Grief is a normal human response to the pain of losing someone. It can be brutal, anguished, disorienting, maddening, enraging, and lonely. But ultimately, most people will emerge from grief. They may feel forever changed; however, many find meaning in their lives again. Those difficult feelings eventually make way for…
While there are five primary stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — they aren’t linear, and our grief processes are highly personal. Some people aren’t flooded with emotions after a major loss. At least, not at first. Instead, they feel nothing. Read on for more information…
I entered my first real relationship in the 7th grade (I know—young) and stayed in this relationship until my freshman year of college. I’ll do the math for you: this relationship took up roughly six years of my life. In other words, at the age of 18, I had spent…
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a condition that can make trusting other people and establishing lasting relationships extremely difficult. This can make coping with BPD in relationships frustrating for the person carrying the diagnosis, as well as for a loved one trying to understand and be supportive. While navigating borderline…
Trust issues are characterized by fear of betrayal, abandonment, or manipulation. And this fear is often triggered as a result of betrayal (such as infidelity), abandonment (think: leaving a child or foregoing a relationship with them), or manipulation (for example, dishonesty or gaslighting). If someone you trusted — a partner,…
Q: How can I handle feeling excluded from my dance team at a dance competition? A: Hi there, I’m hearing how difficult this is for you, and I commend you for reaching out for support. Feeling excluded is one of the more challenging experiences for us as humans, given that…
You always want to be able to comfort those close to you, but when they talk about deep and bitter truths like struggling with suicidal thoughts, it can be hard to know what to say—it’s scary to hear, and oftentimes, there isn’t much you personally can do about it. What’s…
Q: How do I cope with death with a down-low friend relationship? A: First, I want to offer sincere condolences for your loss. You have layers of challenges to unpack and process. It is very important for you to have emotional support at this time. While the grief process is…
Schizoid personality disorder is a condition that causes a pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotions in interpersonal settings. Someone with schizoid personality disorder typically will avoid social interaction and others may perceive the person with schizoid personality disorder as odd or cold or…
“I hate my life” has become a popular sentiment over the years. People say it for all sorts of reasons: stressful work environment, turbulent love life, lack of friends, concern for the world at large. The real problem occurs when people start to say it and mean it. As much…
Maybe you’re going through a really rough breakup. Or you’ve just moved to a new city and you’re feeling extremely lonely. Or nothing out of the ordinary has happened, but you aren’t all that happy, and you want to do something about it. In all these circumstances, a viable solution…
The idea of brainwashing had a viral moment in the 1950s when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) decided to wage psychological warfare against Communism. Project MKUltra secretly experimented with “mind control” techniques, dosing people with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) without their consent. In fact, at one point the CIA…
