10 Tips to De-stress Your Holidays

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The holidays can be joyful, but as we also know all too well, they can be tremendously stressful. Several factors contribute to holiday stress, including disruptions in our routines, lack of rest and sleep, financial challenges, difficult relationships and feelings of loss, loneliness and depression. Here are 10 tips that can help you manage some of the holiday-related stresses we all are likely to experience: 1) Consider your needs Take some time well in advance of the holidays to first …

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10 Qualities of Exceptional Advocates

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If you’re like me, you probably have some role models, mentors or idols you look up to that you respect for their awe-inspiring skills, gifts and talents. This is the case for almost every field, whether it be the arts, entertainment, world leaders, scientists, or athletes. If I asked you why you admire these individuals, you would likely be able to quickly list several of their positive qualities, such as honesty, personal integrity, artistic talent, intelligence, or physical abilities. Similarly, …

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Find What Makes You Happy

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Jessica Rodriguez This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked graduate student, wife, mom and advocate Jessica Rodriguez about her journey and her current activities. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? JR: My parents were active …

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11 Tips for Communicating More Clearly

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In my career as a clinical psychologist, I’ve seen time and time again how important clear communication is. In the health care setting, it’s vital that patients and health care professionals communicate effectively with each other. Patients need to be able to express their concerns openly and thoroughly, and providers must be able to give clear recommendations to patients for suggested treatments or behavior changes. Breakdowns in any part of this two-way process can cause significant problems, including decreased health …

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How to Get the Most Out of Your Support Group

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I’m a big fan of support groups and there are a zillion of them to help you with just about any type of personal challenge you may be facing. In one of my most popular posts, I discussed “9 Benefits of Support Groups.” To recap, these benefits of support groups include: Realizing that you are not alone Expressing your feelings Learning helpful information Improved social skills Gaining hope Reducing distress Increased self-understanding Helping others Affordability I thought it might be …

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Don’t Settle For Less

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Bethany Yeiser This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate and author Bethany Yeiser about her journey and her current activities. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment?  What was the turning point that …

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Helping Sexual and Gender Minority Male Survivors Heal from Sexual Trauma

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Guest Post by Joan Cook, Ph.D. and Amy Ellis, Ph.D. Trauma impacts nearly all of us. Really bad, horrible, life-threatening events can and do happen to people. But, some of us are in greater danger of getting a bigger dose of bad events. As trauma psychologists, we’d like to help the world heal from trauma, but, in this guest post, we’d like to take the opportunity to talk about a specific type of trauma in a particularly marginalized population. One …

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7 Things You May Not Know About World Mental Health Day

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Each year, World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10th. Here are 7 important facts about this very special day which may not be commonly known. 1) The goal The goal of World Mental Health Day is to “celebrate awareness for the global community in an empathetic way, with a unifying voice, helping those feel hopeful by empowering them to take action and to create lasting change.” 2) The history World Mental Health Day was developed by the World Federation for Mental Health and first observed on October 10, 1992. Since 1994, …

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