The days are getting shorter. The weather is getting colder. Furnaces are coming out of their summer stupor and sweaters are reemerging from the closet. Winter is coming, the season of SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. The DSM-V specifies that it is a disorder marked by symptoms of major depressive disorder occurring during the winter […]
The brain needs to be treated like any other muscle. You hear that all the time growing up when your parents are trying to get you to do your homework. At least, I heard it all the time growing up, but maybe that is just me. And biologically I don’t know if there is truth […]
Today, I want to focus on a specific type of therapeutic technique, which is emotionally focused therapy, or EFT. While all therapies need to address an individual’s emotions, EFT focuses on how those emotions impact an individual’s relationships and bonding issues. It is something I first heard about from my therapist. Because […]
Travel can be a challenge for those struggling with mental illness. It takes you out of the familiar and forces you out into the world. But it can also be helpful because it forces you to challenge your beliefs. This weekend I am traveling, but fortunately for me it is just traveling back to my […]
There are many tools one can use to fight back against their mental illness. One such tool, a tool I have not used, is gratitude journaling. The idea is simple. Mental illness creates negative, intrusive thoughts, and gratitude journaling creates positive thoughts. But like I said, I haven’t used it. I haven’t used it because […]
Mental illness lies. Even worse, it is a very good liar. The value of therapy is that someone objective can challenge those lies. Even better, they can teach you how to challenge those lies for yourself. Here is an example from my therapy session yesterday: Me: I just want it to be easy. Therapist: What […]
I have both anxiety and depression. That isn’t particularly rare. I’ve heard from many people who struggle with both disorders. However, I wanted to take a minute to describe how this terrible tag team torments my life. Anxiety for me is a constant worry, a constant fear, even though it is difficult to identify exactly […]
