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Find your best therapist: Make sure the therapist is the best fit
From the Expert Roundup - How to Find the Best Psychotherapist? Secret Unlocked Nancy Ryan, LMFT and Certified Gottman Therapist, was one of the...
How Childhood Trauma Affects Adults
Kids don’t have a choice. They can’t simply pack up their belongings and leave a horrible situation. And rather than see the trauma or abuse for what it is, many adjust their inner world to try and explain it away, dismiss it, or make it “ok.”
Studies show that if left unchecked, the effects of a turbulent or trauma riddled upbringing have the capacity to haunt people for the rest of their life.
In addition, kids raised in unhappy homes are 40% more likely to have some type of cognitive impairment.
There are other less visible yet equally challenging wounds from childhood trauma such as self-esteem issues, relationship issues, and problems with self-regulation and self-soothing.
Let’s take a look at how the different types of childhood trauma—from mild to severe—has the capacity to hold us back… if we let it.
What is Attachment and How Does it Influence My Relationship?
You’ve just had another bad fight. Maybe, you spent the whole weekend fixated on your phone, and they never called or responded to your texts.
“It’s rude, disrespectful! You told me we should do something Saturday, and then…nothing!”
You were literally a bundle of nerves, hovering over your phone. You needed them to call—text—something with such intensity, you described it to your friend as though it were a drug and you needed a fix. When your friend called, you’d reached for your phone in relief, only to feel your stomach sink upon realizing it wasn’t who you were desperate to hear from…. Of course, you don’t tell your friend that part.
Have you ever experienced something like this? Something that you know is dysfunctional and toxic, yet you feel powerless against it? Where the intensity and desire for the person is so strong and all-consuming that it feels as though you must be soul mates?
If so, you’re likely caught up in a powerful force known as Attachment Theory.
Help for Depression: Using Journaling as Part of Your Wellness Strategies
Have you ever considered keeping a journal? Is journaling helpful for depression or anxiety? If you think about using journaling as part of your...
Ways to Increase Passion in Your Marriage
We all know how incredible it feels to be consumed by desire. Clothing gets ripped off, phones forgotten, and—you know what happens next.
As the years go by, what once felt so powerful and incredible dwindles. It becomes obligatory, routine. And that’s if it even happens at all.
In all honesty, most people experience intimacy dry spells in their marriage. If you find yourself in one or you’re just hoping to crank up the heat a couple notches, here are some of the best ways to reignite passion in your marriage.
Why Authenticity is Important in a Relationship
Is being an adult basically just trying to undo the damage that occurred during childhood—that and a hefty dose of never-ending paperwork?
Maybe.
Childhood is a confusing maze of trying to please adults while also trying to fit in with peers. From an early age, almost everyone is shown an example of who they should be, and a lot of that imprinting happens during our formative years.
The result? A lot of us have grown pretty accustomed to hiding our authentic self, or major parts of it. Find out Why Authenticity is Important in a Relationship.
The Four Horsemen and Their Antidotes
If you’re in a relationship, there are four seemingly inconsequential things that—if you’re not careful—have the ability to take what you’ve worked so hard for, and smash it to pieces. The Four Horsemen as they’re often called are the main reason most relationships fail.
The good news? There’s an antidote for each. Four tools you have at your disposal that are powerful enough keep you from driving to the courthouse and filing for divorce.
Keep reading to learn what they are so you can keep your relationship safe.
What Makes You Anxious?
Anxiety is a bully. Because it has complete access to your mind, it knows your deepest fears. It knows the exact buttons to push—all your nightmare scenarios—that send you spiraling.
If you give it an inch, it takes a mile. The more you acquiesce and give in to its whims, the smaller your world becomes.
Knowing what makes you anxious is a great way to fire back and regain some control. In some cases, the trigger may be obvious. In other cases, it’s just there.
Here we’ll explore some common causes of anxiety and how you know when it’s time to get help.
Why Some Men Avoid Couples Counseling
If you’re a male who’s skeptical about couples therapy—or more likely, if there’s a male in your life who is—this is a ploy to expose the misconceptions. This list debunks some of the most common excuses men use to avoid couples counseling.
Feel free to share this article with anyone you think could benefit.
What Does it Mean to Process Your Feelings?
Feelings are powerful. We all know the joys of basking in the good ones, and the misery that occurs when it swings the other way.
As part of our survival, humans evolved to be hyper-aware of the bad feelings. The negative, potentially scary and “dangerous” ones are the ones that flash warning signs and sirens in our brain. They immediately get our attention. And by the same token, these are the ones we also try to avoid.
Yet, ignoring or trying to duck and dodge “bad” feelings comes at a cost. Instead, the trick is to process them. This post will show you how.
But before getting into the why and how, let’s take a closer look at feelings.
PTSD Awareness: What Is It and How Is It Treated?
The truth?
There’s probably a lot more people suffering from PTSD than we’ll ever know. The effects of trauma exist on a spectrum, and people all have differences when it comes to their threshold for discomfort and the ways they manage.
Some deny their mental anguish and others get completely swallowed by it.
Then you factor in current life circumstances such as stress, worry, and financial woes. All of that combined makes it much harder to process trauma—to separate it from everything else that’s going on.
5 Tips to Eliminate Ranting, Reacting and Ineffective Communication
Are you always shouting and reacting? Does it feel like you are interacting less and overreacting more? Want to be a better communicator?...
Men’s Health Month Includes Mental Health
Can you imagine if it was only socially acceptable for women to get treatment for cancer? Like, treatment was available to men, but there was so much societal stigma around it that most men just went with the status quo, and never sought medical intervention?
Unfortunately, this is how it still kind of is when it comes to men and mental health treatment: It’s currently much more “acceptable” for women to share emotions and discuss feelings than it is for men.
Hence the statistics around men’s mental health, which are pretty bleak. Suicide rates in males are 4 times what they are in females.
June is men’s health month, and as most of us already know, mental health is a huge determining factor in overall health. Here we’ll touch on the issues that arise when mental health goes unaddressed, and some ways we can all help to break down the stigma so that everyone who needs therapy can participate, without any feelings of shame.
Why Self-Pay for Therapy?
For anyone who’s curious about whether or not they could benefit from therapy, there’s one way to tell for sure: Are you breathing? Great. You need therapy.
All joking aside, all of us can benefit from therapy at one point or another. No matter who you are or what you have, the road gets bumpy and scary at times.
If you’re hoping to get support through a challenge you’ve been facing, and are wondering whether to self-pay or use your insurance, here are some of the benefits of paying out of pocket for therapy.
Couples Counseling: Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late
Made a wrong turn? The quicker you realize that and course correct, the less likely you are to get lost. Most of us know this, yet there’s one place that many do not apply it. If you guessed relationships, you guessed right.
We all know the abysmal stats on the divorce rate in this country. So why isn’t more being done about it?
A relationship of any kind takes effort, and marriage is no different. The best way to avoid divorce and actually enjoy your union is, don’t wait too long to try and save it!
Here are some of the early warning signs your relationship could be heading toward divorce, and what you can do now—yes, right now—to prevent that from happening.
Reach out to start your healing journey today