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When social anxiety is extreme, it can become avoidant personality disorder (APD). APD is like social anxiety on steroids. Someone with such intense social anxiety lives a severely limited life because he or she is compelled by anxiety to avoid…
Really, what good is gratitude? It's the mindset of appreciating things in life. Numerous studies have shown, and continue to show, that an attitude of gratitude enhances mental health, wellbeing, and general life satisfaction. Yet sometimes it seems hard to…
Behind Silent Smiles is a novel inspired by a true story. It spans a lifetime and a world to inspire hope. First a little girl... ...Then a grown woman From the Romanian Countryside... To Bucharest... To Sacramento,…
On International Day of the Girl, the world comes together to honor girls, our young women who have the potential to bloom and thrive and make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. Sometimes, though,…
Mental Illness Awareness Week is an important "ribboned" event. A dedicated chunk of time (the first week of October each year) increases society's knowledge and understanding of mental illness. This is a wonderful thing to which to dedicate time and…
A DID switch, a dissociation in which a different personality emerges and takes the place of the dominant one, can be painful and bewildering. Why do they happen? What triggers a DID switch? Now an excruciating pain spread across his…
An emotionally healthy school year means that kids and teens are thriving. The school year is underway. Classes have begun, students are learning, and ideally, there's a concerted effort among schools, home life, and other support systems to help students…
Many, if not all, people have occasional racing thoughts and obsessions and wonder if it's OCD. OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) is a debilitating illness that involves, in part, racing and obsessive thoughts. According to the National Institute on Mental Health, OCD affects…
The idea of quieting the mind seems like a foreign concept, esoteric and perhaps even the stuff of science fiction. As our society get busier and noisier and faster, so, too, do our minds. Stress levels have skyrocketed, tens of…
Emotional health is an important component of our mental health and has to do with our subjective emotions like joy and sorrow, pride and shame, self-love and self-loathing, and more. While it’s true that emotions come and go, often striking…