Tips for Setting Goals in a Relationship: Building a Stronger Future Together
Setting goals is an important part of any relationship. Just as individuals set personal goals to achieve growth and fulfillment, partners can also benefit from setting shared goals that foster connection, understanding, and long-term happiness. Goal-setting helps...
It’s Okay If You Don’t Set Resolutions (or Keep Them)
As the calendar turns to January, it’s easy to feel the pressure to set New Year’s resolutions. Every year, millions of people commit to sweeping lifestyle changes with the hope of becoming a “better” version of themselves. While the new year might seem like the...
Letting Go of Perfection: How to Embrace Progress Over Perfection This Year
The pursuit of perfection can feel empowering, but it is often a barrier to personal growth. While striving for excellence is societally celebrated, the rigid pursuit of perfection can create a cycle of stress, procrastination, and fear of failure. This mindset often...
Positive Emotion Dysregulation: What Is It and How Does It Impact Trauma Healing?
Fear, shame, grief, panic – these are typically what we associate with the emotional experience of trauma. The thing is, trauma doesn’t just heighten fear or sadness – it can also complicate how we experience positive emotions like joy, love, and hope. What happens...
I Feel Alone in My Relationship – Why?
Being in a relationship often brings expectations of emotional connection, intimacy, and companionship. But why do so many people find themselves feeling isolated and disconnected, even within a committed partnership? This experience of feeling alone in a relationship...
How To Deal With Difficult In-Laws
Jokes about difficult in-laws– usually the mother-in-law– are as old as the concept of marriage. In fact, the oldest written mother-in-law joke comes from Juvenal, a 1st century Roman writer. But there’s often some bitter reality behind these jokes; couples often...
Why We People-Please and Ways to Heal
People-pleasing is a common behavior that manifests as an excessive desire to satisfy others at the expense of one’s own needs and well-being. While wanting to be liked is a natural human experience, chronic people-pleasing can lead to significant emotional distress...
Coping With Grief During the Holidays
The holidays are supposed to be a time of celebration, but if you’re missing someone, this period can be profoundly difficult. Your loved one’s absence may be felt more deeply, and you might struggle to get in the festive mood. There’s no easy way to cope with grief...
What To Do When You and Your Partner Are Both Feeling Depressed
Depression is hard on relationships. When you’re depressed, it’s hard to muster enthusiasm for anything you love– and that can include your partner. And when your partner is depressed, it can be confusing for the relationship; it can seem like your partner doesn’t...
Reconnecting with Your Emotions: Why It Matters
From a young age, many of us are taught that our emotions don’t matter. We learn to silence them, doubt them, or push them aside. Maybe you've heard things like "it’s not that bad" when something really did feel bad, leading you to question your feelings. Or, “calm...
Is Depression Contagious?
When we talk about contagious diseases, we generally think of things like Covid, chicken pox, and the flu. We usually don’t think about mental illnesses– but social behaviors can spread among people, and can lead to mental health challenges. Let’s explore how...
Tips for Building a Healthy Relationship with Food
Food can be a complicated subject. It nourishes us, it brings us pleasure, it helps us connect to our culture; but at the same time, it can also lead to disordered eating, guilt, body image issues, and confusion about what to eat. But there are ways to rebuild and...
We Used to Be So Close. What happened? (And How to Get Back)
To state the obvious, we all know that relationships, particularly intimate partnerships, take work and intention. But even with all the good intentions, you can still find that your relationship is in trouble. And this can feel really awful. What do you do when this...
Understanding and Coping with Loneliness Anxiety
Understanding the Fear of Being Alone Does everyone seem to be in a happy relationship around you? Do you feel more alone than ever? Research indicates that the fear of being alone, often termed "loneliness anxiety," is a common experience. A study published in The...
How to Make Your Voice Heard in the Workplace
In any workplace, having your voice heard can be challenging, especially if you're navigating layers of identity, company hierarchy, or personality dynamics. Whether it's because of systemic issues or personal experiences, many people find themselves feeling...
Chronic Pain and Its Connection to Trauma
Chronic pain is a condition that affects millions of people, but its causes can sometimes be more complex than physical injury or illness. For many, chronic pain is tied to emotional trauma, often in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. If you’ve experienced trauma,...
Dating Someone with Depression: Tips for Supporting Your Partner (And Yourself)
Nearly 30% of American adults have been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives. It’s one of the most prevalent mental health conditions, and it can be extremely challenging to deal with. Depression can look like a black hole; it saps your ability to...
The Different Types of Intrusive Thoughts and How to Reduce Them
Have you ever had a thought pop into your head and it scared you because you didn’t know where it came from and it was distressing? That’s an intrusive thought. These are thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere, often accompanied by distress. These are not simply...
Caring for Yourself Between Therapy Sessions
Beginning therapy is truly a commitment. Although it is typically one hour a week or every other week, it can open up so much between sessions. You might find yourself feeling depleted or emotionally drained. Sometimes there is anxiety or exhaustion before or after a...
Is It Possible to Eat Too Healthy? Orthorexia’s Impact
Disordered eating is a big problem, especially for women and girls. Globally, almost a third of girls demonstrated disordered eating, and the prevalence of disordered eating continues to increase. While the DSM-V only includes five diagnosable eating disorders–...
When You and Your Partner Don’t Agree on Election Day
Election Day can stir a lot of emotions, and for couples with differing political beliefs, it can be especially challenging. In today’s polarized climate, it’s increasingly common for partners to find themselves on opposite sides of the political spectrum. While these...