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Bipolar disorder is classified as a mental illness characterized by alternating periods of mania and depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, those with bipolar disorder often experience mood swings and changes in activity levels, which can affect all aspects of daily life. If you have bipolar disorder, you may be wondering how and if you should address this in your workplace – after all, it’s a common fear that those who disclose this information to managers and/or employees will face ostracization and other reactions from stereotypes. David J. Miklowitz, professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, explained for Forbes Magazine the challenges that many with bipolar disorder face when it comes to the workplace. He stated, “The stigma is real. It can be as subtle as fellow workers attributing justifiable reactions to situations to your illness, or as blatant as not getting a job or a promotion”. Previous research has followed through to confirm these fears, as previous studies have found that individuals who have disclosed their mental illness in the workplace have reported being denied opportunities for training, promotion, or transfer, and coworkers have reported viewing an individual with a mental illness as a personal failure. However, to push past these obstacles in the workplace we must, as a society, discuss mental illness more openly and provide more support for those who disclose. For example, the Huffington Post argues that businesses are losing $100 billion and 217 million lost workdays due to mental illness. If businesses can learn to address these concerns with employees and provide more resources and support, productivity levels and employee retention may yield incredible rewards. In addition, creating a culture of acceptance means that there is less stress, more conversation, and more inclusion. These benefits are so large that many employees would gladly take a salary cut in exchange for these invaluable gains. If you have bipolar disorder, it is completely up to you whether you feel open and safe to disclose your mental disorder to your employer and/or coworkers. Never compromise your safety if you feel that it would be threatening to disclose. If you work for a company that values inclusion and acceptance, this could be a fantastic opportunity to build more cohesion in your workplace. If not, you may be able to speak with your company’s Human Resource department to learn more about how you can incorporate a more inclusive-centered atmosphere into your workplace.

There are two kinds of couples when it comes to couples therapy. First are the couples who don’t think they need professional help or work on their relationship. Second are the couples who realize that needing professional help and working on their relationship isn’t a bad thing. One group is ready to do the work required of them in therapy. The other is not. Most of the time, both people in the relationship need to be willing and ready to seek therapy if the relationship is to work. Unfortunately, many couples wait too late – until one has already mentally distanced themselves and left the relationship – before seeking help. CNN notes that couple’s therapy should be sought long before a couple believes they “need” help. Kristie Overstreet, a licensed mental health counselor told CNN, “Most issues within a couple start small and then grow in size when they don’t get resolved. This is where therapy can help, by giving tools and techniques to improve conflict resolution.” For many, seeking therapy early on can save a relationship - even years of distress. Many couples find that an objective third perspective from a counselor can help them recognize problems and how to fix them before the issues become bigger. Oftentimes therapists will assign couples homework to know they are working on their problems outside of the therapist’s office as well. There are many other benefits that couple’s therapy can provide, according to Psychology Today:

According to a 2016 study published in the Psychological Science Agenda, workaholism consists of several things:

Neurofeedback is a biofeedback technique that focuses on helping a person train to directly affect brain function. In a sense, neurofeedback helps the brain to heal itself and is used to treat a variety of conditions such as eating disorders, mood disorders, addictions, anxiety, depression, and attention deficit disorder (ADD). With neurofeedback, a person learns to “self-regulate” by learning how to regulate their brainwave patterns on their own without medications or other forms of therapy. A typical session for neurofeedback is held at least once a week. Electrodes are applied to a participant’s head and connected to a computer. The patient and the therapist then have the ability to essentially listen to what the brain is doing. While this is happening, the electrodes are sent to a computer and the patient can see and hear images and sounds that correlate. With this, a person can easily understand how their brain works when they are thinking, feeling stressed, feeling relaxed, etc. Essentially, it is like a person playing a video game with their brain! Each session takes approximately 15-35 sessions, and has been shown to have no side effects. Many people work to retrain their brain patterns in order to relax themselves and control their stress levels. A few individuals shared their success with neurofeedback on The Brain Lady, a website of best-selling author, speaker, and trainer Debra Burdick. Here are some words of success from individuals who follow her: “Before I started neurofeedback, I had anxiety so bad I couldn’t go to school or see friends. After a few months of neurofeedback, I was back in school, on the honor roll and had a new job. Neurofeedback has been like a miracle in my life.” Another person stated: “I have tried a variety of treatment…and neurofeedback is the only thing that has really helped me feel good. I no longer crave alcohol, very rarely get depressed or feel bad about myself – even at a challenging time in my life.” Many have reported success with neurofeedback. If this is something you are considering, speak with your doctor today to see if this is a technique that you may benefit from. If you’re researching treatment centers, aim to find a reputable center that offers this as a method of treatment. Recovery is possible, and there are many tools you can use.

Before you embark on a specific treatment program, it’s important to make sure that the one you’ve selected fits your needs best. Intensive outpatient treatment programs are best for those who:

When it comes to recovery and mental health, goal-setting is incredibly important. The right treatment center will have you work with a therapist and/or coach to help you establish goals for yourself in recovery, as well as ways to reach those goals. Forbes Magazine states that the key to reaching your goals are to have a vision, identify measurable goals (goals that you can clearly tell when they have been reached), set benchmarks by making smaller steps towards reaching those goals, and to celebrate when you have reached them. Okay - so you have a clear idea on how goal setting works, but how do lists fit in to this success? Bustle Magazine states several benefits to list-making:

Neurofeedback therapy has been shown to be very beneficial for treating things like anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, concussions, sleep problems, strokes, brain surgery, movement disorders, and more. Katherine Ellison, a journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, tried neurofeedback therapy and explained that she was able to learn more about how ADHD affected her brain and how she could better control it. She stated that her session involved looking at a screen with a beautiful field of flowers. Her explanation to the National Public Radio (NPR) was this: “When my brain responded the way it was supposed to, the field would burst into color. I’d hear bird song and beautiful flowers would bloom, but when I got distracted or when I got a little bit more sped up, the flowers would wilt. It would turn gray, and I’d know that I needed to work a little harder.” According to Psychology Today, neurofeedback therapy involves watching some sort of computer or monitoring device while having electric sensors to give information as to what is going on in the brain and body. Through this, neurofeedback therapy will provide you information about your brain and how it works. As you continue with the sessions, you will better be able to connect some of the pathways in the brain that were dysregulated. Neurofeedback therapy is a completely non-invasive treatment that reads, not inputs, neural activity in the brain. Research is still being conducted to prove the effectiveness of neurofeedback therapy, but many people attest to its benefits. For example, one person stated, “I have tried a variety of treatments...neurofeedback is the only thing that has really helped me feel good. I no longer crave alcohol, very rarely get depressed or feel bad about myself - even at a challenging time in my life. I have learned to take small steps, enjoy life, be happy, and be me, something I had trouble with.” Neurofeedback therapy is said to be conducted over a series of weeks, with many people ranging from 20-40 sessions. However, results vary by person, and you’ll never know if it could provide some benefit to you unless you try it. Speak with someone today to learn even more about this form of treatment and to see if it would be a good fit for you.

Schizophrenia is a spectrum mental disorder involving a disconnection between thought, emotion, and behavior. A person with schizophrenia may exhibit faulty perception, inappropriate actions or feelings, disconnection from reality and personal relationships to fantasies and delusions, and a series of other mental fragmentations. Researchers have attempted to find ways to help those with schizophrenia better manage their symptoms, with the latest technique involving technology. According to BBC News, a pilot study conducted by researchers from King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the University of Roehampton found that video games could help people with schizophrenia control their symptoms. Participants were asked to play a video game while connected to an MRI scanner. With the video game, participants were to move a computerized rocket through various mental strategies - the pilot test showed that individuals were better able to identify what originally seemed as external voices to internal voices. In a sense, this form of treatment is similar to neurofeedback therapy - a tool used to help people control what is normally involuntary bodily process such as skin temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and brain waves. Since those with schizophrenia are more visually and audibly sensitive, delusions and hallucinations can be particularly frightening for them. Thus, video games provide a way for people to alter their perceptions of the voices they hear through the brain’s movement of a particular object - in the pilot study’s case - a rocket. Although the study provides preliminary data, the results seem promising, and researchers are believing in its abilities. As we look toward the future, hopefully even more treatment options will become available to those with schizophrenia so that they can have various methods to work with, to whatever suits their learning style and needs best. If you have schizophrenia, make the decision to seek treatment today. With different resources available, you can learn to better manage your symptoms. Treatment may involve therapy, activities, as well as medication. Don’t wait any longer, and seek the help you need today.

With the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, many are questioning whether mental illness is really to blame for the devastating shooting of 17 people. The 19-year-old responsible was shown to have displayed very aggressive, violent behavior throughout the years, with several neighbors reporting him to security on various occasions. This brings to light 2 main arguments posed by the public: Is mental illness to blame, and how can gun laws be altered with more security measures to prevent horrific situations such as this? A widespread debate has been that gun laws should be restricted to those with mental illness. Could this be effective? The American Psychological Association (APA) published a book with many insights that relate to this issue. Chapter 4 of the book, titled “Mass Shootings and Mental Illness” proposes several suggestions based on research. For example, the book states that restricting gun laws to those with mental illness not only perpetuates the stereotypes that those with a mental illness are dangerous, but it also holds little value because people who engage in mass shootings do not often have a history of hospitalization or other incidents which would lead them to the diagnosis of a mental illness or treatment for one. Furthermore, the book states that less than 3% of situations with gun violence are attributed to mental illness. Thus, restricting gun use to this population would not protect people from individuals who do not classify as having a mental illness. PBS News Hour stated that President Trump believes that mental illness leads to gun violence. In a tweet just a day after the event, he stated, “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!” Dr. Louis Kraus, forensic psychiatry chief at Chicago’s Rush University Medical College, believes this is off-track. He stated, “The concept that mental illness is a precursor to violent behavior is nonsense. The vast majority of gun violence is not attributed to mental illness.” Overall, it seems that more needs to be in place for individuals attempting to buy a gun, and signs of a dangerous person need to be reported immediately and through various routes. The more we all take a stand against violence, the safer we make our communities.

It can be disappointing to hear a loved one say they will seek help, and then you witness no change. We want the best for our loved ones, and it becomes a stressful situation when we cannot control whether they actively seek help or not. If your loved one has spoken to you about seeking help but has done nothing to prove they are serious, they could be in the pre-contemplation or contemplation stage. Researchers C. DiClemente and J. Prochaska developed a five-stage of model of change to help professionals understand what motivates people to make a change. The 5 stages are:

A 2012 feature on the American Psychological Association’s (APA) states that group therapy has become more popular over the years due to the efficacy of it; more and more research is proving the benefits of group therapy. Group therapy has been used for a variety of issues, such as for survivors of trauma, people who have been diagnosed with an addiction or mental disorder, anger management, personal growth, anxiety management, and a host of other concerns. If you haven’t experienced group therapy yet, there are a variety of aspects you’ll find helpful:

According to Medical News Today, neuroticism is the tendency to be in a negative or anxious emotional state. It is not a medical condition, but a personality trait. Individuals with this personality trait tend to experience more guilt, envy, anger, and anxiety more frequently and more intense than those who do not carry the trait. Environmental stress can greatly trigger a person whose tendencies lean towards neuroticism, and the person may be self-conscious and shy. Neuroticism can be scored and identified by personality tests. Although our personality is embedded into the nature of our being, there is one thing we can do to combat our negativity and anxiety: mindfulness. A 2017 study conducted by researchers from Charles Darwin University in Australia found that mindfulness, or thinking more intensely about one’s experiences, could help highly neurotic people. As stated on Psychology Today, you can take a mindful approach in the following ways: