Consent Preferences

Health

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The Power of Positivity: Mental Health Benefits for A Positive Outlook

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The Power of Positivity: Mental Health Benefits for A Positive Outlook

As we grow, our families hope that we remain healthy, feel satisfied with our careers, have satisfying friendships and romantic relationships, and feel positive overall about our lives. Are there factors that might impact the transition from adolescence to adulthood, ensuring we feel positive about these life transitions? Absolutely.

Research suggests that a teen’s affect, particularly positive affect, is a critical factor impacting positive outlook. So what is affect? It’s the tendency to express positive or negative emotions, which in turn influences how we experience things and determine whether to judge a given situation as positive or negative.


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Coping With Pandemic Fatigue: Support In Managing The Ongoing Pandemic

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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).

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Therapy During A Pandemic: Benefits of Engaging in Virtual Therapy

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Therapy During A Pandemic: Benefits of Engaging in Virtual Therapy

With the pandemic forcing many of us to stay inside as much as possible, most therapists are meeting their clients virtually at present, in order to protect others and remain safe. While there has been an adjustment to navigating virtual therapy, there have been many benefits to being able to transition to more virtual opportunities for therapy.

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How To Make Journaling Your Next Best Coping Strategy

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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.


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Dealing with Depression Amongst Winter: Managing Feelings of Gloom During Gloomy Months

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Dealing with Depression Amongst Winter: Managing Feelings of Gloom During Gloomy Months

As the holidays end and the winter begins to ramp up, symptoms of depression can heighten as well. Living with mental illness can feel isolating and lonely, especially when negative thoughts creep into our heads telling us these things. This is why it is crucial to connect with others, especially during the winter months when symptoms are known to worsen.

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New Years Resolutions for Your Mental Health

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New Years Resolutions for Your Mental Health

While many of us cannot wait for 2020 to end and feel 2021 will be better no matter what, there may still be some individual resolutions we can all consider, not only for our physical health but our mental health as well. Research has shown that there are certain strategies that improve mood and reduce the risk for mental health concerns. The ten strategies below are simple resolutions you might consider that can have a big impact on your well-being as we ring in 2021.

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Adopting an Attitude of Gratitude: Giving Thanks During Tough Times

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Adopting an Attitude of Gratitude: Giving Thanks During Tough Times

As the holidays approach, many struggle with difficulties that can make it a challenge to feel grateful and maintain a positive outlook. However, having a positive outlook has been linked to better ability to problem solve, and overall greater emotional wellness. So why be grateful at all? Well, gratitude enables you to see your life in a larger context beyond immediate problems. Gratitude expands your life experiences and counteracts ego-centered preoccupations with losses, fears, and wants. If you are only grateful when good things happen, it reinforces your ego’s demand for good things, leading to greater disappointment when things do not turn out the way you had hoped.

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Four Easy, Mindfulness Techniques to Use Throughout the Holiday Season

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Four Easy, Mindfulness Techniques to Use Throughout the Holiday Season

With the holiday season approaching, as stress and anxiety heighten, it can be helpful to develop more coping strategies to get through particularly difficult moments throughout your day. Mindfulness meditation can be an extremely helpful technique to reduce your stress and anxiety.However, you can engage in these practices even without any formal meditation throughout your day. Below are a few ways to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life allowing you to feel more focused, calm, and at peace.

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Dealing with the Holiday Have-Tos

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Dealing with the Holiday Have-Tos

As we end Halloween and approach Thanksgiving, thoughts of other winter holidays also begin to come up. Planning for all of these holidays and events can bring about panic, anxiety, stress, and a feeling of all the things we “have to” do. These “have to’s” such as cooking, decorating, buying gifts, getting together with others, etc. are the “have to’s” many of us face throughout the holiday season. With so many things to do, these “have to’s” can take a toll on our well-being. But do we really have to do all of these “have to’s”? Not necessarily. There are ways to make sure you find a balance between what you want to do, and what you have to do this holiday season.


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Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and Mental Health

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Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and Mental Health

As Thanksgiving approaches, the focus on gratitude and being thankful for others comes to mind. The research on understanding the impact of gratitude on health and relationships has also expanded over the last several years. Expressing gratitude on a consistent basis has been shown to positively impact important areas in one’s life including emotional wellbeing, physical health, and connectedness in relationships.

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Thoughts on Thanksgiving: Tips and Tricks to Cope with Thanksgiving Stress

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Thoughts on Thanksgiving: Tips and Tricks to Cope with Thanksgiving Stress

Often we may feel we have to brave through stress and worry, and that this is the only way to tackle the holiday: by grinning and bearing it. While this may seem like the best option in the short-term, when you add up the holidays each year and multiple by the many years you may manage holiday stress, this can seem overwhelming. The holidays are not a mental health sprint, but a marathon thus why not strategize on how to make the most of the holidays. Read below for some tips and tricks to manage stress during the holiday season.

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11 Autumn Self-Care Activities for People who Struggle with Self-Care

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11 Autumn Self-Care Activities for People who Struggle with Self-Care

As autumn approaches, the colder weather, shorter days, and busier schedules leave us feeling as though we have less time to accomplish what we want. Additionally, the holidays come closer with the many tasks to prepare as well. Stress comes with the changes the fall brings; it is a natural part of life to experience stress, however we can engage in activities to relieve that to some extent. Self-care can help us reduce the effects stress may have on ourselves. Without self-care, stress builds leaving us overwhelmed, fatigued, down, and physically sick. Self-care is any activity that is healthy and supports emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

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Dating During A Pandemic: Managing Feelings and Expectations

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Dating During A Pandemic: Managing Feelings and Expectations

Dating during the pandemic? What are the rules? Is there an etiquette to it? While we currently live in an ever-changing world as social distancing remains at the forefront of much of what we do there are still ways to determine how to date safely and form connections with others, while still practicing social distancing. What are the fears around dating during the time of COVID?

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The Science Behind Pumpkin Spice

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The Science Behind Pumpkin Spice

It’s fall, that means it’s pumpkin spice time! It’s everywhere! Coffee creamer, cereal, ice cream, pop tarts, granola bars and more, we see pumpkin spice as an ingredient in almost every item you could imagine. Do you know there is even pumpkin-spice flavored spam? While some may sound more delicious than others, either way pumpkin spice is good for you. There are health benefits to this that we often don’t talk about as we are indulging in some pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls. And while the baked goods may not be the healthiest, pumpkin spice itself has some major benefits.


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Autumn Anxiety: Developing Awareness & Tips to Prevent & Manage The Fall Blues

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Autumn Anxiety: Developing Awareness & Tips to Prevent & Manage The Fall Blues

As the days get shorter, temperatures drop, and we recognize those days of sitting by the pool, or going for a swim are ending, we can sometimes find ourselves feeling anxious. Autumn anxiety has been defined as, “The tendency for people to suffer from low mood or anxiety during the fall months.”. Typically autumn anxiety is triggered by the seasonal changes and occurs annually for those that experience this.

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5 Health Benefits of Pumpkins (You Likely Didn't Know)

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5 Health Benefits of Pumpkins (You Likely Didn't Know)

National Pumpkin Day is October 26th, however we seem to celebrate the joys of pumpkin throughout the fall, particularly in October. Whether it be a pumpkin spiced-latte, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, there are so many options on the market throughout the fall. While we eat these because they taste good, and bring back positive feelings of fall, there are other benefits to eating pumpkin as well. Read about the amazing health benefits of pumpkin!


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Social Media Breaks & Well-Being

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Social Media Breaks & Well-Being

We’ve all experienced the negative effects of social media at some point in time and we have either all taken a break or have had our friends and family take social media breaks for a time. We know that taking a break can help reduce our stress levels. Research is limited, however has revealed that a little break from social media can relieve physiological symptoms of stress, at least in the short-term.

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Dealing with Zoom Fatigue

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Dealing with Zoom Fatigue

Zoom calls have taken over. A few meetings in the morning, virtual learning, seminars over Zoom, a doctor’s visit over Doxy.me and FaceTime dates with family and friends. As social distancing continues, people move from video platform to video platform throughout the day. The unintended impact of this on mental health may be what’s being referred to as “Zoom fatigue” or the “feeling of tiredness, anxiousness, or worry from one video call to the next”.

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How Diet Impacts Anxiety (& Stress)

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How Diet Impacts Anxiety (& Stress)

With juggling many responsibilities including work, family, friends, and other responsibilities, it is easy to feel fatigued and overwhelmed. We know practicing self-care is important however at times can be difficult when having so much to do. One of the ways to cope with stress and anxiety is through our diet, via healthy eating. When stressed or anxious we are often consuming a lot of quick, unhealthy foods that only make us feel worse. We often feel these foods make us feel better, however stress-eating has been shown to be an ineffective coping strategy that can actually cause us to feel more anxious, moody and fatigued.

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Trauma & Resilience In Present Times: Trauma and Racism Within Social Media

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Trauma & Resilience In Present Times: Trauma and Racism Within Social Media

With so much content across social media around the pandemic and ongoing protests as well as outcries amongst systemic racism and police brutality, it’s important to understand the impact this has on one another and how this may exacerbate ongoing trauma responses.