Feeling “stuck” is an awful feeling. Stuck can quickly turn to feeling hopeless and helpless. When you can’t achieve the things that you want, the internal dialogue can quickly turn to criticism and self-blame. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.
If you’re looking to make some important changes in your life, here are some thoughts to get you unstuck.
Coming out is the process of acknowledging both internally and socially that you are LGBTQ.
Unfortunately, we live in a world in which “coming out” is still demanded of LGBTQ folks, as heterosexuality is seen as the default (read: normal) sexuality. As a result, we often push people to come out, especially publicly.
Let’s explore some of the nuances of coming out, and how this important step in an LGBTQ individual’s life can be both beneficial and challenging.
Continue reading Do Things Truly Get Better When You Come Out as LGBTQ?
Cohabitation is the practice of living with another person while in a relationship, typically of a romantic or sexual nature.
Cohabitation is relatively common these days, with some past estimates (from 2012) indicating that as many as 7.8 million couples were living together, unmarried. This number has dramatically increased in the past few decades as our culture has shifted from a more religious and conservative stance to a more progressive and practical (though anxious) one.
It’s almost more uncommon to meet a couple who hasn’t taken the proverbial “test drive” in cohabiting before marriage. It’s a relatively practical solution to difficult emotional problem — how two people can coexist peacefully and happily under the same roof.
Everyone has their own way of embracing self-care and addressing their mental health. It’s important for your mental well-being and can provide a valuable reset that leaves you more positive and productive going forward. Today, we’re sharing some secret tips from a therapist on the best way you can spend your mental health day.
Continue reading The 12 Best Ways to Spend a Mental Health Day (According to a Therapist)
Seeking mental health services isn’t easy. It might be even more difficult to open up to your friends and family about how you’ve been struggling to manage your mental health. Starting the conversation, however, has a lot of potential benefits — most notably increased family support and reassurance. When you’re deep in anxiety or depression, this extra support could make a huge difference.
Unfortunately, societal stigmas have made it difficult for those living with mental health concerns to receive support. In an ideal world, we would all be proactive in looking out for one another. Even well-intentioned family members or friends don’t take the time to check in, sometimes due to ignorance around mental health topics, other times because they’re preoccupied with their own concerns.
But, if you’re willing to begin the conversation with your loved ones about your struggles then this post might help them better understand and support you.
Continue reading A Therapist’s Guide to Talking to Friends and Family About Mental Health
Closure is a relationship trope that we often see play out in blockbuster movies. When a couple breaks up, we often see the partners individually (and often collectively) try to seek what they call “closure.” In many scenarios, it is depicted as light-hearted and funny, but if you’ve lived through a breakup yourself, you know the process of getting closure can be painful.
We see this desire for closure play out in our own relationships when we experience a separation or break up. When a relationship ends, we are sometimes left feeling heartbroken and often confused. In an effort to make sense of such a horrible disruption, we seek understanding. We seek comfort and solace. We seek closure.
Continue reading Is it Possible (or Necessary) to Get Relationship Closure?
It’s common for therapists to talk about “reframing” something. But what does that even mean?
The therapist focus on cognitive reframing is something you’ve likely encountered if you’ve been in therapy before. If you haven’t, the concept might sound a bit strange at first, but I assure you it does make a lot of sense.
Continue reading Reframing is Therapy’s Most Effective Tool, Here’s Why
The emotional stoicism of Black men is something that few authors have talked about. Most notable of the few books on the topic, the author bell hooks’ work We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity discusses the lack of love and acceptance that Black men face, creating an emotional crisis.
Many men have not been told how to process and talk about their emotional experiences, furthering a sense of isolation, anger, and resentment. For these men, this creates an emotional volatility that can sometimes manifest in seeming “shut down” in relationships and friendships. At its worst, this budding resentment can manifest in outward expression of anger, aggression, and even violence. This is discussed further in Charlie Donaldson’s and Randy Flood’s book Mascupathy: Understanding and Healing the Malaise of American Manhood.
Many men (arguably most) struggle with the idea of being openly vulnerable and sharing their emotions. And for those who grew up as sensitive boys, they are often subject to ridicule and shaming for what are natural and healthy expressions of emotion. Black men face a unique challenge in that most of what is most prized about them may be their looks or bodies, but rarely ever their intellect and emotional intelligence. These things are often deemed too soft for any Black man to experience, delivering the message that if you are those things then you must change…and fast.
Continue reading Why Black Men Face Greater Mental Health Challenges
We all face hard circumstances from time to time. Sometimes life throws us new responsibilities or burdens, and expects us to just roll with the punches. That can be quite difficult, especially when you’re already managing a mental illness. The good news is that we can have a plan when those unexpected hard times come up. Here are some recommendations for a mental health workout plan when you need help to weather hard times.
Continue reading When Times Get Tough, Try This Mental Health Workout Plan
Most of us are familiar with the idea of doctors prescribing medications for health issues. In recent years a newer trend called microdosing has emerged to help people cope with health conditions but in a different way, with different kinds of substances.