“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goals requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” –Martin Luther King Addictive behavior is a symptom of deep underlying emotional processes. This destructive symptom often turns into habitual behavior. We don’t plan to become addicted to
Traumatic stress and traumatizing events have a wide range of effects on brain function and structure. Trauma is defined as the perception that your safety and livelihood are in jeopardy, in other words, thinking that your life is at risk. Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes, from emotional trauma such as bullying, verbal abuse,
Self-harm, also known as intentional self-injury behavior, is the purposeful action of inflicting physical harm on your body and is a red flag sign for emotional distress. According to psychiatrists, self-harm is appropriately recognized as nonsuicidal self-injury disorder (NSSID) as these self-harm behaviors are done without any intention of suicide. In other words, the individual
Trauma is a six-letter word that affects an individual emotionally, mentally, and physically for a long period of time and sometimes a lifetime. Trauma comes in all forms and can occur throughout any life stage. Whether the individual has been emotionally, physically, sexually, verbally, or psychologically neglected, abused, or traumatized, it is nearly inevitable that
“Get your beauty sleep” is an understatement, and we all need sleep to survive. Studies show that teenagers and all adults should get, on average, 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. However, the reality is drastically different. The average American adult sleeps six hours each night with hopes of stacking sleep on the weekends,
Challenges of Mental Health Disorders or Substance Abuse Mental health and substance abuse disorders affect all individuals regardless of their ethnicity, culture, or race. Anyone can experience the challenges of mental health disorders or substance abuse regardless of their background, however, background and identity can make access to treatment much more difficult. Studies have shown
“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” – Laurell K. Hamilton Trauma is an innate response to an alarming event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes their sense of self and their ability to feel the full
Random Act Of Kindness Day is an awareness day on February 17th that encourages individuals, families, friend groups, and organizations nationwide to support acts of kindness. These simple acts of kindness can brighten someone’s day and even save a life. In the mental health world, we often tell those individuals to reach out for help,