Category Archives: Mental Health

Storytelling to Heal from Trauma

storytelling to heal from trauma

Telling your story can make all the difference. After having experienced trauma, however, it can be difficult to vocalize, organize, and summarize what you went through. It takes time to craft your narrative. It is helpful to remember that you get to decide how to tell your story. You ultimately determine how to interpret the […]

Biopsychosocial Understanding of Self

The biopsychosocial-spiritual-cultural model helps mental health professionals understand clients as they exist in their environments. So what does that mean for you as the client? How do you understand yourself in these different areas? How do they define you and how do you define them? Biological This component has everything to do with your physical […]

Empowerment in Practice

Empowerment theory encourages groups of people to band together to overcome adversity. There are three tenants of cognitive empowerment, according to Gutiérrez in “Understanding the empowerment process: Does consciousness make a difference?” They include identifying similar others, redistributing self-blame for past events, and developing a sense of personal freedom. This directly applies to recovery. To […]

Shame and Guilt in Addiction

Experiencing shame and guilt is a common part of addiction, recovery, and life itself. When you fixate on failed relationships, lost opportunities, or missed connections, it can become a never-ending cycle of negativity. However, this fails to acknowledge your full journey.  If you begin to envision your life after recovery, you may start to see […]

Depression is Not Laziness

Depression, being “bummed,” or experiencing the feeling of hopelessness is a normal fluctuation in your mental state. During this period, the person experiencing it is often less likely or willing to participate in normal daily activities and other people may misinterpret the scenario as laziness. This is harmful as it fails to validate the genuine […]

What is a Panic Attack?

A panic attack is a sudden onset of overwhelming fear causing physical symptoms like rapid heart palpitations, sweating, vision changes, hyperventilation, headache, dizziness, and other symptoms. Some people report a feeling like “the world is ending” or a sense of impending doom. The cause of panic attacks is generally excessive anxiety.  How to Manage a […]

Understanding Anger

Anger, while often frowned upon in our society as a forbidden emotion, is a natural feeling for humans to experience. We all get mad at times. However, it is of utmost importance to understand what causes your anger and how you can learn to manage it. What’s the Origin? Where is your anger coming from? […]

Are You in the “Pink Cloud?”

The “pink cloud” is the period during recovery some people describe as where they are experiencing euphoria and an abundance of optimism around the prospect of sobriety. It can last days, weeks, or even months. Often, this period takes hold after having moved past the withdrawal symptoms associated with detoxification.  The Pros The positive flow […]

Letting Go of the Male Insensitivity Myth

Men cry. That may come as a shock to you, but it is part of our life experience. We cry when we experience loss, when we feel unreciprocated affection, when we fear the future, and when we dwell in the past. It is a myth that manhood does not allow sensitivity — it’s important to […]