We All Get Sick Sometimes: How to Keep Going When You Feel Miserable

“Life is too short to be miserable.” – Rita Mae Brown

While it would be wonderful if you never got sick, that’s not life. In fact, you can count on having some bouts of illness no matter how healthy you currently are or have been. There are countless opportunities to encounter germs, carried by people who are infected — even if they don’t look sick — or clinging to surfaces you touch. Allergies afflict millions every day, while family contact and heredity account for many more instances of sickness and illness. When you do fall ill, it may be of short duration or a long and drawn-out episode. Either way, you might feel miserable. Here’s some advice on how to keep going when that happens, drawn from personal experience and a keen sense of research on what works and what doesn’t.

Keep your perspective.

It might seem like this illness or condition will last forever, yet it’s likely more of a barrier in your thoughts than will pan out. A cold or the flu will run its course over a week or two, unless there are complications. A broken leg will eventually heal, given appropriate medical treatment. A chronic disease or condition can be managed with time and discipline. Doing the best that you can to be good to yourself while what’s bothering you now rages on will help speed recovery.

In the meantime, take the long view. Envision yourself getting stronger each day and regaining your health and vitality. By seeing a mental image of a healthier you, you’re priming yourself to get on the road to improvement. Research proves that imagining being able to perform a task, even when physically unable to do so, may benefit recovery. Remember that the next time illness lays you low.

Leave the big decisions for later.

When you’re sick is no time to make major changes in your life. For one thing, you’re not thinking clearly. For another, making an impulse decision now could jeopardize long-term goals, alienate those you care about most or whose friendship or counsel you value highly. When you are anxious, sad, worried or angry about not being able to continue with your schedule, you might make an impromptu choice to quit school, break up with a loved one, close off contact with friends, cope by making rash purchasing decisions.

Keep in mind that smart choices are often the ones given appropriate time to consider carefully. Jot down points you find pertinent now, with the aim of revisiting them when you feel better. At present, make healing your highest priority. All other decisions, unless urgent, can wait for later.

Adopt an optimistic outlook.

Have you ever found that thinking in negative terms subsequently affected how you performed when doing the task? That’s called self-fulfilling prophecy by some or engaging in negative self-talk by others. Whatever phrase you ascribe to it, avoid doing it. In fact, researchers have found that imagining a more positive future colors memory of such action when it becomes part of the past. You remember more positive things about the action than negative ones. This can help when you’re stuck in pain at present, nursing an illness and doing the best self-care you can to speed healing. It’s much preferred than wallowing in negativity, which only exacerbates your current misery.

Focus on today.

If you can remember what bothered you so intensely six months ago, it’s likely a distant memory. In similar fashion, what seems so monumental now will likely fade quickly. This includes physical and emotional pain, perhaps caused by chronic illness or the sudden onset of a virus or bacterial infection. Painful emotions, another type of deeply-felt pain, can also be resolved over time with appropriate professional help and the support of loved ones and family members. One technique that may prove helpful is to center your thoughts on today. Just get through the next 24 hours. Things will be better tomorrow. Whether you’re dealing with substance abuse, going through detox, suffering cravings and urges, getting used to pain medication post-surgery, dealing with depression, anxiety, or a broken heart from a recent break-up, tomorrow is another day. In the meantime, you’re healing. That’s what’s most important.

Lighten your load by only doing what’s essential.

Since you’re not physically or emotionally capable of doing everything on your schedule when you’re miserable, the smart move is to remove some items from your to-do list. In fact, ditch nonessential ones completely for now, as they’ll only drain what precious energy you can marshal today. There’ll be time to circle back to them once you’re feeling better. Ask for help tackling tasks and handling responsibilities from loved ones, family members, friends and co-workers. Be sure you reciprocate the favor when they request similar assistance from you. Of the items left that must be attended to, prioritize them and do the best you can with the highest priority one. A single mom who must make dinner for her children will make this a priority, even if that dinner consists of microwaved casseroles or canned soup heated on the stove. Be sure to let the kids know that regular dinners will resume once you feel better – and keep your promise.

When possible, communicate with a friend.

There’s nothing lonelier than suffering in misery by yourself. Pain seems magnified, like you can’t escape it. Thoughts of dire consequences and fears about illness progressively getting worse also tend to rush in during times of solitude. If you’re not contagious and feel that the physical presence of a friend, loved one, family member, neighbor or co-worker will be welcome, invite that person for a visit. If an in-home visit isn’t possible, connect via phone call or social media, even email. Exchanging conversation will at least take your mind off your ills for a brief period. Often, this is enough to change the trajectory of your convalescence, going from stalemate to an upward swing.

Be sure to hydrate.

Many medications have an unpleasant side-effect of dehydration. Even if you don’t require prescription medications when you’re feeling miserable, over-the-counter medications can also cause dehydration. Perhaps you’re not taking any medication. Do you still need to rehydrate when you’re feeling miserable? The answer is that you do. By the time you think you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. This is detrimental to every organ in your body, including your brain. When you’re consumed with thoughts about how bad you feel, you’re probably not taking adequate care of yourself, and that includes drinking sufficient fluids. Water is the best choice to hydrate, so aim for 6-8 8-oz. glasses of water daily.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-keep-going-when-you-feel-miserable/

Do Relationships Require Compromise or Something More Fundamental?

We often hear that relationships involve compromise. Maintaining lasting partnerships and friendships is a game of give and take.

It’s true that if we want a healthy connection, we can’t always have our way. Mature relationships can’t thrive in a soil of narcissism. But neither can they flourish if we sacrifice our values or continually minimize our own needs. Such self-betrayal is destined to backfire, leading to deep disappointment with others or ourselves — or giving up on love or life.

Compromising has a dark side. It may be a setup for resentment if we mindlessly dismiss our own desires and well-being to please others, or if we repeatedly sacrifice truth to protect ourselves from the potential loss of the relationship. A growing resentment can lead to a slow and steady fraying of love.

Intimate love thrives in a climate of freedom. We need to feel free to be ourselves — to want what we want and express our desires without fear of criticism, shame, or retribution.

Affirming and expressing our desires doesn’t mean that we’ll always get what we want. Nor does it mean that if our partner really loves us, they’ll bend toward our will and neglect themselves. After all, they have their own needs and wants. They want to be happy, just as we do.

How do we navigate our varying needs with someone we come to care about? This is where the rubber meets the road in our important relationships — the dance of self-affirmation integrated with a caring attunement and empathy toward others.

The common solution to this quandary is to agree to compromise. We prefer Mexican food but our partner wants Italian. We want to visit a friend Monday night, but our partner wants us to stay home. What’s the key to negotiating such differences so that we can stay connected rather than build resentment from compromising too often?

A Key to Lasting Intimacy

Considering an alternative to compromising raises the question of what does it take to sustain a truly intimate relationship? How do we nurture a climate for love and caring, where we can be ourselves and have a healthy relationship?

A prime nutrient for intimate relationship is to be open, present, and attentive, along with a willingness to be affected by our partner. Research by Dr. John Gottman has found that relationships are more successful when we allow ourselves to be influenced by each other.

Love asks us to see another person as they are and be responsive to them. A part of what makes a love relationship exciting is that we’re invited to move beyond ourselves to share our world with another person.

Being open to being affected by our partner is different from doing what we think is “fair” or  “right,” which is not to say there’s no place for fairness. It’s an entirely different matter if we orient ourselves toward one another in a manner that conveys the message:

•  I care about you
•  I want to hear what’s important to you
•  I take your feelings and wants to heart and I am touched by that
•  I allow myself to be affected — and even changed — as I listen openly and caringly to your experience.

There’s a big difference between acquiescing and being genuinely touched by another’s experience. A key to intimacy is opening ourselves to each other’s world. If I care about you, I will feel happy to give you what you want….if I can. If I hate Italian food, I may need to kindly decline and explore some alternative that works for both of us.

If I find sustenance on the altar of intimacy rather than cling too tightly to what I want, I will feel good to make you happy. I will find meaning, fulfillment, and delight in expressing my love and caring by supporting what you want. I don’t do this because I value compromise, but because I value you. It feels good to bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart.

Importantly, the reverse is also true. I honor myself by expressing my experience to you. I suspend what I want as I listen to you, but as I take it all in, I notice how it mixes with my own desires. If I never consult with what I want, I might succumb to a codependent pattern of giving up myself to please or placate you. But as Buddhist psychology teaches, if I cling too tenaciously to what I want, I may be enabling my own isolation and suffering.

The art of loving involves the give and take of listening openly and being touched by each other’s felt experience rather than a belief that relationships require compromise in order to maintain harmony. Intimacy is a function of experiential sharing, not doing what we think we “should” do or trying to manipulate or control our partner as way to meet our perceived needs.

The next time your partner asks you to join them in visiting your in-laws or wants a weekend getaway together, you may find that this resonates with what you want. If not, you can have a conversation about it. Can you listen closely to what this would mean to your partner? If you’re not sure, you can ask about it — inquiring into what they’re feeling and thinking about it.

Understanding your partner can deepen intimacy regardless of whatever decision you make together. They are free to make a request; you are free to notice what this brings up for you, whether a quick “yes” or a need for further dialogue. Within a climate of mutual respect, you are free to be you and respond from a place of caring for yourself and your partner. Doing this together can help both of you feel more connected to yourselves and each other. And after all, isn’t that what we’re all really wanting?

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/do-relationships-require-compromise-or-something-more-fundamental/

Bipolar Disorder: When You Feel Like You’re Starting Over

Gabe Howard’s biggest fear is that his bipolar disorder will get worse. “I’m more worried about the symptoms of bipolar disorder coming back than I am about anything else. Literally anything else. I’ll walk through the streets after midnight in New York City and not be a bit concerned about being attacked — but I’ll be terrified of losing everything to bipolar disorder.”

Elaina J. Martin also fears getting sicker. “I worry I will get in a depression so dark I will become suicidal because it has happened before.” She, too, worries about the mania returning. “Mania is ‘crazy.’ At first it is fun, but then you get out of control.”

Karla Dougherty, a writer who’s penned over 42 books, fears her bipolar II disorder will crush her creativity, because the health of her creativity is related to the health of her mind. “You’re always afraid you’ll lose that flow, that rhythm, that pushed you in a creative direction in the first place.”

When you have bipolar disorder — or any chronic condition — it’s understandable to have anxiety about the illness’s impact. And this anxiety may come with a parade of what-ifs and worst-case scenarios.

Amy Marlow was recently diagnosed with bipolar II disorder (along with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder). As she writes in her powerful post, “I feel like every thought begins with what if. What if I have to change my medication? What if it doesn’t work? What if I lose everything I’ve worked so hard for? What if I get sick again?”

When you have bipolar disorder — or any chronic condition — it also can feel like you take one step forward and then 10 steps back. It can feel like you’re constantly starting over. Which is incredibly frustrating and demoralizing.

After a manic or depressive episode, Martin, who pens the Psych Central blog Being Beautifully Bipolar, feels disappointed in herself, sparking sinking thoughts like: “It happened again. I thought I was better.”

And it’s downright exhausting. “Both mania and depression zap a lot of your energy and when you are over an episode, you feel washed up,” Martin said.

After experiencing an episode, Howard has felt a mix of relief and terror. “I’m relieved because it’s over and I was able to weather the storm and use the tools at my disposal to get back to ‘normal.’ But, when it is over, I have time to think about how I ‘slipped’ again. I start thinking, ‘What if I hadn’t gotten better? Was this a close call?’ The worse the episode was, the longer those feelings linger.”

When you’ve just had an episode and you feel like you’re starting over, or when you fear getting sicker, the below tips and insights may help:

Practice acceptance. According to Dougherty, the most important thing you can do is to accept that you have bipolar disorder. “Accept that you have a condition that will sometimes affect your life in negative ways. Accept that you cannot get rid of bipolar disorder the way you can get rid of the flu.” But this doesn’t mean that you can’t have a satisfying, successful and fulfilling life.

Don’t get complacent. You do have some control over whether or not you get sicker, said Howard, who hosts The Psych Central Show podcast and co-hosts A Bipolar, A Schizophrenic, and A Podcast . Which is why he stressed the importance of being constantly vigilant, and not becoming complacent.

This seems obvious. But, as Howard said, think about how many people are prescribed 10 days of medication to treat their illness, and stop taking it as soon as the pain or fever or other symptoms subside. They forget or they assume they don’t need it, because they’re feeling better.

Not being complacent means never skipping your medication or missing doctor appointments, Howard said. It means reporting all your symptoms to your doctors and paying close attention to your mood changes, he said. “In order to stay well, we must keep doing the things that made us well in the first place.”

Dougherty also noted that bipolar disorder requires a lifetime of awareness—from knowing when to get help to knowing when to discuss a medication change with your doctor. In her book Less Than Crazy: Living Fully With Bipolar II, Dougherty uses the analogy of a swimming pool. As she explained:

“Water levels and quality must be checked every day before you can safely swim. Like that swimming pool, people with bipolar disorder must check how they are feeling every day to find the right balance. More anxious than usual? Maybe you need to call your doctor. Insomnia? Maybe you need to write in a journal. Not being comfortable in your own skin? Maybe you need to call a friend. In other words, like that swimming pool, you need the tools to stay balanced—where it’s safe to swim and the weather is fine.”

Have a plan B, C and D. This is essential, according to Howard, also a writer and speaker. For instance, he worries about losing his health insurance. (And, sadly, insurance is especially tricky if you have a pre-existing condition.) Which is why he’s saved up money. In addition, Howard has doctors on call and a great support system (more on that below).

Build a support system. When she’s frustrated and anxious about her illness, Dougherty finds comfort in her strong support system: her husband, friends and dogs. Surround yourself with people who have your well-being and best interest at heart. Surround yourself with people you can talk to. This includes your friends and family, support groups and mental health practitioners.

Savor and celebrate your wellness. Martin, author of the forthcoming memoir There Comes a Light: A Memoir of Mental Illness (late spring 2018), believes that the best advice she’s gotten when worrying about another episode or hospitalization is: “It’s OK to be OK.” “I didn’t have to wait for the other shoe to drop. I could revel in being well.”

When her mind starts racing and worrying about starting over, Marlow refocuses. “I have to pick myself up. In this present moment I can focus on who I am and how far I have come — not how far I have to go. I can’t control everything but right now I can do my best to acknowledge the fear and then reconnect with some opposite truths. I am not re-living getting sick again — it feels similar but it is not the same. This is just life with mental illness. This is a bump in the road of recovery.”

When you, too, start worrying and the what-ifs pile up, remind yourself that this is a bump in the road of your recovery.

As Dougherty said, “It might feel like your world is falling apart right now but remember that you haven’t always felt this way.” And remember you always won’t. Because you will get through it — whatever the bumps, challenges and fears.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/bipolar-disorder-when-you-feel-like-youre-starting-over/

How to Build Self-Confidence, Inner Strength & Resilience

Grow your inner strength.

What is inner strength?

Having inner strength allows you pursue your dreams and goals and live your life to the fullest.

A person with inner strength:

• Loves themselves (feels deeply their value, lovableness and loves their body, mind, and spirit).
• Can bend with change and embrace it.
• Can say ‘no’ when it feels right without regret second-guessing.
• Knows who they are — what they like and what they don’t — and how they feel.
• Can ask for help when they need it.
• Is open to learning and is curious.

Growing Your Inner Strength in the Face of Life’s Challenges

How do we get inner strength? The answer: Learning how to build our self-confidence.

Here are five ways to build self-confidence that can help you flourish:

1. Knowing What You Feel.

This is primary — essential to knowing, loving yourself, and having a strong core. Pay attention to the area below your head! The information about how you feel is in your body. What sensations are in our chest and your belly? Are you tense, jittery, or nauseous? Ask yourself, “What sensation do I feel in my body?”

Then, try this exercise: Identify which feeling that physical sensation is connected to — are you mad, sad, glad, scared, or some derivative of one or more of those? Once you can identify a feeling, you find out if you accept or reject that feeling. (“I don’t like it that I’m still sad about my breakup. I should be over that by now! It’s been five years.”)

Having inner strength means embracing all your feelings as good because they’re part of you and you’re amazing! Feelings aren’t bad, they just are. Think of it this way: Little kids don’t stuff their feelings nor censor them. When they’re really sad, they cry. When they’re happy, they run around yelling with joy. They don’t worry what others think — and you shouldn’t judge your emotions, either!

2. Having Boundaries.

So you can identify how you feel! Awesome! You start to know yourself and begin growing a strong core. Once you learn how you feel, you can create boundaries — saying ‘no’ when you don’t want to do something.

Some folks say “yes” to everything, partly because they think more people will like them and they’ll get some of that good-feeling-about-themselves aimed in their direction. They get stuck in “my value has to come from outside me”. They’re not loving who they are.

We all need outside affirmation as we’re growing up (we’re mammals — we’re relational). But if we get good enough parenting (not perfect, says the research), we grow a strong inner core that says we’re wonderful. We feel solid and happy with ourselves.

When you feel good about yourself, it’s not as hard to say “no” when something doesn’t feel right. Being able to set a good firm boundary comes from a strong inner core. You don’t worry about being rejected. You want to speak your truth.

3. Bend With Challenges.

Life brings us challenges — sometimes unexpected, maybe painful. Can we bend with them, can we go with the flow and let ourselves move with, feel the feelings, and adapt to what’s happening without breaking?

These times are amazing opportunities for growth. We get stretched, maybe going beyond what we have imagined we can endure. But as we move through a challenge, even getting help along the way, we discover that we have an amazing resilience. We expand our capacities. We grow more inner strength.

4. Be Open to Learning and Asking for Help.

When someone is open to learning they are saying, “I’m not threatened that you know something I don’t, I’m curious. Tell me so I can discover that too and enrich my life. And while we’re at it, I will validate you by listening and absorbing what you know.”

When you’re stuck and don’t know how to make yourself feel better or create something in your life, can you ask for help?

Some folks feel that they need to do everything themselves. It’s a sign of weakness to ask for help. But if you are good with you, you won’t have a problem reaching out and finding that person or source who can add wonderful things to your life.

5. Answer This Question: Do You Love Yourself?

Are you good loving friends with your body? Do you love your body as it is? Do you ask your body what food it wants to eat, what exercise feels good, and what rest does it needs? Or do you ignore what your body is telling you? Do you stay disconnected from the messages it speaks to you?

Life becomes so much more fun and easier when we have a loving relationship with our body. Look at how far your body has taken you up to now! And still truckin’! When we make friends with our body and appreciate it, our body responds in kind and we feel happier. This helps grow inner strength.

Do you love your mind? Or are you at war with your own thoughts? Do your thoughts race around in endless cycles of negativity? Do you hate it or can you calm your thoughts and find peace? Knowing how to relax your head, to accept that sometimes our mind needs tender loving care too, goes a long way to supporting your inner core.

And do you have a spiritual connection that feels awesome? Many people gain much strength from their relationship with the spirit or whatever it is that feels right to them. This is an amazing source of inner strength that helps create calm and loving and accepting you as you.

10 Fearless Ways to Forget What Everyone Else Says and Love YOURSELF

Having a strong inner core is possible!

Sometimes it takes a little work, but it’s completely doable. And that moment when you arrive and you realize that you’re amazing, you’re loving yourself, you’re at peace, you have the energy and passion to pursue your goals.

You can be on fire with loving life and be so glad you are here!

This guest article originally appeared on YourTango.com: 5 Strategic Ways To Build Your Self-Confidence (That Make You Stronger & More Resilient).

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-build-self-confidence-inner-strength-resilience/

Which Clutter Personality Type Are You?

“Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires.” – Lao Tzu

A cluttered room makes us feel overwhelmed and unable to focus, according to this study published in The Journal of Neuroscience. But clutter not only impacts our mental processing, it also affects us on every level, including physical, emotional and spiritual.

Clutter impacts our mental processing, but it also affects us on every level, including physical, emotional and spiritual. On a physical level, clutter prevents us from moving around freely and using our space to its fullest potential. Some people have entire rooms dedicated to storing stuff that they no longer need or use.

On an emotional level, it connects us to feelings of guilt (“How could I throw away this ugly lamp that my aunt got me?”) or fear (“I never have what I need when I need it”). These emotions build up over time and become fixed in our spaces, like they do in our minds!

On a spiritual level, clutter limits our ability to proceed on a spiritual path. We are not able to process the negative emotions and cannot move forward.

On every level, our homes mirror back to us what is going on in our lives and where we’ve put up obstacles. We intuitively know this and that’s why we are so interested in the topic.

According to the blockbuster sales of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, many of us are looking for guidance on decluttering our homes. But are we just using this as another avoidance tactic? Is even this topic of managing clutter itself a distraction? It can be for some of us.

Here are three major types of people when it comes to clutter. Perhaps you’ll see yourself in one of them:

#1 People Who Don’t Recognize Their Clutter

Among “clutterers” this has to be the biggest category of all. They have beautiful homes or at least look organized and neat. But there are certain areas in the home that are a wreck! These spaces are usually very private, away from prying eyes. It’s usually in a closet (or two!), a guest room, or basement area. Sometimes it’s even their bedroom or home office.

If you see yourself in this type, consider what it is that your clutter is blocking you from doing. What is this distraction about? If you removed this clutter what would this open space allow you to do? How would you feel? Then you can take some steps to clear your space and move forward in your life.

#2 People That Clear Then Re-Buy

Some people are diehard “Tidying Up” fans, who pledge their allegiance to all that the book proscribes. Yet after decluttering their homes, they go back out and buy, bringing more things into their home to fill the “empty space.” Where does it end?

Unfortunately, this behavior seems to be culturally acceptable and is even perpetuated by the media. In fact, “shopaholic” behavior is even bragged about. But this compulsive buying points to a feeling of emptiness in some area of your life. You can break this cycle when you recognize your behavior and then take steps to understand the gap that these purchases are filling.

What is it in your life that you truly desire (non-material) that you don’t currently have? What is it that your clutter is distracting your from seeing?  To help coax your answers into the light of day, you might spend time in stillness, meditation, journal or visit a therapist.

#3 The Super Woman (or Man)

Sounds great, right? These people can manage the clutter in their lives. They do not let clutter create obstacles. However, the obstacle itself is in the managing of clutter. Yes! They are so obsessed with organizing and straightening and ironing out their physical spaces that they don’t have time to reflect on their inner selves.  

These people are schedulers. I can’t do this until X is done. If anyone suggests that they take time for contemplation and stillness they give me an exhausting list of detail of their typical day. “I wish I had time! I’m not Super Woman!”  They fill their schedules to the brim. Their busyness is clutter!

Their obsession with managing this clutter is a distraction itself. A distraction from looking inside.

What does clutter mean?

Clutter is often a metaphor for what we are blocking in our lives. It is a physical wall, an obstacle that we have subconsciously created in our lives. We need to pause, consider why we’ve created this block, what it represents, and come to an agreement with ourselves to clear it and move forward in a positive direction.

We often surround ourselves with material things to compensate for our feeling of lack. We need to identify our feelings of lack and dedicate time to work on moving toward a feeling of wholeness. Make steps to transform, not just our home but our experience of life.

Great mantras to remind ourselves when confronted with clutter:

• Less is more.
• You will have what you need when you need it.
• You can’t take it with you.
• Amassing material things is not the object of this game of life.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/which-clutter-personality-type-are-you/

Best of Our Blogs: May 1, 2018

We’ve got a lot of fears and hangups when it comes to therapy. Some believe, it’s exclusively for the severely ill and those with mental disorders. That’s not necessarily true.

Some people who seek therapy may be grieving, dealing with a chronic physical illness or need support for a loved one.

Judging the reasons why others attend therapy is another shaming technique. It’s a way to make us feel better about ourselves because we don’t need help.

The truth is there will come a time when we all need support. Instead of judgment, we can offer acceptance, support and validation for the insight it took for that person to recognize they need help and the courage to get the help they need.

How To Tell Childhood Emotional Neglect From Borderline Personality Disorder
(Childhood Emotional Neglect) – Two very different psychological problems share surprising commonalities that may make it difficult to distinguish. Read this to determine whether childhood emotional neglect or borderline personality disorder is at play.

The Greatest Parenting Mistake Most Of Us Make
(Thoughts of a Therapist) – There’s one thing you can do to make you a better parent. This post will show you how to do it.

A Narcissist: In His Own Words
(Narcissism Meets Normalcy) – What would it be like to see inside the mind of a narcissist? Well you can get close by reading his book.

Disorganized Attachment
(Psychotherapy Matters) – It’s something you may not have heard about that explains why you struggle with relationships, your job and other areas of your life.

How to Handle Abuse
(The Exhausted Woman) – If you feel stuck in an abusive relationships, know that there are things you can do to protect yourself.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/best-of-our-blogs-may-1-2018/

Are We Doomed?

Climate change, with its predictable consequences, appears irreversible. Can coming to terms with a terminal diagnosis help us to deal with the situation?

Tags: death, denial, motivation, news and research, politics, public health

from Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life https://counsellingresource.com/features/2018/05/01/are-we-doomed/