It can be particularly hard when you are going out with friends who still smoke. Doing things that you used to enjoy when you smoked, such as going out for drinks, can also make you crave a cigarette. Giving up smoking is hard from a physical withdrawal standpoint, but kicking the social habit makes the process that much more difficult. Fortunately, you don’t need to give up your social relationships in order to quit smoking....

There are many reasons why you may decide to stop loving someone—perhaps your feelings aren’t returned, or maybe your partner repeatedly acts in ways that are against your best interests. Whatever the grounds, pulling away from someone you held such strong feelings for is never easy. However, it can be accomplished with the right steps. We’ll be talking you through the ways you can stop loving someone. To understand why it can be a difficult process, we’ll be delving into the reasons taking a step back from the person you love can be a heartbreaking ordeal....

There are several different types of antidepressant medications and it’s important to find the one that works best for you. According to a 2016 study, up to two-thirds of people who have depression don’t respond to the first antidepressant drug they are prescribed and need to change their medication before they see results. As the different types of antidepressants work in different ways, there are multiple techniques to switch antidepressants, depending on what you are taking, says Jeffrey Zabinski, MD, a psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center....

When you lose a partner, you lose the planned future you imagined with them, those little jokes understood by just the both of you, the easy access you permitted each other, and in some cases—you might even lose a friend. If you’ve just experienced a breakup, it’s normal to feel a little lost at sea. Your next steps can feel unsure, and the prospect of life without your significant other by your side can feel daunting....

It may be unfathomable for some young people to think of their grandparents as being happier than they are, but research shows that Americans actually get happier as they age despite their health conditions and other problems that arise. Before we celebrate, though, let’s take a look at the evidence on aging and happiness. Trends in Happiness Let’s face it: Research related to happiness is filled with judgments and subjectivity because happiness is subjective....

What Is St. John’s Wort? St. John’s wort is an over-the-counter natural herb also known as Hypericum perforatum, Klamath weed, hypericum, and goatweed. The flowering plant can be used for many purposes and is available in a variety of forms. The extract can be used alone or in combination with other herbs as a nutritional supplement in a capsule, tablet, liquid, or topical product. The flowering tops of the St. John’s wort plant is often used in teas....

There are many ways to journal and few limitations on who can benefit. You can begin journaling daily, weekly, or on an as-needed basis when stress gets to be too intense, and you can choose the journaling method that works best for you. One way journaling can relieve stress is by helping you work through anxious feelings. Left unchecked, anxiety can lead to stress and rumination. Some of the roots of your anxiety can be minimized through a bit of focused examination....

This article discusses what it means to be fully functioning and the characteristics of people who are in this state of being. It also explores some of the strategies that people can use to become fully functioning. What Is a Fully Functioning Person? Rogers suggested that people have an actualizing tendency, or a need to achieve their full potential—a concept that is often referred to as self-actualization. This person has received unconditional positive regard from others and does not place conditions on their own worth....

Cisgender (those whose gender aligns with the identity associated with their sex at birth) or heterosexual individuals grow up in an environment that is generally accepting of their identities and relationships. This is often not the case for LGBTQ+ individuals, who may face prejudice or stigma for doing things others take for granted, such as holding hands or wearing clothes they like. The need to monitor oneself in social situations sets the stage for the development of social anxiety disorder in individuals who may already be predisposed due to genetics or other environmental factors....

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looked at experimental economics studies involving more than 50,000 participants, specifically analyzing preferences regarding risk-taking, patience, altruism and trust. “We found men were much more likely than women to be at the extreme ends of the behavioural spectrum, either acting very selfishly or very altruistically, very trusting or very distrusting, very fair or very unfair, very risky or very risk averse and were either very short-term or very long-term focused,” said study researcher Stefan Volk, PhD, associate professor at the University of Sydney Business School, in a statement....

This decline began at the beginning of the crisis and only grew as case numbers rose and stay-at-home orders lingered. According to a recent JAMA Network Open study, this decline in mental health has persisted in the form of increased substance use, depression, and suicidal thoughts. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the WHO declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, it’s clear that this has been the most significant mental health stressor many of us have faced in our lives....

MBCT was developed by therapists Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale, who sought to build upon cognitive therapy. They felt that by integrating cognitive therapy with a program developed in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn called mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), therapy could be more effective. Techniques Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy builds upon the principles of cognitive therapy by using techniques such as mindfulness meditation to teach people to consciously pay attention to their thoughts and feelings without placing any judgments upon them....

“There is a gap between the effectiveness of medication for those struggling with alcohol use disorder and the frequency with which it’s prescribed,” Oar founder and CEO Jonathan Hunt-Glassman tells Verywell Mind, “so we started Oar to be an approachable place to get treatment.” The Shift to Online Treatment According to a 2019 survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, around 20 million teenagers and adults in the United States have a substance use disorder....

This connection between nicotine and ADHD is a public health concern because the regular use of cigarettes is associated with a host of negative health consequences. In addition, for many people, cigarettes can be a gateway to other drugs—potentially opening the door to the use of marijuana and cocaine. Connection Between Nicotine and ADHD There are a number of factors that seem to contribute to increased nicotine use by people with ADHD....