Articles
PTSD and Relationships: How You Can Find Hope by Healing Together
Trauma doesn’t stay contained to one person. PTSD and relationships are often intertwined because of the effects of post-traumatic stress. This ripples out and touches the people closest to you. Partners, friends, and family members often navigate the unfamiliar territory of emotional distance and protective walls within these relationships. The person they love has built barriers that feel impossible to cross because of trauma. This isn’t about understanding what PTSD is. The challenge involves recognizing how the trauma will reshape how you connect, trust, and feel safe with others around you. The result is complex, where the survivor and their loved ones [...]
Divorce and Children: What Your Kids Want You to Know About Their Emotional Needs
No one plans on getting divorced when they say, “I do.” But life happens. Previous family-of-origin cultural norms and communication styles can tend to stand at the forefront of unresolved issues. Circumstances change, and people can grow apart, with unresolved resentment and unforgiveness. When people begin to only exist in their marriage, interactions and healthy communication will become difficult, and sometimes divorce may become unavoidable. While divorce can be a trauma for the adults going through it, it can have an even bigger impact on the children involved. Depending on the age of the child, normally they do not have the [...]
When Comfort Can Kill: The Dangers of Emotional Eating
We cannot take emotions lightly, yet they are hard to define. How do you explain to someone what love feels like? Or grief? Or sadness? Feelings can overtake us and even cause physical ailments. Have you ever been so worried about something that it made you sick to your stomach or gave you an excruciating headache? Some people seek solace and comfort in food. It can start innocently enough: Choosing to celebrate accomplishments with dinners out or soothing a heartache with pints of ice cream. Unfortunately, the mind decides this is a rewarding behavior and releases a cascade of feel-good chemicals. [...]
Teen Drug Abuse: What to Know and How to Help
In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, substance abuse among adolescents has been at lower levels than before the pandemic. It’s not entirely certain what has contributed to this, but the National Institute on Drug Abuse has indicated that the reported use of alcohol, nicotine vaping, and cannabis in the twelve months before the survey found levels of use have “generally declined from or held steady” compared with previous years. This is undoubtedly good news, with the survey indicating, for instance, that alcohol use declined among 10th graders, with a reported use of 26.1% in the past twelve months (compared to [...]
Emotional Attachment: Emotional Dumping or Vulnerability?
You’ve probably experienced it. Maybe you were on the receiving end. A friend stops by, and before you can even get past the niceties, they dump a month’s worth of their tears and fears at your feet. Or maybe it was you. Something built up inside of you all day, all week, maybe all month, and the moment someone asked, “How are you?” it all spilled out of your mouth in one unfiltered, jarringly authentic rush. That’s what has become popularly known as “emotional dumping.” You’ve probably heard about it on social media. There, it’s praised as equal to being vulnerable, [...]
Finding God in the Middle of Mental Exhaustion and Chronic Fatigue
Sometimes we experience a specific kind of tiredness that sleep doesn’t fix. We try to lie down at the end of the day in hopes of waking up the next morning feeling refreshed. But we’re disappointed when we wake up feeling just as depleted as we were when we closed our eyes. Mental exhaustion and chronic fatigue are more complicated than we think. Chronic fatigue or mental exhaustion is not just a temporary condition, and a good night’s rest or a long weekend does not resolve it. It is a persistent experience that seeps into our thoughts and emotions in the [...]
7 Long-Distance Relationship Tips to Help You and Your Partner Thrive While Apart
There are many reasons you might seek long-distance relationship tips. Perhaps you’re dating someone you met online, and they live in another city or state. Your spouse may have taken a job in another state, but you’re still working to sell the house where you’ve been living for the last 10 years. It could be that a friend of yours is dating someone she met overseas while studying, and she’s asking you for advice. Or you might be a military family with long periods of separation because of your or your spouse’s career. Even if your spouse simply travels several days out [...]
What To Know During Your First Year of Marriage
The first year of marriage is an exciting time. You have been through the dating phase and engagement, and finally, after weeks or months (or years), you are finally husband and wife. But the first year of marriage can also be challenging as you learn to navigate the realities of married life and adapt to your new normal. Why the First Year of Marriage is Eye-Opening The first year of marriage is eye-opening and quite the adjustment for most couples. This is a time when the newness and excitement begin to fade slightly, and the realities of living together on your own [...]
When You Might Need Mental Health Help
Your mental health is critical for your overall well-being. Knowing the signs of mental health issues allows you to take action early and prevent severe problems by seeking intervention. Mental health help is only a call away. The Signs That Your Mental Health Is Declining You may have noticed little signs and worried about your mental health. People experience the ups and downs of life and may go through small bouts of feeling blue, anxious, unable to focus, or waking up in the middle of the night. Typically, these are temporary issues resulting from stress or major life events. However, when [...]