As a mental health counselor and someone who has battled depression for most of her life, I’m no stranger to the toll it can take on relationships. While it differs from person to person, at its core, the illness causes people to feel lonely, inadequate, and misunderstood—even isolated. Sometimes it’s because we don’t want toContinue reading “How to Support a Partner Dealing With Depression”
Tag Archives: therapy
Myths and Facts about Grief
MYTH: The pain will go away faster if you ignore it. Fact: Trying to ignore your pain or keep it from surfacing will only make it worse in the long run. For real healing it is necessary to face your grief and actively deal with it. MYTH: It’s important to be “be strong” in theContinue reading “Myths and Facts about Grief”
A Sure-Fire Way to Silence Your Inner Critic
You can learn to dis-identify from the inner critic voice in your head. Most of us have been conditioned from childhood to be our own harshest critics. That inner judge can shadow us, scrutinizing our every move and making us quite miserable. For years, I’ve been working on turning the inner critic into an innerContinue reading “A Sure-Fire Way to Silence Your Inner Critic”
Never Good Enough
If you’re so displeased with yourself, both mentally and physically, it’s not so mysterious that you’re falling into two common cognitive traps: perfectionism and self-downing. Feeling better about who you are as a person means talking to yourself respectfully and rationally. You wouldn’t speak so harshly to your worst enemy. Calling yourself names doesn’t help,Continue reading “Never Good Enough”
3 Foolproof Ways to Prevent Work Burnout, Backed by Science
Over-working leads to burnout, here’s a better way to get things done. Our culture is obsessed with productivity. But research shows that stressing ourselves out over an ever-expanding to-do list actually works against us—no matter how “productive” we may feel. After all, we’re seeing 50% burnout rates across industries. Not only does workaholism double theContinue reading “3 Foolproof Ways to Prevent Work Burnout, Backed by Science”
Fear v. Anxiety
Most of us make some distinction between fear and anxiety. Sometimes it’s merely a matter of linguistics. We say we have a fear of something (flying, aging) and anxiety about something (flying, aging). Sometimes we distinguish the two by our bodily experience. I’m sure you’re aware that the neurobiology of fear is different than theContinue reading “Fear v. Anxiety”
Margaret Cho Wants You to Embrace Your Darkness
Using creativity to cope and connect Margaret Cho has been finding ways to entertain us for decades. From her stand-up routines, such as The Notorious C.H.O.; to her books, such as I’m The One That I Want; to her roles in films such as Face/Off, Cho continues to come up with new ways to exploreContinue reading “Margaret Cho Wants You to Embrace Your Darkness”
Challenging Irrational Thoughts
Sometimes we tend to believe our own automatic negative thoughts instead of challenging them and paying attention to the evidence. For example, I am always checking my partner’s phone because I am suspicious that he is cheating on me. I can’t sleep at night because I’m worrying about him being with someone else. My thoughtsContinue reading “Challenging Irrational Thoughts”
20 Rules to Live By
14. Be kind, not nice. 1. Bring your sense of humor with you at all times. Bring your friends with a sense of humor. If their friends have a sense of humor, invite them, too. Remember this when going to hospitals, weight-loss centers, and funerals, as well as when going to work, coming home, wakingContinue reading “20 Rules to Live By”
What Is Therapy? — The Complete Definition of Psychotherapy
Therapy [psychotherapy] is the process of working with a licensed therapist to develop positive thinking and coping skills and treat mental health issues such as mental illness and trauma. Answering the question of “What Is Therapy?,” however, goes far beyond this basic definition. The definition of psychotherapy depends on the therapist, type of therapy andContinue reading “What Is Therapy? — The Complete Definition of Psychotherapy”
