Deliberately harming yourself or having an impulse to is a sign of emotional distress. It is not uncommon, especially in adolescents, to self-harm. On the surface, it may appear to occur only when you have difficulty managing emotions and don’t have proper coping skills. This is too commonly used [...]
Co-parenting is a special case within the broader category of parenting and family therapy. Two situations are most common to co-parenting difficulties: (1) where separated parents get help maintaining coordination and consistency in their parenting strategies without being in romantic [...]
Workplace appreciation is the most important motivation for employees. Timely recognition of your value, work quality, and effort put forth are directly related to job satisfaction. This dedication to the employer greatly increases employee retention. Motivated employees are more likely to maintain [...]
Grief is one of those universal life experiences from which a person never really recovers but learns to cope with and grow through. When we lose people we love, the world is permanently changed. This is the price we pay as humans for the richness that our loved ones bring to our lives. Although[...]
Gender identity is a spectrum that describes to which degree a person perceives and recognizes their inner knowledge and outer expression of gender. Generally, this is the consistency between anatomical sex and the person’s internal maleness or femaleness or combination or neutrality. There are [...]
It’s my responsibility as a mental health professional to remember the history of the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual. Sexual orientation and identities were considered diagnoses that came with stigma and suffering. Homosexuality was considered a diagnosis until 1973, and [...]
Humans experience stress as a natural reaction to meet a demand or challenge. This “fight or flight” survival mechanism slows normal bodily functions like immunity and digestion to focus on breath, alertness, blood circulation, and muscle movement. The degree to which we react can be [...]
Intimate bonds are vital to happiness and wellbeing. By feeling isolated from others physically or emotionally, the feeling of loneliness may creep in and overtake your happiness. It’s common to be physically close to others, yet lonely, because there is no intimacy, trust, or connection, or [...]
Your parenting decisions have a tremendous impact on your child’s emotional and social development. Their belief systems are modeled by your example, and they will pick up moral values, discipline, and manners from what they see. It’s vital that parents give their children a healthy basis for [...]
Humans learn habits, customs and rituals, vocabulary, perception of the world, how to interact with others, and how to love from their families. The goal of family therapy may widely differ, depending on your family dynamics, and ultimately aims to develop and maintain a functional family unit. By [...]