiencing tension, gently say to that part of your body the word “relax” or “”release” or a similar word that works for you. In addition to using the word, you can also take a deep breath and breathe into the tension you experience. Again, do this slowly so that you can really experience the release. As you do this exercise, it’s important to notice how you are breathing. Consciously breathing from your diaphragm instead of your chest area will deepen the experience of relaxation.

Another variation of this exercise is to go through a process that involves purposely tensing and relaxing each muscle group from your head to your feet. So starting with your facial muscles for example…gently squeeze your eye and mouth like you’re making an ugly face..and then relax . Do it 3 times and move on to your shoulders..lift your shoulders to your ears and then drop…3 times (PLEASE DON’T DO THIS IF YOU HAVE PAIN ANYWHERE..you don’t want to make anything worse.)

And as you move down your body, tense and release each muscle group..go slowly and dont forget to breathe.

-Scott Christnelly, LCSW-R

My Brain Made Me Do It! Neuroscience for Kids Who Need It

How the basics of brain science can help kids change troubled behaviors

Several weeks ago, I was sitting in the hallway of my school building talking with a student who was feeling distraught after her involvement in a heated conflict with several classmates.  The young girl had lashed out verbally at a group of students during recess.  What I’m really trying to say is, she let them have it!   I’m talking no holds barred, every-insult-a-third-grader-can-think-of, have it!

After giving her the chance to calm down and talk about the events leading up to the epic tongue-lashing, my student had a lightbulb moment.  “My brain just took over my mouth for a few minutes!” she said.

I nodded.

“You probably think I’m just making excuses,” she insisted, “but it’s true!”

I nodded again and affirmed for her, “I understand.”

“You do?” she asked, surprised.

“I do,” I confirmed.  “I can help you understand what is happening in your brain, too, during these times when you get very upset.  I think this is a very important conversation for us to have because learning about how your brain works when you’re stressed out can help you know how to prevent problems like the one that happened outside today.”

“Am I in trouble?” she asked.

First things are first with kids, right?  They need to know that they are safe before they can truly focus on anything else.  I assured her that I would help her work through the problem.  She nodded and I knew she was ready to move forward.

First, I asked her to raise her make a fist* with either hand.  Then, I challenged her to fold her thumb into the palm of her hand and bend her fingers over it.  “Believe it or not,” I told her, “this is actually a pretty close model of your brain!  Your brain is amazing and has a whole lot of specialized parts, but to help you learn about what happened at recess, we are going to focus on three powerful jobs of your brain for now.

Here’s how I broke it down, as my student and I sat in the hallway that afternoon:

Brain Stem

Your wrist represents the brain stem—the part of your brain that connects to your spinal cord (represented by your forearm).  This part of your brain controls your heart rate, your breathing, and basically all of the things that your body needs to live, but that you don’t really have to think much about on a daily basis.

Limbic system

Your thumb represents your limbic system.  This is the part of your brain that helps you feel your feelings.  Lots of times, people call this the “emotional brain.”  That sudden and strong rush of anger you said you felt after the girls told you that you couldn’t play soccer with them at recess—that was your limbic system being activated!

Fight, Flight or Freeze Response

Together, your brain stem and limbic system control something called your body’s fight, flight, or freeze response.  In any stressful situation—whether it is a charging animal that is about to bite you or a classmate who is telling you that you’re the worst soccer player in the whole third grade—this part of your brain can direct how you respond.  For example, when classmates say cruel words and leave you out, you might:

Freeze up and not know what to do or say.
Immediately fight back with your fists or your words (or both!)
Run away or take flight from the soccer field as quickly as possible.

These near-instant responses are all times that your brain stem and limbic system have taken charge of your body!

“Which way do you suppose your limbic system was responding today at recess?”  I asked.

“Fight!”  she declared.

“Right,” I said.  “The good news is, there’s still one more part of your brain that we are going to talk about and it’s the part that can help you make good choices, even when your first thought is to ‘fight.”

Pre-frontal cortex

The front part of your fingers, when wrapped over your thumb, represent the pre-frontal cortex—the part of your brain that controls good decision-making.  The pre-frontal cortex is also known as your “logical brain” because it gives you the ability to stop and think before acting on the impulses of your emotional brain.

This is very important because during a conflict with friends—or in any stressful situation—you have the ability to think through your choices and make the best decision for how to respond.

My student looked at me, seeming confused.

What I’m telling you is that even though you were right when you said that your brain took over your mouth for a few minutes, this is not how things have to be!  Your amazing brain gives you the power to make good choices, even in bad situations!  How cool is that?

My student agreed with me that her brain was pretty cool!  She had lots more questions after that—like why it was that her heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest when she got really angry, and why yelling at kids feels so good in the moment even when it just brought her more problems later on.  We sat for a while longer and talked about it all—how the activity in her brain stem accounted for her rapid heart rate (and her hot face), how her limbic system directed her fighting words, and how her pre-frontal cortex allowed her to engage in a thoughtful conversation with me once she was calm.

We went on to talk about specific strategies for getting and staying calm during stressful situations, so that she could always let her logical brain be in charge, instead of having her emotional brain take over.  To be honest, this student and I had had many previous talks about strategies for calming down, but this time, the conversation was different.  Something clicked.  Connecting stress management and relaxation strategies with age-appropriate brain science has proven to be a pathway of insight and self-regulation for this child that no previous amount of talking, skill-practicing, role-play, or therapeutic games ever achieved.

Did a chance lesson on neuroscience eliminate all of my student’s troublesome behaviors from that day forward?  Of course not.  Anyone who knows anything about the human brain knows that behaviors are patterned and that change takes time.  Can I honestly tell you, however, that this third-grade student has been able to stop herself from lashing out at peers on a far more frequent basis since our hallway science chat?  Absolutely.  Does she make use of more of the relaxation strategies I had been trying to teach her all year, now that she knows how calming her limbic system can help her access the logical decision making abilities of her pre-frontal cortex?  You bet!  She gets it, she is proud of herself, and she is the first to notice that her classmates no longer walk on eggshells around her.  Knowledge is, indeed, power.

*The hand model of the brain, referenced above, is adapted from Daniel Siegel’s Brain Hand Model.  For more information and to enhance your understanding of how the human brain responds to stressful incidents, check out Siegel’s brief YouTube video, “Dr. Daniel Siegel Presenting a Hand Model of the Brain.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm9CIJ74Oxw

-Signe Whitson, LSW

The Conveyor Belt

This is one of my favorite exercises to ease anxiety and start gaining control over emotions. Imagine a conveyor belt, and that your thoughts are coming down the belt. Name the thoughts and feelings to yourself as they come down the belt — “I am having a feeling of sadness. I am now having a feeling of fear that I will be alone. It’s a very intense feeling. Now I’m having a feeling of curiosity about what my brother said last night.” Recognize each thought as it comes down the belt, and then let it pass by and go on the next thought. Allow the thoughts and feelings to flow through you as you observe them.

You’ll do this for a few minutes at a time a couple of times a day to start with. Every day you’ll increase the amount of time you spend. For example, the first day try 3 minutes, the next day 5. I know this may sound strange, but it’s actually a lot more difficult than people realize. What will probably happen is as you’re trying to do the exercise, you will get distracted from it several times. When this happens, just gently turn your mind back to the exercise. It’s important to note that one of the things you’re trying to master here is being separate from your thoughts. You are observing your thoughts as they happen without judging them. So if the the thought “Why did he treat me that way?” comes into your mind, you observe it, make a note that it is painful and then go on to the next thought. This exercise is a powerful tool to start learning to control your attention rather than your attention controlling you.

-Alexa Thompson, LPC

Can You “Grow Out Of” ADHD?

Research shows ADHD can causes lasting changes.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is typically thought of as a childhood illness. When you use a search engine to look up signs and symptoms of the disorder (for instance, shortened attention span, impulsivity, excessive speech and restlessness) or treatments (such as behavioral therapy and medications), many of the websites focus exclusively on children. ADHD in adults is often ignored entirely or left as a mere footnote.

It’s not surprising that the literature is so sparse—for whatever reason, ADHD seems to be more common in children than adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 10.2 percent of children are diagnosed with ADHD. Meanwhile, a study conducted in 2009 estimated that only 2.5 percent of adults met the diagnostic criteria for the disorder.

Still, the number of adults living with ADHD is greater than the number of adults who live with obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. In fact, recent research shows that some adults with ADHD did not even have symptoms in childhood.

These days, more and more researchers recognize the necessity of studying ADHD beyond childhood and adolescence. If so many children live with ADHD, why do so few adults have the diagnosis? Can ADHD, much like certain forms of epilepsy, be outgrown? Or does the damage associated with ADHD stick around for the long term despite what clinicians once believed?

Unfortunately, research published last August in the scientific journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry points toward the latter.

Young adults diagnosed with ADHD as teenagers have a smaller caudate nucleus

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge, U.K., and the University of Oulu, Finland, aimed to determine whether or not young adults who had been diagnosed with ADHD as teenagers had significantly different brain structures than their neurologically healthy peers.

The data was based within the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort, a research project that has followed thousands of children born in 1986 from birth to adulthood. The researchers focused on 49 young adults within this cohort who were diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 16 and were now aged from 20 to 24 years. Only one participant had been prescribed medication. These participants were compared to 34 young adults who hadn’t been diagnosed with ADHD or any other developmental disability.

The researchers compared brain scans between the two groups and found that, compared to the group of healthy controls, individuals who had been diagnosed with ADHD had reduced gray matter in the caudate nucleus, a brain region that contributes to a wide variety of cognitive functions including memory.

The surprising thing, however, was that this brain difference was present regardless of whether or not the participant still met the diagnostic criteria of ADHD. In other words, young adults who had been previously diagnosed with ADHD in adolescence but no longer demonstrated clinically significant symptoms still had smaller-than-average caudate nuclei than people without a history of ADHD.

Young adults with a history of ADHD have disrupted memory, brain activity

To determine whether or not these structural differences resulted in cognitive impairment, the researchers took a subset of the participants (21 with a history of ADHD and 23 controls) and had them perform a memory task while in an fMRI scanner. FMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging, is a neuroimaging technique that allows researchers to evaluate neural activity in various brain regions by measuring deoxygenated blood.

The results? One-third of the young adults who had been diagnosed with ADHD in the past failed the memory test compared with only one participant in the control group. Even the participants in the ADHD group who managed to pass still performed worse than the controls by an average of 6 percentage points.

Not only did people who had a history of ADHD perform worse on the memory task than controls, but their caudate nucleus was significantly less sensitive. Specifically, when controls were faced with a difficult memory question, their caudate nucleus demonstrated increased activity. When the participants who had been diagnosed with ADHD received more difficult problems, their caudate nucleus maintained the same level of activity as before, seemingly unable to adapt to the more challenging circumstances.

Graham K. Murray, Ph.D., the lead researcher with the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, explained:

“In the controls, when the test got harder, the caudate nucleus went up a gear in its activity, and this is likely to have helped solve the memory problems. But in the group with adolescent ADHD, this region of the brain is smaller and doesn’t seem to be able to respond to increasing memory demands, with the result that memory performance suffers.”

Once again, participants who had “recovered” from ADHD and participants who were still diagnosed with ADHD were no different. Both groups had altered activity in the caudate nucleus, and both groups performed poorly on the memory task.

What does this mean?

Even though it is less common in adults than children, ADHD can still affect adults. Not only can adults still meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, but adults who are technically “recovered” from ADHD may struggle with certain cognitive tasks, experience less-than-healthy neural activity and have irregular levels of gray matter in certain brain regions. ADHD doesn’t disappear just because symptoms become less obvious—its effect on the brain lingers.

Of course, this study is only one example of the research that is currently revolutionizing how we view ADHD. Two very recent studies—one led by Jessica Agnew-Blais, Sc.D., at King’s College London and the other led by Arthur Caye at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil—found evidence that some adults with ADHD never even experienced symptoms as children. In other words, it’s possible that there is such a thing as adult-onset ADHD. Researchers have yet to determine whether or not this form of ADHD is biologically distinct from the childhood form—after all, there are countless ways in which the brain can malfunction and interrupt a person’s ability to pay attention or retain memories.

The results of this study—and studies like it—stress the importance of treating developmental disabilities and mental illnesses not as a series of symptoms, but as physical illnesses with objective markers. We must understand how various illnesses and disorders impact the brain. With this knowledge, our ability to diagnose—and treat—these illnesses will increase tenfold.

-Courtney Lopresti, M.S.

When Grief Bleeds

Don’t rush.

Don’t be startled.

Don’t try to trick yourself into feeling happy and well again.

In fact, the best thing to do is nothing at all.

Breathe into it.

Exhale, out loud, if you are up for it.

Breathe in freedom.

Exhale the captivity grief seems to put your heart into.

Accept grief as a tool to make you a deeper soul, a more compassionate being, a wanderer and seeker of truths.

If you are in the thick of new grief, accepting feels like a violation to your right as a human being capable of love. Don’t go there. Be gentle on yourself, and breathe. One day at a time.

But if you are a little further out from your loss, these moments of grief “bleeding” out into your everyday life, that at one time seemed so impossible, still – remember to breathe. These moments make you human.

They make you real.

They make you vulnerable.

They also make you capable of anything.

They remind you how intimately you brushed shoulders with death.

They remind you how you have survived, and not only that but you have thrived.

Give your soul these moments to bleed out.

The vortex of grief demands your heart and soul from time to time. Grief is the cost of love, and one we pay so willingly.

Be okay with wherever these moments take you.

You will resurface again.

Stronger, better, braver.

-Franchesca Cox

The 7 Rules for Texting in Relationships

6. Don’t let a committee interpret your partner’s text.

Syda Productions/Shutterstock
Source: Syda Productions/Shutterstock

While waiting for a table at a busy restaurant the other day, I witnessed a man angrily banging away on his phone. This well-dressed man in a charming suit had a grimace on his face and would pause to look at his phone and then proceed to angrily type, pausing again to look at his phone and then bitterly typing again—with each interval increasing in visual upset. It appeared that he was involved in a text war.

The bigger question behind text wars is the question of whether such arguments would occur if the people were face-to-face. A repeated citation is that 85% of communication is nonverbal. Additional citations have increased that percentage to 90%, with 60% of nonverbal communication coming from facial cues and 40% from tone of voice. Albert Mehrabian increased the percentage to 93% of communication as nonverbal—with 55% coming from body language, 38% from tone of voice, and only 7% of communication relying on the actual words used.

7%?

That means that when these texts start escalating our frustration, we are basing our reaction on limited—very limited—information. Worse, people tend to dig their heels about what they’ve interpreted because they read the actual words written. This tendency makes repairing a misunderstanding next to impossible if the person isn’t open to realizing that misunderstandings occur.

So, this is first thing that anyone who texts needs to understand—misunderstandings occur in text. In fact, text is probably the worst form of communication to rely on when building a relationship.

Which brings me to Rule #1 for texting—Don’t rely on texting as your main communication vehicle in your relationship. Let it augment and support your relationship, but don’t let it be the main form.

If your relationship begins to get out of balance because you’ve only been texting, then immediately plan some face time. This is true for professional as well as intimate relationships. (Note: If you are dating and begin a relationship with text, getting very deep before recognizing that a relationship in person may need to develop as well, don’t be surprised if you could be close when texting but feel awkward in person.)

2. The moment a clash becomes evident in texting, try to stop and ask if both of you can talk in person (or on phone if that’s the only option).

Share that you’re concerned a misunderstanding is occurring. Of course, sometimes people don’t want to talk. They’re too upset or embroiled in the heat of the moment. Their defensiveness is on high alert, so a text war ensues. Hopefully the relationship is strong enough that it can stand up to a few hiccups from inevitable text disputes.

Hopefully.

It’s not a good way to test your relationship’s resilience, though—because the small crack of mistrust that breeds in such heated exchanges can eventually grow and sink the whole relationship.

3. Avoid defensiveness.

When you start defending yourself and/or your actions, the relationship is in danger. Seek understanding and attempt to have a conversation that allows for mutual understanding. Defensiveness usually indicates that we feel threatened and have a level of mistrust; the words that leave us in defensive moments generally tend to put up such a wall that the other person becomes just as defensive. I compare it to pulling out the ego defense guns. Once we pull ours out, the other person tends to do the same. In such a stand-off, someone must stop the escalation and put up the white flag to enable repair. (Putting up the peaceful surrender flag in this situation is actually a sign of maturity, not losing.)

4. Avoid blaming and criticism.

John Gottman refers to the four horseman of the apocalypse for relationships—criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. This holds true even more so when texting. Ego defense guns are firing the minute blaming and criticizing begin. Most likely, the other person will shoot back when shot at—which escalates the exchange into the worst of the defensive maneuvers—silent treatment, or the end of the relationship.

5. Don’t let too much time pass before repairing a disruption.

Misunderstandings aren’t necessarily bad on their own; it’s all about how people repair them. A relationship is in danger when the silent treatment follows a text war. Sometimes a healthy and strong relationship can handle a time-out, but ignoring someone altogether turns a crack into an irreparable hole.

6. Avoid committee interpretation of texts.

As stated above, most communication relies on nonverbal cues—facial expressions, tone of voice, etc. Context is crucial and most people outside of a relationship do not have intimate knowledge of the other person and your personal relationship. They also can’t see the person or understand their personal context, so they are liable to misinterpret their message as well—leading to multiple people infiltrating the relationship with biased points of view and potentially leading the person farther from critical relationship repair.

7. When all else fails, try to find humor and light in all exchanges.

Don’t over-focus on meaning and intent. Instead, err on the side of humor and give the benefit of the doubt.

In the words of the Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer, “Sometimes love is stronger than a man’s convictions…(and)…[t]he waste basket is a writer’s best friend.”

-Kimberly Kay

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation starts with finding a comfortable position – in a chair, laying down, or even standing if you like. Begin by focusing on your breathing for a few breaths – listen and feel your breaths go in and out, and try to extend your breaths so that they take about 4 seconds in, and 4 seconds out. You can count while you do this to help you. Then either start at your feet or your head by tightening a muscle group and hold it while you breathe in 4 seconds, then release that muscle group on the breath out for 4 seconds. For example, tighten your forehead for 4 seconds, then release for 4, then tighten your neck muscles and release for 4 seconds, moving down your body progressively until you get to your feet. Then you can come back up through the muscle groups and end with your head. If you find that 4 second cycles don’t work, feel free to move faster or slower, whatever pace gives you the best relaxation response.

-Submitted by Alexa Thompson, LPC

Bipolar/Mood Disorders – What can I do to help me feel better?

  • Know the difference between your symptoms and your true self. Your health care providers can help you separate your true identity from your symptoms by helping you see how your illness affects your behavior. Be open about behaviors you want to change and set goals for making those changes.
  • Educate your family and involve them in treatment when possible. They can help you spot symptoms, track behaviors, and gain perspective. They can also give encouraging feedback and help you make a plan to cope with any future crises.
  • Work on healthy lifestyle choices. Recovery is also about a healthy lifestyle, which includes regular sleep, healthy eating, and the avoidance of alcohol, drugs, and risky behavior.
  • Find the treatment that works for you. Talk to your health care provider about your medications’ effects on you, especially the side effects that bother you. There are many options for you to try. It is very important to talk to your health care provider first before you make any changes to your medication or schedule.

-Talkspace