Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month serves as an important reminder that strength and struggle can coexist. Many men are taught from an early age to push through pain, handle problems on their own, and avoid showing vulnerability. While resilience is valuable,...
There is an increasing shift toward outsourcing veteran care that is largely being driven by staffing shortages and growing demand within the VA system. As vacancies remain unfilled and access to care becomes more challenging, more veterans are being referred to...
We often hear about trauma in terms of fear, danger, and survival, but not all wounds come from being afraid for your life. Sometimes the deepest injuries come from experiences that challenge your values, beliefs, or sense of who you are. Moral injury can happen when...
Sleep is one of the first things to go when stress is high. Whether it’s difficulty falling asleep, waking up throughout the night, waking up too early, or feeling exhausted despite hours in bed, insomnia can take a real toll over time. For individuals in high-demand...
For active-duty military and first responders, situational awareness is critical for performance, but also for safety. Hypervigilance, however, is a common response to chronic stress and repeated trauma. While they can feel similar, they are fundamentally different....
After long shifts, active duty military, first responders, and veterans often come home feeling irritable, unable to sleep, or unable to “shut off” their minds. It’s common to think, “I’m just burned out.” While burnout may be part of it, the nature of this work can...
When many people think of therapy, they picture someone lying on a couch while a therapist quietly takes notes and carefully analyzes what’s beneath the surface. For some, that style of therapy is meaningful and effective. For others, it may not feel like the right...
Common eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorder involve an unhealthy focus on weight, body shape, and food and can result in physical harm to the heart, digestive system, bones, teeth, and mouth and psychological harm, including depression,...
Research shows that frequent exposure to stress can have a powerful effect on the nervous system. One helpful way to understand this is through Dr. Dan Siegel’s Window of Tolerance model. The window of tolerance describes the range in which a person can handle stress...
Are you or one of your family members a police officer, firefighter, emergency medical services provider, nurse, doctor, corrections officer or other first responder? We know that first responders are well-trained, resilient, and selfless in their commitment to serve...
Those with chronic illness and pain often report higher rates of stress, frustration, anger, and hopelessness that can lead to higher rates of depression, anxiety, other mood disorders, and substance use compared to the general population. The ongoing physical...
Childhood trauma can lower our self-esteem by repeating a negative internal narrative of unworthiness, self-blame, and powerlessness. Trauma can lead to mistrusting ourselves with navigating situations well and mistrusting others, which can make it difficult to have...
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is an emotional regulation disorder marked by intense emotions, mood instability, and impulsivity that can include harmful behaviors. BPD can result in challenges with self-image, confidence, fear of abandonment, and...
Bipolar disorder is marked by extreme mood swings that range from mania to depression. Manic episodes can include happiness and excitement, an inflated sense of self-worth, rapid thoughts, difficulty focusing, less need for sleep, and increased risk-taking. Depressive...
Domestic abuse can often come with chronic stress, anxiety, depression, fear, shame, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Once a survivor suffers from these harms, an abuser might use them to question a survivor’s sanity and further control their access to mental...
After not feeling well rested after sleepless nights, we may be at risk for developing anxiety and depression. Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can also lead to insomnia by causing racing thoughts, nightmares, or nervous feelings about...
When we want to stop a negative behavior, such as reducing use of alcohol or tobacco, increasing exercise, or eating healthily, our motivation to change plays a key role in our success. Motivational interviewing is one technique therapists use to help clients...
Though narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is likely underdiagnosed due to those with symptoms not seeking professional help, narcissism has become a widely used term used to describe an excessive focus on oneself and one's own needs at others’ expenses. It is the...
Depression and anxiety can lead to emotional eating (using food for comfort with stress), low energy levels and reduced physical activity, disrupted sleep that can lead to overeating, and weight gain from medication use. Obesity can also exacerbate mental heath issues...
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a mood disorder during or after pregnancy triggered by hormone changes that can interfere with your ability to care for yourself and your baby. It typically starts in the first few weeks of the baby’s life and can last for a year. PPD...
Trauma repression is the brain’s way of unconsciously push away painful, overwhelming memories as protection from the emotional distress — pain, fear, anxiety, or guilt — of revisiting those memories. By repressing trauma, the brain gives one the ability to live their...
When we experience trauma or stress, we might feel numb. Numbness and disconnection are ways to emotionally detach from overwhelming emotions we might experience with unprocessed trauma, death, significant life change, relationship struggles, work challenges, and...
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and, in response to these obsessions, repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) that individuals feel compelled to perform to alleviate anxiety. Obsessions can include fears...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health diagnosis that can arise after experiencing or seeing a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, war, accident, sexual assault, or physical abuse. It’s marked by flashbacks or nightmares; avoidance of what...
In healthy relationships of any kind, both people give and receive relatively equally and retain their own identities. But in codependent relationships, there is an unhealthy relationship with a giver and taker in which the giver relies on their taker to excessively...
Radical acceptance allows us to tolerate distress so it doesn’t cause suffering. Denial of distress can keep us focused on what we can’t change — unfairness — while “it is what it is” can prevent us from denying our situation. Staying focused on unfairness can leave...
Parenting styles can affect kids’ self-esteem, social skills, performance in school, and overall well-being. Researchers divide parenting styles into four categories: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved. The best approach may depend on the child’s...
In mental health, trauma is an emotional response to a distressing event with the potential for long-term mental and/or physical harm. Trauma impacts our sense of safety and self through such events as accidents, natural disasters, war, or the death of a loved one or...
A psychologist or psychiatrist can give a formal diagnosis of autism based on signs including difficulty understanding social cues and humor; taking comments literally; challenges in communicating, developing relationships, maintaining eye contact, and starting and...
A panic attack is an intense episode of fear and distress that can last up to 30 minutes and can include a racing heartbeat, rapid breathing, sweating, trembling, dizziness, chest pain, nausea, chills, hand tingling, and a feeling of dread. It can be caused by a...
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