As much as we would like to never experience grief, it is a universal experience that is unfortunately inevitable. Grief is the acute feeling of shock, overwhelming sadness & pain when someone passes away. It comes on suddenly, is strong & usually knocks the wind out of us. Grief comes in waves & may impact you at different times in your life. For example, if you just received a promotion at work, your first instinct might be to call your mother to share the good news. As you pick up the phone, you suddenly remember that your mother passed away a few years ago. The realization that she is no longer living, causes feelings of grief to wash over you. This is how grief ebbs & flows. Grieving on the other hand is the process of how we adapt to this loss in order to move forward with our lives. Grieving is fluid & demonstrates the relationship we have with grief as it changes over time.
Grieving The Loss Of A Furry Friend
After a significant loss such as a pet, grief begins. The loss of a pet can bring up varying emotions. Pain, sorrow, sadness, anger, and even sometimes feelings of shame for experiencing these emotions over “just a pet”. These emotions are natural during the grieving process, and it is important to take the time to take care of yourself in this. The following are some helpful ways to assist you through your grieving process. Remember, everyone experiences grief and loss differently so some of these may not feel necessary to you and that is okay! Make sure you are doing what feels is right for your own grief because with grief there is never a “right” or “wrong” way
Ways To Cope With Divorce
While healing from a divorce, you may experience a grieving process and there are things you can focus on during this time. Exhaustion, overwhelming feelings, negative and painful feelings may arise and while these can be scary, they are also normal and can be worked through. Here are some ways to cope through the process of moving forward from a divorce.
Taking Care of You: Coping with Divorce
If you are trying to cope with a divorce, you may experience a grieving process. Know this is normal and that there are several things you can do in order to cope with difficult feelings. Divorces can be exhausting, overwhelming, and full of negative emotions. You may experience feelings of depression, anxiety, and/or stress. Know that these feelings are valid. While you navigate through this grieving process, you may go through cycles of feelings. It is important amidst this to enjoy all the things you previously loved doing and make space for you and what brings you joy.
Care in 2022: Self-Care Techniques As We Grow and Learn
We hear the term self-care often. With many stressors in our personal lives and around the world, impacting all of us, the idea of self-care is even more prominent as the world changes and shifts. You have probably heard about many strategies to cope, such as: taking a walk, taking a nap, writing down positive thoughts and others. Let’s explore additional self-care strategies you might try.
Navigating Therapeutic Support: Strategies to Support Growth Between Sessions
During a therapy session you have the space to talk about your emotions and stressors, confront your problems, and be provided with helpful feedback to support positive changes. The time spent in a therapy session can feel empowering, but this is only a small portion of your week. There are 168 hours in a week, less than one of those hours are spent in therapy. A common misconception is that attending your weekly therapy sessions is all that is needed, but the time in between therapy sessions also holds an important space to continue to progress. So the real question is, what do you do in the time in between therapy sessions? While there is not an exact science or formula that is guaranteed to work, the following are helpful tips and ideas to help you in between sessions.
Ride the Waves: Learning to Surf Your Feelings
Emotional experiences can feel so overwhelming. So much so that they can make us convinced that they are insurmountable, like a large wave coming over you as you stand in the shallow waters. It turns out that this is a very fitting metaphor for emotional spikes. Just as one can be overtaken and overwhelmed by a large wave, so too can one learn the skills needed to read the onset of the wave, position themselves effectively with it, and surf the wave which allows one to experience emotions with mastery and confidence. Additionally, because we experience emotions everyday of our lives, learning to surf your emotional waves can be practiced every day. This starts with seeing your feelings as a wave; strong, influential, and temporary… yes… temporary. Many cognitive patterns that lead to mental health disorders are habits that take single-emotion events and reinforce them again and again until they feel chronic. The emotion typically only lasted a few seconds or a few minutes at most and any secondary or lingering feelings are being upheld by what your thoughts, beliefs, and responses create. With this understanding, one can experience the emotional wave effectively in the moment before allowing that wave to return to the ocean never to come back in that exact form ever again.
Coping for All Occasions: Why a Self-Care Tool Kit Is Crucial
We know we all need to engage in self-care. It makes us feel good, it helps us destress, and we know that there are long-term benefits for our mental and physical health. However, in difficult moments, it’s often difficult for our brains to remember all the self-care activities we know as our nervous systems take over and attempt to fight or flee. Thus, developing a self-care toolkit for any moment can be helpful. By having these on hand, you can use them anytime you feel stress or need something to help you regroup.
Transitioning Post-Pandemic: Coping with Grief and Loss
Losses of loved ones, losses of jobs, relationships ending, lack of being able to see our loved ones, and more, all have a significant impact on us. When experiencing a loss of any kind it’s normal to experience a variety of emotions including guilt, anger, fear, and shock. There are coping strategies to care for yourself as you process loss and feelings of grief, in addition to seeking support from friends, family, and maybe even a therapist. Seeking some strategies to assist in coping with the process of grief as we transition to a new period, here are a few:
Coping With Pandemic Fatigue: Support In Managing The Ongoing Pandemic
COVID-19 has brought us a year of anxious uncertainty. Sheltering in place, working remotely, or facing daily hazards as essential workers, we’ve been unable to see our extended families, meet a friend for coffee, or even go to the gym, a sports game, concert, or movie. Some of us have lost loved ones, leaving a heartbreaking hole in our lives. All of us have lost touch with the normal rhythms of life. With no breaks in routine and fewer simple pleasures, the past few months have been an endless blur. Recent studies have shown that depression rates in America have tripled since the pandemic began (Berman, 2020).
Trauma & Love: Supporting a Romantic Partner with A Trauma History
Being in a relationship with someone who has a trauma history can be uniquely challenging at times. In many cases, individuals who experience trauma may behave in ways that are hard for their partner to understand. They may experience panic attacks, express distrust, escalate quickly to anger, or become disengaged. As trauma can interrupt emotional processing, those who have experienced trauma often struggle to articulate what is really going on inside of them. This can cause conflict and miscommunication, and it can make it difficult for well-intended partners to know what kind of support to provide. If this sounds a bit like your experience, not to fear! There are ways to become a trauma-informed and compassionate partner while also maintaining your own boundaries and safety within your relationship.
How To Make Journaling Your Next Best Coping Strategy
Many clinicians and clients alike tout the positive aspects of journaling. When working towards a personal goal, managing emotional wellbeing, or looking for a creative outlet, journaling can be an excellent coping mechanism. Journaling is a simple, and extremely effective coping mechanism yet it is largely underutilized.
Looking out for Signs of Holiday Depression & Anxiety
While the holidays can be stressful for everyone, those dealing with depression and anxiety can struggle that much more. About 1 in 5 adults will suffer from mental illness each year and the holidays can create more stress, that triggers or exacerbates those mental health conditions. One of the best ways to alleviate stress is to engage in effective self-care such as eating balanced meals, getting enough sleep, and making sure you have enough downtime.
Managing Your Mental Health During the Holidays
While the holidays may bring up thoughts of spending time with friends, delicious food, and other festivities, for others the holidays can bring up feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. This year, these feelings may be stronger with many unable to see family and friends. If you’re experiencing stress during this holiday season, below are some coping strategies to manage increased levels of stress, anxiety, and sadness.
Trauma & Resilience In Present Times: Trauma and Racism Within Social Media
Mental Health Resources for Black Individuals During This Time
It is crucial during this time to create healthy boundaries and engage in self-care. This looks different for all whether this be dancing, crafts, cooking, gardening, spiritual or religious practices, and many others. Limiting social media and news activity may be helpful in engaging in self-care, as well as breathing exercises and other mindful techniques to reduce anxiety and process difficult feelings. Self-care is crucial during this time, here are a few resources from the NAMI list of health resources for the black community.
Social Media & Chronic Trauma: The Impact of Police Brutality and Social Media Imagery on Mental Health
As protestors continue to take to the streets across the country, highlighting ongoing systemic racism, social media is amplifying these messages. Videos and photos depicting police violence toward protestors such as shooting them with rubber bullets, driving cruisers into crowds, and throwing tear gas at protestors can be viewed daily, across social media platforms. According to research, while this imagery shines light on racism and aims to bolster efforts in fighting it, the explosion of content can also cause and reinforce trauma, especially for black people. Trauma and the possibility of symptoms of PTSD can occur due to the accumulation of experiences of racism and discrimination.
Understanding Mental Health and Racial Trauma
It is reported that 20% of Black Americans are more likely to report symptoms of psychological distress than their white counterparts (MHA, 2020). Black teenagers are also more likely to attempt suicide than their white counterparts, and Black Americans are more likely to be victims of serious violent crimes than white Americans - thus leading to symptoms fulfilling criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (MHA, 2020). Racialized trauma plays a large role in these astounding numbers and the ongoing cycle of violence so many experience.
Racial Inequality & Brain Development
Ongoing media coverage and public outcry among many upsetting incidents across our country have sparked rage, anger, sadness, and action across not only our country, but the world. Conversations around race relations and biases within ourselves and the justice system, against individuals of color have been building and growing. From George Floyd to Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown and other lesser known cases such as the beating of homeless grandmother Marlene Pinnock, psychology is an important topic within the discussion on racial inequality and racial biases in America.
Frozen in Fear: Understanding the “Freeze” Response within Anxiety
Everyone has heard of the concept of “fight or flight” before. We know that when we perceive a threat exists (whether real or imagined) our sympathetic nervous system awakens. We’ve all had those moments where we experience a surge of adrenaline and our heart beats fast, our breathing quickens, muscles tense, etc. In this moment, our brains are evaluating whether the danger is real or not and whether you will stand up to it (fight) or run away (flight). However, there is a third option to the fight or flight response that we don’t talk about as often and this is “freeze”. We will explore this response, the benefits of this, as well as ways to reduce the impact this has on our bodies and minds.