Mental Health Topics

The teen years are difficult enough, but when you factor in the high susceptibility to and prevalence of mental illness, these years become even tougher. Fortunately, parents can help their teens cope with mental health conditions. It all starts with educating oneself and knowing the warning signs pertaining to negative…

It’s often scary to be diagnosed with depression or experience depressive thoughts, but it can be especially frightening for teens. Fortunately, there are helpful resources readily available to teens on their smartphones. Resources include depression discussion guides, crisis text lines, and an app that comes with a depression test and…

Research shows that there are a few keys to good parenting: encouragement, limit-setting, monitoring and supervision, problem-solving, and positive involvement. Encouragement is all about showing your child positive attention, so as to encourage good behavior. Limit-setting involves setting clear rules as well as clear guidelines for discipline if those rules…

You can set your child up for success by teaching them how to live a happy, healthy life and equipping them with beneficial tools. One parenting technique that can help you accomplish this mission is simply being honest with yourself—are you being the supportive parent or the pushy parent? Practicing…

Positive parenting is a loving and gentle approach to parenting that helps to foster healthy relationships between parent and child. There are a handful of skills that parents can practice to accomplish positive parenting, of which includes validation, balance, listening, and support. Validation involves accepting your child’s feelings as they…

Researchers sort parents into four common parenting styles: authoritarian, permissive, uninvolved, and authoritative. Authoritarian parents are viewed as disciplinarians, as they make strict rules and offer no wiggle room. Permissive parents, on the other hand, create and enforce little to no rules; they treat their kids more like friends. Uninvolved…

We like to fantasize about what life will be like… when we get engaged, or we’re offered that promotion; when we move into a grand new house, or finally snag the job of our dreams. But we don’t always factor the tough stuff into those hopeful visions. And so when…

Expecting parents often have conflicting emotions, and that’s okay—but you can take action to better prepare for parenthood and make this time more enjoyable. First, you should throw all of your expectations out the window and open yourself to whatever comes your way. Some additional tips include maintaining an honest…

There’s an underrated, simple solution for relieving ourselves of stress and anxiety: engaging in a little humor. Appeal to your funny bone by accessing some quick humor or thinking back on a funny moment. Share your favorite humor or a funny moment with a friend—socializing will get you some added…

A new study shows that the violence we see in soccer super-fans isn’t characteristic of their personality or every day. This aggression is instead rooted in a psychological construct called identity fusion, which refers to the sense of oneness and belonging one feels in a group of individuals. These findings…

Posttraumatic stress disorder is a crippling disease that can have negative effects on one’s relationships. Triggers may cause the affected individual to lash out at loved ones. Avoidance symptoms may cause one to dissociate and neglect relationships. Hypervigilance can lead to sleep and concentration problems, which then can negatively affect…

Anybody who has been exposed to a traumatic experience in some capacity can develop PTSD. Symptoms of PTSD can vary from person to person, but affected individuals typically experience hypervigilance, mood changes, and loss of concentration. PTSD can improve or worsen, depending on how severe the disorder is and how…