Giving Up? Challenging the Desire to Mentally Check Out

The Window of Tolerance is a helpful and important nervous system regulation concept. Everyone's Window of Tolerance looks a little different depending on their personality, background, and a host of other factors. Increasing the Window of Tolerance is often a critical task for relational trauma survivors. What is the “Window...

People who self-sabotage may be repeating patterns and habits that were learned and conditioned earlier in life and have become automatic. Trauma, self-esteem, and self-worth affect the probability of self-sabotage in work and relationships. There are both conscious and unconscious patterns of self-sabotage. While it may surprise many of us,...

People typically use one of two systems when they think and make choices. System 1 is a fast decision approach that relies on intuition, while System 2 is a slow decision approach that relies on conscious deliberation. System 1 thinking leaves you vulnerable to bias, but System 2 thinking comes...

Emotional validation is the core of a healthy relationship. Dismissing the feelings of others can cause them to feel invisible and unimportant. When your partner denies your feelings, listen to your inner wisdom and trust it. Understand and accept that your feelings matter. Your most fundamental relationship in life is...

Being happy indefinitely is impossible because no emotion lasts forever. People may protect their suffering because their sense of identity is tied to it. A healthy way to work with emotions is to strategically observe one's range of emotions and link them to patterns of behavior. Imagine your first therapy...

Shielding those vulnerable to COVID-19, while allowing the virus to spread, largely unmitigated, through the rest of the population, would have failed according to a new modeling paper published today in PLOS Global Public Health by University of Bath scientists. Shielding strategies or "focused protection", as advocated for in the...

In every relationship, there are consequences for each action. These consequences may be negative, resulting in a loss of trust, or positive, resulting in enhanced feelings of love. The effects may be large and immediate or imperceptible and graduated. These results stem from the choices we make. We all make choices. How we choose to respond to our “fears and anxieties about relationships” directly results in how good or poor they are (Beverley, 2004/2008). That’s where the bank of civility comes into play.

Children are hard-wired to protect their attachment relationships. A narcissistic co-parent who plays the victim automatically positions the other parent as the "bad guy." A narcissistic co-parent controls a child by giving love when the child does what he or she wants. A narcissistic co-parent influences a child in two...

A positive family environment is one in which family members get along well and are supportive of one another. A positive family environment can lead to better health and happiness as an adult. Individuals growing up in less supportive, high-conflict families may see the world differently. How important is the...

Going on a "low news diet" is easier for those with greater privilege (often men), whose lives aren't as impacted by certain events. Advice to "negotiate" can sometimes backfire for women. Telling women to engage in "more self-care" can make their real struggles feel invisible or self-made. I'll preface the...

While under the influence you’ll probably act differently, but that doesn’t mean your drinking reveals—or can reveal—who you really are. Alcohol lowers your inhibitions, leading you to act more impulsively and care much less about how others might adversely regard your behavior. The dangers of excessive...

Focused attention and open awareness practices are two important subcategories of mindfulness. Focused attention practices help us hone skills of concentration and cognitive control. Open awareness practices help us develop equanimity with the ups and downs of life. Mindfulness is commonly referenced but frequently misunderstood. It is often discussed as...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and it offers an opportunity to increase awareness about mental illness and mental health conditions, and to provide information about what you can do if mental health is a cause for concern for you or a loved one. Together, we can replace the stigma surrounding mental illness with hope.

Couples tend to make small sacrifices on a daily basis, even without necessarily being aware that they are. When one partner's relocation requires a large-scale sacrifice from the partner, the situation can put the relationship to the test. Based on new research, couples can survive these major sacrifices by understanding...

Multiple studies measuring brain activity have demonstrated the memorization benefits of handwriting. Digital note-taking isn’t more efficient. One study showed that handwriting notetakers completed the task 25% faster than digital notetakers. Digital calendars and notes do have some advantages, such as sharing, reminders, alarms, and searchability. Most people swear...

People who are most successful at relationships are positive energizers. Positive energy builds on itself and is self-enhancing. Anyone can learn to become a positive energizer. What's the number one key to relationship success? New research suggests that there is one thing that is more powerful than attractiveness, personality, and...

Climate change affects a large cohort of Americans each year. In addition to impacting people's physical health, climate change increases the risk of disaster-related mental illness. Interventions that address climate change and its effects must consider and incorporate the impact of such policy on mental health. According to the White...

Pathological anxiety is defined by its intensity, disproportionality, and functional impact. When it comes to anxiety, doing what feels most self-protective often just reinforces our fears. Exposing ourselves to our fears and learning how to tolerate anxiety is the key to its extinction. If you strike me down, I shall...

The number of adults who do not have kids, and do not think they will ever have kids, is growing. Why is this happening? How do these adults feel about the prospect of never having kids? Decades of survey data offer some answers. Will You Ever Have Kids? The Men...

In case of acute disaster, different organizations develop their own set of tools to cope with stress. Drs Mauseth and McGuire co-leads of the Behavioral Health Strike Team for the Washington State Department of Health made their own set of tools. Included in Dr. Mauseth's Health Support Team training are...