Articles
Male Anxiety in a Macho World
The terms male and anxiety don’t exactly go together. Or at least you won’t find them together very often. This is because anxiety seems to be the antithesis of a traditional view of masculinity. Men are “supposed” to be strong, silent, and never show emotion. Male anxiety does not fit with these other descriptors of masculinity. It’s hard to imagine Chuck Norris or Bruce Willis lying awake at night plagued by fears about their job performance. And yet, one in five men suffers from an anxiety disorder. So, one in five men is doing a great job of putting on a [...]
Radical Forgiveness: What it Means to Forgive
Human relationships are quite fascinating, but they can also be complicated. They bring us a lot of joy, whether they are between parents and their children, siblings, lovers, or even colleagues and neighbors. The flipside of the deep joy and fulfillment that comes from our relationships is the reality of frustration and heartache that often flows from relating to those closest to us. Because we mess up, and the people we interact with also mess up, there are bound to be things we need to ask forgiveness and forgive others for. It may be a betrayal of trust, a loved one [...]
Practical Help for Depression: How to Find Hope Again in Your Everyday Thought Life
According to the World Health Organization, mental health is defined as “a state of wellbeing in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.” Interestingly, the WHO is not a Christian organization, however, we can see this clearly illustrated for us in the Bible. In Ephesians 4, Paul unfolds God’s marvelous plan of using people to carry out His purposes on earth, “by the proper working of each individual part.” God has created each of [...]
9 Bible Verses about Grief
Life often catches us off-guard with its messiness. Grief intrudes into our lives, whether it’s through the loss of a loved one because of death, or the heartbreaking end of a relationship. When grief and loss come into our lives, it isn’t something that comes and goes in an orderly fashion – you don’t simply get over a loss in a predetermined period. In this article, we’ll look at nine Bible verses about grief to find hope and healing from the Lord. What can hurt even more than the initial grief is when the people around us begin to feel that [...]
Simple Ways to Manage Impulse Control Issues
Some people find it difficult to stop themselves from engaging in certain behaviors— this is what it means to have impulse control issues. Many associate children with struggling with impulse control, but adults and teenagers can, too. The diagnosis of ADHD involves a struggle with impulse control, and there are some other impulse-control disorders, like Kleptomania (the inability to refrain from stealing), Pyromania (the incessant urge to start fires), Intermittent Explosive Disorder (distinguished by an overwhelming urge to act on aggressive impulses), Trichotillomania (pulling one’s hair), Conduct Disorder (characterized by behavior that repeatedly breaks social rules), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (which is [...]
Teen Counseling: Out-of-the-Box Questions to Ask Your Teenagers
The family should be a closely knit group. The home should be a self-contained shelter of security; a kind of school where life’s basic lessons are taught; and a kind of church where God is honored; a place where wholesome recreation and simple pleasures are enjoyed. – Billy Graham Parenting children in any phase of life is not for the faint of heart, and it is not a task that should be taken lightly. As children grow older and become more independent, it might feel like you should allow them to face obstacles on their own and learn to deal with [...]
Fear of Abandonment and the Character of God
When Sally was eight, her father suddenly left her mother for another woman. Sally desperately loved her father, but he never showed any interest in being involved in her life. As she grew, she found it difficult to trust others enough to get close to them. Eventually, she fell in love with Tom, a man with whom she had grown up, and they were married. Throughout their life together, Sally was consumed by a nagging sense of anxiety. She worked hard to win Tom’s approval and on the rare occasions that Tom pointed out something she could improve on, she got [...]
Marriage Advice to Help You Flourish
Relationships come in all shapes and sizes, and no two are the same. What does stay the same, however, is that people tend to act, feel, and think like, well, people. We all want to be loved, to be appreciated, to feel alive, and to have a sense of purpose. We all make mistakes, we all want to be heard, and we’re all just trying to make sense of ourselves in this world. When it comes to marriage, each marriage has its own history, burdens it carries or has overcome, and dynamics within it. While there are happy marriages, bad marriages, [...]
Depression and Lack of Social Contact
As we leave a year filled with anxiety and head into a new year of more of the same with no clear end in sight, everyday activities, and even more so unexpected events can send us over the edge. We are trapped in our homes, working online with little to no physical interaction with others. This does allow for not having to drive to work and deal with the stress of traffic, but even that is a connection of sorts. Human beings are social creatures with a need to be with others. It can have a calming effect to just sit [...]