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Why Mental Wellness: a Conversation Worth Having?

I am a complicated person and I’ve led a complicated life. I’ve lost a lot of precious things along the way, and I’ve acquired some that I don’t necessarily want to be carrying around. I’ve learned a lot of lessons and I’ve gained what I hope is some wisdom. I am incredibly blessed, though I […]

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Introduction

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (or, CBT) is one of the most successful ways to treat depression outside of medication. I have experienced a lot of it through individual therapists, residential treatment, partial hospitalization (PHP), and intensive outpatient therapy (IOP).CBT is the premise that our thoughts cause our feelings which then cause our behavior. Our behavior causes […]

Thought Defusion

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is all good and well, but how do we practice getting rid of those distorted, negative stuck points or thoughts? Not only do these thoughts affect our emotions and our behavior, but they often can become so invasive that we can’t think about anything else. They completely take over us. This is […]

PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Dad’s PTSDBack in the 90’s when my dad was deployed to the Balkans for the Kosovo Conflict, PTSD was not very well understood. My dad was involved in helicopter missions and while he was over there he witnessed savage brutality. I don’t even know the extent of what he saw or what he did. By […]

Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs)

Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs) Reaction: So, what is an HSP you might ask? How to Cope What Does This Mean?

Reasons to Stay Alive

I just finished reading this funny, easy-to-read, and incredibly insightful book this week. Haig captures the essence of depression and what it feels to be depressed over and over again. I couldn’t put his memoir down. “One of the key symptoms of depression is to see no hope. No future. Far from the tunnel having […]

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

This week has been rough.  My husband, Adam, and I are taking some time “off” of our relationship. More specifically, we are separating for a month because of my physical and mental struggles.  I never thought we would be in this place and it has about killed me.  Adam loves me very much, but he […]

Leaves on a Stream

Today I’m going to talk about one of my favorite mindfulness exercises from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) called Leaves on a Stream.  This is a really good tool to use in the moment when a panic attack is coming on or when your anxiety is escalating through the roof.  I’ve also been using it […]

Coping Strategies…Mine Could Be Healthier

We all have coping strategies.  When it’s cold, you put a jacket on.  When you’re sad, you play music.  When you have to concentrate, you look for quiet.  Coping strategies are necessary and healthy, because they protect us physically from things that could otherwise hurt us.  If your hand gets too close to a candle, […]

More IFS

In her video below, Dr. Tori Olds says the parts of us (which we talked about yesterday) are really just patterned, reflexive ways of being. They develop in our reactions to the world around us. For example, one part of me gets really angry at Adam for being cheap, but another part of me is […]