Persist Psych

08/28/2021

It's the weekend! I hope you can enjoy some leisure time 🙂

Negative perception of leisure directly linked to higher stress, depression, study says by Zenger News Wednesday, August 25th 2021 6 View All Photos Thinking of leisure as wasteful and unproductive activity leads to feelings of dissatisfaction, higher stress, and depression, new research led by Ohio...

04/16/2021

Great article on the benefits of mindfulness!

Think of mindfulness meditation as a brain gym. It is literally training your brain to be in the present moment, by focusing on your anchor point, which, for most people, is their breath.

04/06/2021

The Gottmans and Brené Brown give us a map—a macro perspective of the wilderness of our hearts, and the wildness of love.

08/30/2020

Just because people look like they have it all together on the outside, doesn't mean they might not be struggling on the inside. When we compare our internal reality (how we feel on the inside) to the external reality of others (particularly the curated reality we see on social media), we can be left feeling less than or not good enough.

There's a new post on the blog (the link is in the comments)

I don't really care for the term "high-functioning" but high functioning anxiety is a term that's often used to describe people who have anxiety and are able to function reasonably well out in the world. Basically we look "normal" or even exceptional.

But underneath all of those things that make us look "put together" is a layer of anxiety that's really in control and all of these wonder qualities that we are so often praised for, are rooted in anxiety.

Do any of these feel familiar to you?

08/22/2020

It's so important to cozy up to the idea of feeling the full range of human emotions. Uncomfortable emotions are given so much more power when we start feeling bad about feeling bad. What if it we could feel good and bad, happy and sad, anxious and excited, and we were still ok?

Excessive forced happiness exacerbates negative emotions and prevents people with genuine problems from working through them.

08/21/2020

Feelings don't have to be "either or", they can be "yes and".

Always straddling the tension and trying not to tap out.

Forever convincing ourselves that we can hold so many contradictory pieces and feelings.

Not only are tension and contradictory pieces OK and normal — they're the magic sauce.

Carl Jung called the paradox one of our most valued spiritual possessions and a great witness to the truth. He wrote, “Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.”

Sometimes beautiful. Sometimes terrible. Always deeply human. ❤️

07/17/2020

This is a good one!

Damn. My dear friend Elizabeth Gilbert sees me. Her journal pages may need to come with warning labels.

I had the same gut-punch-bear-hug feeling when my therapist told me that I needed to work on my "Let go and let Brené" approach to life.

"Ouch and thank you" at the exact same time. ❤️

04/25/2020

A quick video with some great tips for differentiating between practical worry and hypothetical worry and how to respond to each.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=88ja6KH0ULg

04/16/2020

Both columns can be true at the same time. If you're feeling sad, anxious, or frustrated, you may be spending a lot of time focusing on thoughts like those in the left column. I challenge you to try to balance those thoughts a little by brainstorming responses like those in the right column. Perhaps you'll even find that some of those new thoughts are even more true than the original "negative" thought.

04/07/2020

Helpful tips for better sleep during this pandemic.

It's normal to have intense or vivid dreams during a difficult situation like the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, Jennifer Martin, clinical psychologist and member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, explains why your pandemic dreams are extra stressful right now, and how to sleep better tonight.

04/05/2020

For those who may be having trouble identifying or labeling some of their current emotions. This is specifically targeted to healthcare workers but others may relate as well.

04/05/2020

There is almost certainly going to be a significant mental health impact as a result of this pandemic. Healthcare workers on the front lines are caring for everyone else, but they deserve help to combat the stress and moral injury to which they are exposed. Here's an interesting article, written by a physician, discussing this more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/opinions/mental-health-crisis-coronavirus-faraz/index.html. If you know any medical providers (in NV or IL where I'm licensed) who could use support, please send them my way.

04/02/2020

If you're feeling stressed, anxious, or worried you are not alone! Please don't hesitate to reach out. Mental health professionals can help equip you with tools to cope with all these uncomfortable feelings.

Nearly half say covid-19 pandemic has had psychological impact

04/01/2020

We are all experiencing loss in the midst of this pandemic. Some of this loss is small (and thus we may try to convince ourselves it's insignificant). Some is much larger (and we may worry that we'll never overcome). This article (by Dr. Stephen Hayes) has some really great tips for moving through all these losses. Just because someone else's situation might be worse, doesn't mean your loss isn't relevant and doesn't deserve to be acknowledged and felt too.

Whether it's a loss of normalcy or something bigger, here are a few strategies to help cope.

03/29/2020

A great read about the emotional/ mental impact of COVID-19. "...take care not to criticize yourself for feeling sad when so many others have lost so much more. It’s common to feel guilty for grieving when life is still good in so many ways (as I hope yours is), and to tell ourselves we should feel gratitude, not grief. Know that the two are not incompatible; even the grateful can mourn."

COVID-19 has changed our lives in ways most of us have never experienced, or even imagined. It's important that we take time to grieve what we've lost

03/24/2020

This is a great article that illustrates what many people ate feeling right now and includes some concrete strategies to help.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a collective loss of normalcy.

03/20/2020

A helpful visual. It doesn't mean we won't still worry about the things outside the circle from time to time. But we can acknowledge these worries with an attitude of openness and acceptance, thank our mind for working overtime to try to keep us safe, and then shift our focus back to the things inside there circle.

03/19/2020

Physicians are so busy helping others that they're often the last to reach out for help themselves. Hopefully this will make reaching out just a little easier during this challenging time. Www.persistpsych.com