So you’re depressed. You know this because a health professional has told you so, or you’ve been depressed before and there is no mistaking the symptoms.
- By Jim Dryden
An interactive therapy involving parents and their depressed children can reduce rates of depression and lower the severity of children’s symptoms, research finds.
There are certain critical turning points when grief and despair begin to transform into acceptance, contentment, and Love. I have seen three common ingredients that seem to signal the moment when the weight of depression and disappointment starts to lift...
- By Ira Israel
I believe that the primary goals of consciousness are to keep us alive and to stave off trauma or potential future trauma. Now if I am correct (and I may not be), then self-harm or the extreme of self-harm — self-annihilation — would be extremely difficult. Consider the statistics...
The structured nature of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and its clearly defined principles (based on the links between thoughts, feelings and behaviours) make it relatively easy to train practitioners, ensure standardised delivery and measure outcomes.
Writing about positive emotions may help to reduce stress and anxiety, according to our new study, published in the British Journal of Health Psychology.
I interviewed numerous people who have regrettable ink and most admit their decision to get a tattoo was impulsive and not really contemplated. Their experiences with having a bad tattoo included suffering from severe depression and panic attacks. Some people even resort to therapy and antidepressants over a bad tattoo.
- By Ric Giardina
Some of the first things that often need to be overcome when seeking to engage a higher degree of balance in one's life are the all-too commonly-held myths and misconceptions about Life Balance and how to achieve it. Here are four of the most prevalent ones in our society...
As human beings, we seem to have developed a tendency to look outside of ourselves for the solutions to our problems. When we encounter a challenge or difficulty in our life, we run to someone else for the solution... While it may not be good to develop a dependency on others, these people can help...
As a psychiatrist, I find that one of the hardest parts of my job is telling parents and their children that they are not to blame for their illness. Children with emotional and behavioral problems continue to suffer considerable stigma.
The term demoralization was originally coined in the 1970s by a psychiatrist who was seeing patients that didn’t quite meet full criteria for major depression. Nonetheless, they were suffering – in a shared state of emotional distress and sense of incompetence.
In ayahuasca ceremonies, people sometimes view visionary home movies of their childhood while maintaining an outside observer’s perspective. At other times, they relive a childhood event as if it were happening in the ceremonial moment; they regress in age to the time of the scene. Either way, ceremonies often open up deep feelings of wanting to be accepted and loved.
“I wanted to talk with you because I wanted others to know that when you are out there, writing can help. I still struggle with PTSD...with all of it. But I can tell you, when I was out there — in the middle of a war — the writing helped take the unseen monkey off my back.”
Mental disorders are currently defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which includes hundreds of distinct diagnostic categories, but a new study we worked on suggests we could do better.
Problematic ways of seeking support -- acting like a victim, rejecting help, getting angry at people “for not understanding,” pouting, and escalating your complaints so that they sound like reports of catastrophes -- are likely to backfire and drive people away. However, you can learn to ask for help in a reasonable way.
A startling number of sex therapists recommend commercial pornography to patients. While it might sound surprising that trained psychologists, counselors and sexologists prescribe...
Minding other people’s business is a surefire way to make yourself unhappy. That’s why if you want to enjoy the coming holiday season and live a happy life, I highly recommend you take a close look at this mechanism and ask yourself whose business you are in?
- By Shavasti
The burdens and pain we overcome grow into our greatest storehouse of wisdom and compassion. They literally become the power that enables us to assist others in their healing. Our suffering has been our initiation of the heart...
Many people today believe they possess a soul. While conceptions of the soul differ, many would describe it as an “invisible force that appears to animate us”.
We have come to believe more in our morals than we believe in ourselves. Because we trust in morals, we don’t trust in our inner and divine essence to lead and guide us. We don’t even trust love to guide us, because, you know, love can be tainted with all kinds of loyalties that may or may not be right...
For most people, emotional healing is an on-going process and occurs gradually over time. We go through a process of recognising and removing layers of programming and false beliefs that have built up over the years. Over the years I have observed two main types of healing that takes place: specific healing and deeper healing.
Suicide can be a plea for help, a response to mental illness, or the last gasp of despair. Suicide can also be an impulsive mistake, a planned ending of life, or the ultimate act of rage. Whatever the cause, suicide turns worlds upside-down. This seven-step method can assist you in finding your way out of the rabbit hole of devastation...
Befriending your feelings can help you to enjoy greater physical health and life success. Emotions are simply ‘energy in motion' and rather than trying to get rid of your emotions, it can be very productive to harness their innate power.