Causes of loneliness include life changes that lead to social isolation, like moving to a new place, grieving a death, or the end of a relationship. In some cases, loneliness is linked with mental health conditions like depression. People with low self-esteem may also tend to feel lonely if they struggle to make social connections. While everyone feels lonely at times, being alone too much can negatively affect your physical and emotional health....

Obviously, utilizing some sort of reminder system can help. Setting up an online calendar that sends reminders to your phone helps you keep track of all those appointments and meetings. Creating daily to-do lists can ensure that you don’t forget important tasks that need to be completed. But what about all the important information that you need to actually cement into your long-term memory? It will take some effort and even involve tweaking or dramatically changing your normal study routine, but there are a number of strategies you can utilize to get more out of your memory....

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS, is a relatively non-invasive procedure that has received considerable attention as a possible alternative treatment to reduce OCD symptoms. Repetitive TMS involves placing a small device directly on the scalp near the forehead. This device contains a magnetic coil of wire that carries electricity. The flow of electricity through the device generates a magnetic field, causing an electrical current to stimulate cells brain called neurons to become either more or less active....

This phenomenon is a very common experience. It often happens in the work setting—some co-workers have secret hookups and don’t want everyone in the office to know, some strictly flirt, while others feel awkward because they haven’t acted on their sexual tension. Keep reading to learn how to spot sexual tension, determine if sexual tension is healthy, avoid unwanted sexual tension, and realize that sexual tension is normal. Sexual Tension Signs Most everyone has experienced sexual tension from a crush at school or work at least once....

Meanwhile, emotion-focused coping techniques aid you in becoming less emotionally reactive to the stressors you face. They alter the way you experience these situations so they impact you differently. Many people think mainly of solution-focused coping strategies as the best way to manage stress. Cutting out the things that seem to cause us stress means we don’t need to learn how to alter our responses to any stressors—there will be none left in our lives!...

The Center for Disease Control estimates that approximately 9.4% of children in the United States meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, but only 4.4% of adults have ADHD.This may be due in part to the fact that adults have developed coping skills to manage their symptoms and often have sufficient control over their environment to prevent symptoms from interfering. If you are an adult with ADHD whose symptoms are interfering with your functioning, these tips and strategies may help you....

It’s helpful to understand what the most common rationalizations are, identify what situations might be triggering them, and learn healthy coping mechanisms to keep you smoke-free. When you accept that it’s normal to think about smoking from time to time, you can generate more understanding and self-compassion. “One Cigarette Won’t Hurt” Of course, there is no such thing as a safe cigarette. Having even just one cigarette has immediate health consequences, such as increasing your heart rate and filling your airways with toxins....

Feeling stuck in a place of hopelessness makes life really tough. Fortunately, there are some things you can do when you feel hopeless to make life a bit better—no matter how bad things might seem. Follow Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts Consider That Your Brain Might Be Lying to You Your brain might tell you that things are awful, horrible, and dreadful. It may try to convince you that you can’t succeed or tell you that there’s no chance things are going to get better....

But the reality is that fewer people are having babies for reasons that vary from health circumstances, financial reasons, concern about the future of the planet or simply having other priorities, according to a poll from the New York Times. Regardless of the reason, more adults are making this choice each year. So, a recent study from Michigan State University set out to gauge how these individuals feel about life after making that decision....

This article discusses what the actor-observer bias is and how it works. It also provides some examples of how this bias can impact behavior as well as some steps you might take to minimize its effects. What Is Actor-Observer Bias? The actor-observer bias tends to be more pronounced in situations where the outcomes are negative. In a situation where a person experiences something negative, the individual will often blame the situation or circumstances....

The Link Between ADHD and Perfectionism Perfectionism is the most common cognitive distortion reported in adults with ADHD. It often manifests in procrastinating because conditions weren’t “just right” or in a negative self-image. Growing up, ADHD symptoms can make children the focus of excess criticism and punishment as hyperactivity can be disruptive while memory and attention issues can make getting schoolwork and chores done difficult. Impulsivity and executive dysfunctions cause you to neglect basic needs like nutrition and hygiene, forget deadlines, abandon tasks halfway through, and struggle to start things even when you want to do them....

Those who take the survey rate their own mental or emotional well-being as excellent, good, fair, or poor. From 2001 to 2019, the reading for those who chose excellent or good ranged from 81% to 89%. In November 2020, it was 76%, and the latest excellent ratings are 8 points lower than Gallup has recorded in any previous year. Survey Results The fall in Americans’ mental and emotional well-being ratings isn’t consistent across demographic subgroups....

To keep the focus on principles rather than personalities, personal anonymity should be maintained at all levels of participation in 12-step fellowship—in meetings, in 12th step work, and even in sponsorship. No Human Power Maryann links the 12th Tradition to the words, “No human power could have relieved us from our alcoholism.” She notes that no guru can prevent you from taking the first drink. People in Alcoholics Anonymous need to avoid placing their sponsor or counselor on a pedestal, only to see the inevitable fall....

The common consequence of not believing one is ill is that he or she does not want to get well. Indeed, a patient’s lack of concern for the problem has long been a defining feature of anorexia nervosa. As far back as 1873, Ernest-Charles Lasègue, a French doctor who was one of the first to describe anorexia nervosa, wrote: “‘I do not suffer and must then be well,’ is the monotonous formula....

APA format is the official writing style used by the American Psychological Association. This format dictates how academic and professional papers should be structured and formatted. Does Your Paper Need an Appendix? Some questions to ask about whether you should put information in the body of the paper or in an appendix: Is the material necessary for the reader to understand the research? If the answer is yes, it should be in your paper and not in an appendix....

In this article, we discuss the connection between autism and bipolar disorder and autistic people’s experiences of bipolar disorder. The Connection Between Autism and Bipolar Disorder Autistic people can have bipolar disorder, and they can experience their symptoms differently as a result. Megan is autistic and has bipolar disorder, and she shared her experience with bipolar disorder as an autistic person. “Bipolar symptoms already come with risky behavior,” she explained, “but I think I ended up in more dangerous situations than maybe I would have if I weren’t autistic because I didn’t recognize the different social innuendos....

These behaviors are forms of avoidance coping. Here’s more about what that means as well as how you can learn to cope more effectively. What Is Avoidance Coping? Avoidance coping—also known as avoidant coping, avoidance behaviors, and escape coping—is a maladaptive form of coping in which a person changes their behavior to avoid thinking about, feeling, or doing difficult things. Avoiding stress might seem like a great way to become less stressed, but this isn’t necessarily the case....