Those who have experienced a panic attack would undeniably agree that it is not something that one would ever like to re-experience. Panic is very real, and when the whole experience is new and strange, it can be terrifying. When it’s one's first panic attack, that appears to have ‘come out of nowhere’, it is [...]
Self-care is not selfish. Being a good person does not mean that you have to say "Yes" to everyone and everything in your life. Being a healthy person means that you put your health and overall wellbeing first. The best gift you can give to your loved ones in making your wellbeing a top priority. [...]
Emotions are often felt physiologically. Whenever someone is feeling stress or anxiety, body changes take place such as elevated temperature, increased respiration and, in some cases, nausea. Furthermore, people usually adopt body language that is congruent with their feelings: someone who is anxious is usually taking up little space and displays closed body language. Recent [...]
Sometimes when people try to change the attitude or behaviors of others, they often find themselves in a power struggle. When a loved one is struggling with overwhelming emotions, this can lead to dangerous situations. While acceptance of the limitations of your control over others may be helpful to your emotional state, it can also [...]
"Befriend Not Obliterate Emotions" Trauma reorganizes our minds, brains, bodies, and perceptions. It alters not just how we think or the content of our thoughts, but also our capacity to think at all. After trauma, the world is experienced through a different lens. A person who carries trauma can become focused on suppressing what they [...]
Clients sometimes make comments like, “How do I empower myself? I don’t even know how to go about healing. How do I start?” Self-empowerment is a path towards setting goals and strengthening and developing oneself. It requires taking personal responsibility and having a belief in an internal locus of control where one has the power [...]
The book Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, The Process and Practice of Mindful Change, Second Edition, by Stephen Hayes, Kirk Strosahl and Kelly Wilson, is a good introduction to a type of therapy developed in the 1980s, which while the authors identified it as a form of behavior therapy, is different from other types of behavior [...]
Throughout our lives, we naturally develop defenses to protect ourselves from thoughts, feelings, or experiences that seem uncomfortable. For example, we might deny that an uncomfortable situation is happening because we don't want to face that discomfort. You might think of defenses as rose-colored glasses that we put on so we can try to change [...]
The world we live in is obsessed with success and what it means to be successful and the stigma of medication. It is easy to see why some people view a setback or a mistake as a failure. It can be a blow to an individual's ego and self-esteem if they think this way and [...]
"What's the big deal? It was just emotional abuse." I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard this sentiment being expressed whether it is directly from a client, a perpetrator, or commentaries made by media forums, the general public, or other social networks that reflect a lack of awareness about the ramifications of emotional abuse. [...]
