Your 12-year-old son keeps getting in trouble at school — for picking on his classmates, lying to his teacher, and even stealing other kids’ things. You think he’s just “acting out.” Until you find out he’s been sneaking out at night for the last 6 months. It becomes apparent that…
Male hypoactive sexual desire disorder (MHSDD) is a sexual disorder that affects individuals who were assigned as male at birth. This mental health condition severely reduces a man’s desire for sex—he may experience difficulty in being physically intimate with a partner, or may struggle to become aroused by erotic images…
Dissociative identity disorder is perhaps the best-known, but most misunderstood dissociative disorder. It’s marked by the presentation of alternate personalities, commonly referred to as “alters.” These alters often differ drastically from one another and can change the affected person’s voice, body language, speech patterns, handwriting, and more. Dissociative identity disorder can…
Many children are shy by nature. They might hug their parents’ legs and bury their faces when introduced to someone new or run off at a record pace to avoid the interaction altogether. This is not uncommon — but some children fail to speak in select (or all) social situations. If…
Stress is unavoidable. It’s a universal response to challenges that threaten our health and well-being — some of the most common stressors being job loss, divorce, and the loss of a loved one. When confronted with a stressful event, we might feel frustrated, worried, nervous, or angry; we might lose sleep…
A traumatic event is an extremely distressing experience. We’re talking physical injury or violence, serious illness, and natural disasters – these are all examples of trauma. These events cause physical, mental, and emotional harm to victims. And sometimes, they even trigger the development of a mental health disorder: one being…
It’s uncomfortable (and even scary) to witness that one friend fly off the handle from a minor provocation or a stranger epically lose their cool in the grocery store. Big, aggressive behavior from our fellow humans can feel terrorizing, especially when they suggest physical violence. How can innocent bystanders wrap…
To be occasionally anxious is to be human. But wrestling with anxious thoughts every now and again is a far cry from the symptoms of clinical anxiety. Below, we explore and define the symptoms, triggers, and warning signs of common anxiety disorders, and more. Being able to recognize anxiety symptoms…
Transvestic disorder is a paraphilic disorder characterized by emotional distress or functional impairment due to erotic cross-dressing. Is cross-dressing a mental issue? No, it’s not. Cross-dressing is simply the act of dressing as the opposite gender. The behavior is typically practiced by cisgender, heterosexual men who wear traditionally feminine apparel…
Why is there a bipolar 2 and a bipolar 1? There’s no depression 2 or depression 1. There’s no anxiety 3.0. What makes bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic depression) different? The quick answer is that people with bipolar 2 have enough variation in their symptoms from type 1 bipolar…
Everyone has their sexual preferences or fetishes — for some, that involves extremely erotic practices like being tied up, handcuffed, or being otherwise made to suffer. That said, there’s a fine line between having a sexual fetish and struggling with sexual fantasies and behaviors that cripple your life. When it…
What if you were depressed for so long that you forgot what happiness felt like? What if your low mood started to feel permanent, like part of your personality? This is the reality for many people with dysthymia, or persistent depressive disorder (PDD), a chronic depressive state that lasts two…
