Imagine suffering a terrible loss and not having it be understood by hardly anyone. Sounds pretty awful, no? Unfortunately, that’s exactly what disenfranchised grief is—a profound and often overlooked emotional pain experienced by individuals following a significant loss that society does not fully acknowledge or validate. Disenfranchised grief can have…
A delusion is someone’s unshakable belief in something untrue. It’s not a part of the person’s culture or subculture—and almost everyone else knows the belief is false. Delusions can also be linked to a mental health condition, known as delusional disorder. While delusional disorder is a single condition, people with…
Coping strategies (referred to interchangeably as coping mechanisms or coping skills) are behaviors that are designed to help us reduce the negative emotions associated with difficult events, situations, relationships, and more. Coping mechanisms may be learned both consciously or unconsciously. Learning and implementing healthy coping strategies is a routine part…
My dad is a psychologist—growing up, I remember him helping all types of people, from inmates prepping for parole to other children and teens who were having behavioral issues. As someone from a poor family and a rough area of Chicago, his life lessons were always insightful, if a little…
Becoming a new parent is hard for anyone. There are so many unknowns and new lessons that come along with having a baby: Will they sleep okay? Are they eating enough? What does that cry mean? Is their crib safe enough? What do I do when I go back to…
As soon as talk about a looming global pandemic swept across the States, everyone took a hard, isolated hit. For fans of sports teams, this was an especially hard transition in a unique way. Most major sports seasons were halted or altered—which meant that fans of these sports teams weren’t…
Rewind to January 2020. You were in the office, working with great coworkers and an awesome boss, learning more and more each day. Everything made sense and everything felt right. Then, all of a sudden, a pandemic spread across the globe and ruined all of your plans. Sounds like a…
The election season is in full swing. As candidates ramp up their campaigning and news outlets report more and more about the political climate, it can start to feel overwhelming, stressful, and nerve-wracking. Even after the election season ends, those feelings might not fade. If that describes how you’re feeling,…
Humor can help the therapeutic process in more ways than one: first, it can help to solidify that bond between therapist and client. A therapist can also demonstrate humor as a healthy coping mechanism for handling the stresses of life to their client. Additionally, humor can help a client feel…
Resilience is how well you’re able to adapt: an individual with a lot of resilience can adapt well in the face of struggle, while someone with little or no resilience cannot. A resilient mindset is important as it helps you bounce back from difficult losses and maintain positivity even when…
