Mental Health

Have you ever felt lost on the road to implementing healthy habits into your life? Contrary to what society suggests wellness "should" mean, it is not a one-size-fits-all box into which we all can fit.

Mental and emotional health issues can affect your physical health. Something that is becoming more and more emphasized during the process of healing from mental, emotional, and behavioral health concerns is the mind-body connection between nutrition and mental health. Having an awareness of the effects of nutrition on mental health can guide you as you begin to make choices that fuel your recovery and healing rather than undermine it.

Although panic attacks and anxiety are different, there is an overlap between the two. If you feel like you have been experiencing either one, the proper treatment could help you learn how to cope with symptoms and lessen the intensity of your experience with them.

Learning to thrive, rather than merely survive, can be a significant shift after living with mental illness for a time. It is common to become attached to struggling when life has felt like a struggle for an extended period. Therapy is a healing space where you can begin releasing identities that do not align with your true self and explore who you are outside of the attachment to struggling. When experiencing the same reality repeatedly, it can become one you expect and then willingly create because it is familiar, even when it is not how you would like to be living. To thrive rather than just get by, you need first to get curious about what it would feel and look like to grow, heal, and evolve.

People-pleasing is often a symptom of perfectionism, fear of disapproval, and anxiety. Those who have learned tendencies and patterns of people-pleasing overextend themselves for others, hoping to keep the external peace at the cost of losing their internal stability. For these individuals, setting boundaries is an empowering practice of reconnecting with oneself. Boundaries are about reclaiming yourself and learning to trust your needs, desires, and truths over what others may think of and need from you.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a common disorder connected with the changing seasons, most commonly as the winter months begin to set in and bring colder weather and limited daylight. While there can be a great degree of variance in how it affects each individual — with some people feeling only slight effects and others finding their mental state and daily routines highly disrupted — addressing its prevalence in an individual's life is essential to create an effective, healthy plan for the winter months ahead. Developing strategies early to help cope with SAD can empower each individual to create effective routines and establish hobbies that can help navigate this time safely and healthily.

Self-sabotage is a common human experience, especially in the pursuit of reaching goals in your recovery and journey to wellness. The key is learning how the sabotage is related and how to deal with it. The way out of cycles of self-sabotage lies in learning to relate to it differently, work with it, and accept parts of you that sabotage rather than accept yourself.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complicated and challenging diagnosis. While it (and other personality disorders) are still highly stigmatized, they are also equally misunderstood. The symptoms and causes of BDP can be incredibly enigmatic and varied. Understanding the challenges presented by BPD is essential in identifying its symptoms and navigating a path towards healing as early as possible. However, it is still a complex situation that may present itself in various ways depending on the individual it is affecting, the symptoms being presented, and the causes of its development.

Have you ever felt like you needed to create space in your life and minimize chaos? Decluttering your life is an act of mindfulness that can create more space and foster mental wellness as you connect back to what is important to you. Here are things you can do to declutter and simplify your life.

If you have ever experienced seemingly random episodes of fear and anxiety that send you into a flight of panic — where your mind races, heart pounds, hands tremble, and body begins to sweat — you may have experienced a panic attack. Panic attacks are a symptom of panic disorder, which is a type of anxiety disorder. These attacks can happen at any time and often occur when there is not a threat or danger present. Although overwhelming and scary, panic disorder is something a therapist can help you navigate and heal from. Experiencing panic attacks can leave you feeling powerless, but there are practices you can use to access your power in moments when it feels like the disorder has control over you.

Mindfulness is the practice of continually choosing to come back to the present moment with awareness and acceptance. It can help you slow down and live life with a deeper intention and compassion for yourself and others.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common mental health condition. Individuals who suffer from it have reoccurring thoughts — called obsessions — followed by repeated behaviors (compulsions). Living with OCD can be debilitating, overwhelming, and confusing. The most common treatment for OCD is called exposure and response prevention (ERP), in which the individual is repeatedly exposed to fears and obsessions without engaging in compulsions. This is something a therapist can support you with as you learn to make peace with living with OCD.