Mental Health

June marks the celebration of Pride Month, and it is a time meant to celebrate and recognize the equal rights and opportunities of LGBTQ individuals. It serves to negate any stigma or discrimination against the LGBTQ community and instead brings forth feelings of pride and acceptance. Though a time for celebration, Pride Month also brings attention to the disparities that exist among the LGBTQ community, including the increased rate of mental health conditions and substance abuse among the community’s members.

The SODA technique may be a beneficial tool to implement into your daily life if you struggle with anxiety. This method is used to reframe a situation or negative thought, and it’s a very simple way to bring in mindfulness and de-escalate anxious thoughts and feelings surrounding a given situation (and no, it doesn’t have anything to do with drinking something!) SODA refers to the acronym stop, observe, detach and affirm, and practicing SODA helps to bring the out-of-proportion and exaggerated thoughts typical to anxiety back into a more balanced view. By following and practicing each step, you can build more awareness of your inner thoughts, evaluate your mindset and create a more positive, optimistic attitude. Thoughts are an extremely powerful component of what we feel and how we behave, so it is through changing your thoughts that you can ultimately change any behaviors that do not serve your greatest good.

Maybe you’ve never heard of the terms internal or external locus of control, but you likely identify with either believing you are responsible for making life happen for yourself, or that life happens to you. In essence, that is what internal versus external locus of control means, and knowing which you identify with can explain your actions and reactions in life. Adopting the belief that you make things happen will positively affect your mental health while believing that things that happen to you will have the opposite effect.

If you or someone you love engages in self-injurious behavior, a mental illness could be the underlying cause. Finding the right help to stop self-harming and addressing any influential factors like mental illness or substance abuse is necessary since the individual lacks the impulse control to effectively stop themselves from continuing this behavior and hurting themselves.

Everyone experiences days when emotions are heavy, and they feel the need to unload the stress that is overwhelming them. However, how often this occurs and how they unpack their emotions also affects the emotional well-being of loved ones around them. Understanding the difference between positive venting and emotional dumping is important to maintaining healthy, emotionally sound relationships.

Breakups are always difficult, but if you identify with being in a codependent relationship, a breakup can feel catastrophic. Getting out of a codependent relationship is a big step since you are finally stepping away from a toxic relationship that was fueling your dysfunctional behavior and fears. Taking a leap of faith and getting out of that codependent relationship is challenging but worth the effort.

You don’t have to rely on seeing your therapist experience the benefits of hypnosis. By practicing self-hypnosis, you can improve your behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs about yourself and your success in recovery. Learning how to use self-hypnosis as a tool for healing in recovery will allow you to gain better control over your thoughts and experience deep relaxation along the way.

When it comes to recovery, it is a mistake to think that having strong enough willpower alone is the secret to overcoming a substance use disorder (SUD.) Finding the right comprehensive treatment for you is key to sustaining a long and happy sober life. Certainly, willpower is a piece of the puzzle, but there are other pieces one needs to persevere through the daily challenges of cravings, triggers, and temptations.

Recovery from an addiction to drugs or alcohol, and the anxiety, depression, or stress that may be present throughout the process, can take a toll on many aspects of daily life, down to the power an individual feels in everyday situations. Feeling powerless in recovery can compromise many elements in the process, introducing doubt or allowing prevailing feelings of sadness or frustration to continue to go unchallenged. Garnering a sense of self-worth and empowerment is crucial for finding success in other parts of the recovery process. Addressing the feeling of powerlessness can often start by looking at one’s language. The words that a person uses and the confidence in their voice can provide insight into how one may view themselves. Challenging how a person talks about themselves and confronting the language of powerlessness opens the door to greater confidence and positivity in recovery.

Being ambitious is a useful character trait to possess when it comes to achieving your goals or advancing in your career. However, even a good thing can get out of balance and wreak havoc in your life if kept unchecked. Knowing if your ambition acts as a motivating force or an end is an important factor in knowing how healthy your relationship with ambition is in your life. If you aren’t sure whether your ambitious nature has gotten a little out of control, then look for some of these subtle signs that ambition may be becoming toxic to you.

Looking at one’s thought patterns is a significant component of the recovery process. Addiction can alter one’s perception and create patterns or draw conclusions in a destructive or otherwise illogical way. Often the individual suffering from addiction does not recognize the change in their thought patterns. Overcoming irrational thinking is difficult, and learning to challenge the impulse to act upon irrational thoughts is essential in creating a genuine portrait of one’s progress through recovery. Still, it begins with first identifying how specific thoughts are irrational and then working on a strategy to consciously challenge them.

What makes the difference between someone able to accomplish the long-term goals they set for themselves and someone who can’t? Does it boil down to something predetermined like intelligence, luck, physical capabilities, or is it something else? It turns out that your ability to persist through challenges and stay focused on achieving your goals is something that you have more hand in creating for yourself, and it is known as mental toughness. What is Mental Toughness? Having mental toughness is important because it is what allows you to persevere through adversity to reach your goals. Mental toughness is defined as the capacity of an individual to deal with stressors, pressures, and challenges and perform at the best of their ability, regardless of difficult circumstances. Possessing mental toughness comes with a strong ability to effectively manage your thoughts and emotions to act in alignment towards achieving your goals. 3 Aspects of Mental Toughness in Recovery Cultivating mental toughness will help you through any challenge you encounter in life, but it can be an especially helpful trait to have if you are in recovery. Aspects of mental toughness that help someone achieve a goal like sobriety are seen below: