Mental Health Challenges of Dating for Young Adults
In today’s society, those who are roughly in the 18-24-year-old category have grown up with a tremendous amount of technology and also likely had social media in middle school and/or high school. Both of these things, which can be used for the good, often do contribute to mental health challenges with the dating game of…
Communication Styles that May Kill a Relationship – Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness and Stonewalling
Dr. John Gottman has done tremendous research on couples and has found four patterns of communication that are particularly damaging. He calls them the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and they are criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling. The good news is that we can all work on these ways of communicating and do better! …
Depression or Emotional Slump?
Depression We all have our days. Or weeks. That’s for sure. But clinical depression is usually something characterized more by time and symptoms. Symptoms ranging from sadness, hopelessness, despair, and isolation most of the time for at least 2-3 weeks would be things to consider in terms of leaning toward clinical depression. Emotional Slump…
Learning the Skill of Emotional Validation as Parents
It makes sense that parents want to raise their children to be healthy, happy and successful in life in whatever way is meaningful to that family. However, we all know that the best of intentions do not necessarily translate into meaningful action 100% of the time. Emotional validation is a parenting skill that comes…
Social Comparison, Envy and Anxiety
Have you ever noticed how simple acts can quickly invoke feelings of envy, failure, anxiety, or insecurity? Things like going to a particular website, reading a social media post or even noting what clothes or cars people have may be examples. Social comparison is common and one of the reasons we have these emotions…
New Mom, New Struggle: Part II
Good news, you’re not alone. This is the second installment of our “New Mom” series: New Mom, New Struggle.” If you haven’t read the first part of the series, you can access that by clicking here. In the first part of our series, we opened the floodgates on this whole new world called “motherhood.” We…
New Mom, New Struggle: Part I
So, you’re a mom now Becoming a new mom is a courageous and vulnerable act. Whether you’re a new mom for the first time, or you’re adding to your family, you have some unique and often unacknowledged challenges and successes ahead of you. If you didn’t grow up with supportive parents or maybe you don’t…
Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO DBT) Why so many acronyms in mental health? I ask myself this almost daily. At any rate, RO DBT is a newish type of therapy I think will be life changing for many clients. Never heard of it What do I mean by newish? It’s been researched for over…
Dealing with the difficult emotions
Dealing with the difficult emotions can often be the core of some mental health issues. We’re often taught strategies of avoidance or defensiveness, though with perfectly good intentions. Types of Difficult Emotions Sometimes difficult emotions such as anxiety, sadness or anger are met with assumptions of weakness, moodiness or being “too sensitive.” In reality, these…