“During a busy, high-stress day, our bodies are often running on adrenaline,” Carla Manly, PhD, a clinical psychologist practicing in California, says. “Calming, mindful actions such as taking a bath bring the body’s parasympathetic nervous system on board; as we wind down, we feel calm and stress-free. As we relax in a bath, the levels of stress neurochemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol subside, and we experience an increase in soothing, feel-good neurochemicals such as serotonin....

Knowing your partner’s love language and letting them know yours is a way to help you both feel loved and appreciated. Author and pastor Gary Chapman describes how to use these love languages to show your partner you care for them in a way that speaks to their heart. The Five Love Languages Chapman’s book “The 5 Love Languages” was first published in 1992. Before writing the book, Chapman began to notice patterns in couples he was counseling....

Apart from the loss of a loved one, you may also experience grief and anger if you’ve lost other things that were meaningful to you, such as a relationship, a job, or anything that ties to your identity, says Angeleena May, LMHC, Executive Director at AMFM Healthcare. This article explores anger as one of the five stages of grief, discusses the forms anger may take and suggests some coping strategies that may be helpful....

One of the major tenets of this approach is that it requires the clinician to have expert communication and listening skills to facilitate change without directing, confronting, instructing, warning, or advising the person on what they should or should not do. Instead, the goal is to approach people in a respectful and curious manner that honors their ability to make their own choices. Consequently, learning to interact with people using motivational interviewing takes time, practice, and patience....

Cross-sectional studies are observational in nature and are known as descriptive research, not causal or relational, meaning that you can’t use them to determine the cause of something, such as a disease. Researchers record the information that is present in a population, but they do not manipulate variables. This type of research can be used to describe characteristics that exist in a community, but not to determine cause-and-effect relationships between different variables....

Harmful Drinking Habits While not everyone who binge drinks or drinks heavily on occasion will develop an alcohol use disorder, this type of risky drinking behavior does increase your risk of harmful consequences, including an AUD. Here’s a look at some common risky drinking habits and how they can turn harmful. Binge Drinking According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), binge drinking is defined as consuming four or more standard drinks for women and five or more drinks for men in about two hours....

Meet Ronald Siegel Ronald Siegel, PsyD, is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, where he’s taught since the early 1980s. He’s a longtime student of mindfulness meditation and he has taught internationally about the importance of mindfulness and mind-body treatment. He maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Lincoln, MA. He’s written many books including “The Mindfulness Solution,” “Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy,” “Mindfulness and Psychotherapy,” and “The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary....

During the initial COVID-19 lockdowns, many, particularly those who live alone, realized the impact of the loss or reduction of human touch in their lives. A consensual and desired hug can be a warm and welcoming greeting, a therapeutic and nurturing touch, and a signal of friendliness and care. A hug helps us bond with others and experience a sense of safety, comfort, empathy, and calm, qualities many deeply craved during a time of uncertainty....

If you’re receiving mental health services or have a loved one with a mental health condition, knowing the basic tenets of this model can help you advocate for the best care. The framework can give you language to use when describing gaps in service. Your input can be invaluable in helping mental health care providers shift toward the values outlined by this model. Recovery Is Possible The hallmark principle of the recovery model is the belief that people can recover from mental illness to lead full, satisfying lives....

Debt is a specific type of financial strain that seems to have a particular psychological effect on an individual. Additionally, debt is pervasive and is an integral part of the financial reality of so many people. As such, it is important to begin looking at the impact that indebtedness has on mental well-being and overall health. It is well known that financial stress and belonging to the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder can shave years off of people’s lives and affect their overall health....

Hallucinogens can also affect regions of the brain that deal with regulating arousal and physiological responses to stress and panic, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) research. Short-Term Effects of Hallucinogens People who use hallucinogens can see things, hear things and feel sensations that seem to be very real, but do not in fact exist. These altered perceptions are known as hallucinations. Typically, these hallucinatory effects can begin from 20 to 90 minutes after ingestion and can last up to 12 hours....

Emotions in Psychology and Research Emotions are also an important topic in psychology, and researchers have devoted a great deal of energy toward understanding the purpose of emotions and developing theories about how and why emotions occur. Researchers have also learned a great deal about the actual expression of emotion. Body language such as a slouched posture or crossed arms can be used to send different emotional signals. One of the most important ways that we express emotion, however, is through facial expressions....

Social anxiety disorder can be seriously debilitating, and the best treatment approach involves combining cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and/or medication (such as SSRIs). But there is much that can be done through self-help to overcome social anxiety. How to Overcome Social Anxiety Here are a few strategies: Get out.Keep a journal.Live a healthy lifestyle.Set goals.Reward yourself.Make one change.Take a supplement.Embrace “alone time.“Practice social skills. Self-Help for Social Anxiety Self-help strategies often draw on the effective components of more traditional treatment approaches....

This fear may lead women to avoid becoming pregnant, even though they want to have children, or to opt for a Caesarean section in order to avoid vaginal birth. Tokophobia may occur in women who have never given birth to a child, but it may also affect women who have had prior traumatic birth experiences. Overview of Tokophobia Pregnancy and childbirth are major events in many women’s lives. While it can be a time of great joy, it can also be a source of stress and anxiety....

What Is a Teen Transport Service? Emotions often run high in arranging for a teen to leave home to go into a treatment program. Teen transport services are designed to help by providing safe transportation and a therapeutic transition to programs such as wilderness therapy, residential treatment centers (RTC) or residential drug treatment. The staff who work for these services anticipate resistance from the teens they transport, so they are trained to look for signs of anxiety or attempts to run and have a plan for how to respond....

Antidepressants There are two classes of antidepressant medications that are sometimes used to treat phobias: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). While anti-depressants are most commonly associated with the treatment of mood disorders like depression, they also have anti-anxiety effects that can potentially be helpful in phobias. SSRIs like including Celexa (citalopram), Zoloft (sertraline), Prozac (fluoxetine), and Paxil (paroxetine) are often used for anxiety disorders. Potential side effects include:...

Trileptal side effects may occur, so you should review these before you begin taking this medication. Trileptal Side Effects Trileptal can also produce side effects. Not everyone will experience these side effects. You may experience only a few, or you may experience several. They may also vary in terms of severity. If you experience side effects, talk to your doctor about what you can do to manage them. Common Side Effects According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), common side effects of Trileptal include:...

Here’s an overview of what psychosis is and how to address it. Symptoms of Psychosis Simply put, psychosis is when someone loses contact with reality. Someone who is experiencing psychosis can’t tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t. They experience delusions or hallucinations that disrupt their lives and may prevent them from being independent depending on the severity of their condition. Delusions and Hallucinations Some experiencing psychosis may have delusions and hallucinations....

New moms, college students, and people who work with the public may be more prone to getting unsolicited advice. However, anyone can be on the receiving end of unsolicited advice, and it doesn’t always feel helpful. In fact, unsolicited advice has the potential to create stress. When someone offers their opinion on what you could be doing differently, it can sometimes feel like criticism. In some situations, the advice-givers aren’t judging you, but feeling defensive can make the advice feel like criticism....