Mental Health Topics

Moving to a new, unfamiliar place can lead to your feeling lonely—but you can find back against these feelings and turn it into a positive experience. It’s important to get connected to your new home however you can: check out organizations and groups around you, or consider volunteering. Stay connected…

We all spend time alone and are given the same choice: to enjoy our solitude or to loathe this time to ourselves. In choosing the former route, bask in your favorite qualities and enjoy beloved activities—be kind to yourself. If you struggle to enjoy your solitude, you should first recognize…

  There are many factors that influence feelings of loneliness, including sociability, other qualities, and lifestyle. That being said, loneliness does not discriminate—it affects every single one of us, though the youth and the elderly are particularly susceptible to these feelings. Technology and the fast pace of today’s life also…

Daily routines can reduce stress, help us break bad habits (and create better ones), and introduce structure to our lives. However, it’s also beneficial to open ourselves to change and new opportunities as they arise—doing so reduces rigidity and increases happiness. The key is finding a healthy middle ground between…

It’s important you make time for your hobbies, as partaking in your favorite activities is vital to stress management, social connection, and your overall happiness. When you engage in an activity you enjoy, you release a neurotransmitter called dopamine, which makes you feel good! Additionally, your hobbies provide you with…

A personal mission statement simply states your purpose in life—it considers and combines all of your values into just a couple of sentences. It’s important to have a personal mission statement as it motivates you to have a positive impact on the world and helps you feel more satisfied in…

When life becomes overwhelming, it helps to consult your personal value system, which outlines your priorities and guides your actions. Your personal values also help to determine what kind of people you keep around, what purpose you seek, and how you treat others. To create a healthy personal value system,…

A lot of factors work together to breed the right job for you—these include passion, enjoyment, location, work/life balance, and workplace culture. When it comes to personal fulfillment, it’s important that you’re passionate about your job and truly enjoy what you’re doing: if you don’t find passion and enjoyment in…

A recent survey found that the majority of Americans use streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in bed, and it’s disrupting their sleep. Users often don’t know when to log out of these services, which leads them to veer from their healthy nightly routines and disrupt their circadian rhythm. Instead…

While many know that drugs and alcohol play a significant role in mental health, it isn’t as clear what that role is: can drug and alcohol use cause mental illness? Or does persistent drug/alcohol use merely signify a mental illness. As it turns out, the answer isn’t so black and…

It might already be universally understood that using alcohol and/or drugs to cope with mental illness is a bad idea, but the “whys” of it might be less clear. It’s a big topic and there’s a lot of information out there, especially with all the discussions around legalization. Coping or…

Addiction doesn’t just change the individual suffering with the disease, but their loved ones—especially their chosen life partner. If your spouse is struggling with addiction, you must choose your actions carefully: it’s easy to confuse helpful and unhelpful interventions. First, don’t try to “make things easier” on your spouse—this can…