Itsy Bitsy Wellness

09/05/2022

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

For a lot of us, taking the first step to therapy i.e. looking for a therapist and reaching out to one takes a lot of courage, energy and time. At this stage, people who are new to the process might face a lot of resistance and ambivalence as to whether they want to go for therapy or not. This process gets better and easier the consecutive times when one would require external help in the form of therapy as there is more openness, comfort and less resistance to therapy.

In order to help someone who is willing to seek therapy but is resistant or ambivalent, a push or some form of support from friends, family or even acquaintances could help the other person greatly towards taking the first step to his/her mental well-being.

We at Itsy Bitsy Wellness are here to make this process a little easier for you all. This Mental Health Awareness Month, we are giving out five therapy sessions for five people (1 session per person) for FREE. This therapy session would enable an individual to share his/her issues in a safe environment, in the presence of a highly qualified professional without making ANY commitments.

Gift this therapy session to someone you know (or even yourself) by sharing this post with them. DM us if you wish to book a session and we will choose five of you on a random basis. Entries will close at 6PM on 13TH MAY.

03/05/2022

May is Mental Health Awareness month and we are here to spread as much knowledge and as many facts about mental health as possible.

Our mental health matters everyday and not just on the Mental Health Day (10th October) or this Mental Health awareness month, however, in the month of May, more emphasis is placed on spreading awareness about the psychological distress which people feel on a daily basis and how asking for help is okay.

To those who understand how important it is to maintain our mental health and have been taking/ ever taken therapy sessions, I urge you all to talk to your friends, family and coworkers openly about this matter, ask their opinion and spread awareness in order to help others in helping themselves.

29/04/2022

16/04/2022

A gentle reminder ✨
Your thoughts, feelings and emotions are valid and real. Don’t let anybody else or even your own self tell you otherwise.

Yes, at times we might read too much between lines and indulge in overthinking, however, the underlying thought, feeling or emotion still exists and is valid.

14/04/2022

Gaslighting can be loosely defined as an emotional abuse in which an individual manipulates others into doubting their own reality or sanity. Self-gaslighting is when we pick up the torch from the gaslighter and turn it on ourselves.

Self-gaslighting often is the suppression, invalidation and minimisation of our thoughts, feelings and emotions.

For example- when somebody says something hurtful, we feel hurt, however, we instantly and impulsively start thinking “I am probably making a big deal out of it” or “I am being too sensitive about it”. Here, we do not give ourselves time to process our own feelings of hurt and valid emotions that we have the right to feel and express.

12/04/2022

The HALT method is based around the premise that an individual is more likely to make poor, highly emotional decisions when hungry, angry, lonely or tired. This technique is used to manage one’s negative emotions and the idea behind it is to stop and think about your needs before you react to a situation.

Negative behaviours are most likely to occur when you are hungry, angry, lonely or tired. There are three steps to practice the HALT technique- stop before reacting to a situation negatively, identify one or more of these feelings/conditions and once identified, address the feeling leading to the negative emotion and rectify it by taking suitable actions.

This technique is widely used in de-addiction rehabs for people with substance use disorder as hunger, anger, loneliness and tiredness are common outcomes of withdrawal symptoms. It is also used to tame anxiety, aggression, irritability and other negative emotions which further help an individual to be calm. It is one of the mindfulness techniques which promotes emotion regulation by building awareness around the root of urges.

03/04/2022

Empathy can be defined as the ability or capacity of an individual to feel what the other person is experiencing within their frame of reference. It is when an individual is able to place himself/herself in another person’s shoes and imagine what they might be thinking or feeling.

08/03/2022

👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏽 A recent study by Monk et al. (2021) suggests that on-off relationships do not only have short-term implications but long-term as well.

👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏽 In this study, the participants reported symptoms of anxiety and depression while being a part of an on-off relationship and experienced constant feelings of uncertainty within the relationship.

👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏽 Breaking up and getting back together was fairly common, however, those who experienced more frequent break-ups and reconciliations reported more psychological distress at the start of the study- and a greater increase in distress across different waves of the study (total 4).

👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏽 These researchers suggest that feelings of chaos or turbulence lead to distressing feelings, increasing a sense of instability that can trigger poor mental health.

👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏽 These findings don’t mean that on-again/ off-again relationships never work out, however, thinking carefully about the links between your mental health and your dating patterns may be worthwhile part of your well-being in relationships.

📖 Reference- BPS Digest

24/01/2022

🧠 Brain fog is a state of diminished cognitive (mental) functioning which has been affecting masses, all across the world, on a daily basis, as one of the effects of the pandemic. This feeling is not unusual or weird, instead, it is a completely normal reaction to the traumatic experience which we have collectively had over the last two years.

🧠 According to a few neuroscientists and psychologists, one of the reasons for brain fog is lack of stimulation in one’s environment which furthermore has a major effect on an individual’s memory. Catherine Loveday, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Westminster said “Trying to remember what’s happened to you when there’s little distinction between the different days is like trying to play a piano when there are no black keys to help you find your way around”. She also said that “We have effectively evolved to stop paying attention when nothing changes, but pay particular attention when things do change”.

🧠 Jon Simons, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Cambridge explained how the experiences under lockdown lack “distinctiveness” - a crucial factor in “pattern separation”. This process ensures that there are overlapping features while encoding individual memories so that we can distinguish one memory from another and retrieve them efficiently. The fuggy, confused sensation that many of us will recognise, of not being able to remember whether something happened last week or last month, may well be with us for a while.

🧠 Along with memory, brain fog affects a lot of other aspects of our functioning, some of which are mentioned in the post.

📖 References- “Brain fog: how trauma, uncertainty and isolation have affected our minds and memory” by Moya Sarner -The Guardian; and bbc.com.

19/01/2022

🪄One of the most important and significant techniques of practicing self-care is decluttering. However, it is also the least talked about.
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🪄 Decluttering can help bring in a sense of control in people with regard to their home, personal space and even their thoughts which furthermore results in higher self-esteem.
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🪄 By cutting down clutter, people might feel more calmer and less under pressure to complete a mountain of tasks. It even improves an individual’s overall lifestyle choices and well-being.

30/07/2021

🌀The idea behind the TEA cycle is that our thoughts, emotions and actions reinforce each other which results in a chain reaction which, in turn, can form an upward or downward spiral. These three elements of the cycle are addressed in holistic cognitive therapy by making changes in at least one element to break or change the nature of the chain reaction.
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🌀 According to a few cognitive therapists, people who are prone to high levels of stress and anxiety often have the following-
💭 Thoughts that involve perfectionism, high internal standards and often a significant amount of self- criticism;
😶 Emotions that include worry about results, impatience with self or others, and a sense of threat or pressure; and
🖐🏻 Actions that include self sacrifice, overwork, avoidance or procrastination, and a tendency to take a great deal of personal responsibility for results.

Everyone’s TEA cycle is different, however, these are some elements that often show up in an anxiety/stress- oriented TEA cycle.
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🌀 It is very important for us to identify our own TEA cycles and work on them as they can easily result in us having negative automatic thoughts which would continuously run in our minds.
🔅Choose several situations in which you feel strong uncomfortable emotions and apply this model to identify each of the components of that emotion.
🔅 It’s okay if you have difficulty identifying some components, just note the parts that seemed the most difficult to clarify and pay special attention to them as the week goes on.
🔅 For example, if you’re stuck when it comes to identifying thoughts, make sure you apply more effort to noticing your thoughts periodically throughout the week.

19/03/2021

🌿IBW presents to you a workshop on Anxiety Management on the 10th and 11th April from 6-7pm.
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🌿 Learn about how anxiety works, a few techniques to manage anxiety and practice mindfulness and be a part of an interactive Q&A session lead by the counselling psychologist and founder of Itsy Bitsy Wellness- Devika Anand.
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🌿 You will be provided with a thought challenging worksheet and 3 mindfulness cards to use after the workshop ends.
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🌿 Enrol for the workshop now by using the link below. We will be happy to help you and clear your doubts- DM us now!
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🌿 LINK- https://forms.gle/TzgVbZ73sgs9ZeA39

15/03/2021

🪴A lot of us have heard the word ‘Mindfulness’ but don’t know what it means and or how it is practiced. Mindfulness is a process of purposely bringing your attention to your present when you find yourself either dwelling on your past or worrying about the future.
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🪴It helps in reducing and controlling anxiety and depression.
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🪴The basic mindfulness technique is to focus on your breathing - taking a deep breath in through your nose and exhaling slowly through your mouth. .

13/03/2021

💭 Swipe left ⬅️ to check out a few tips on how to stop overthinking.

14/02/2021

🔅We often talk about stress and it’s effects but ignore the actual bodily symptoms of it which we experience everyday.
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🔅This can be because we have now normalised these symptoms as stress has now become part of our daily lives- be it getting late for work, being burdened with work, an argument with the boss or even a disagreement with a friend.
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🔅These daily stressors may act independently or pile up over a period of time till we realise it’s intensity and hence it’s effects on our physical and mental health.
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🔅It is very important to observe and handle these symptoms of stress to maintain a healthy balance between work, relationships and personal life which would further increase our performance and efficiency in these areas.

30/01/2021

🎈As we grow old, we tend surround ourselves with multiple groups of people who might come from very different backgrounds. These groups can be of friends from school, college, workplace, your in-laws, etc. and as we keep evolving/changing, it’s not necessary that we’d resonate with each and every person we’re surrounded with.
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🎈 Not everyone will understand what we’re going through, our new found beliefs or even the depth of your understanding of a few things.
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🎈When such a time comes, it is important for us to tell ourselves that no one is at fault here- not you or the person whom you’ve been venting out to. Our understanding of certain situations completely depends on experiences and our ability to empathise.
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🎈So instead of getting angry/ sad because one person is unable to understand what you’re feeling or thinking, find people who’ll be able to relate to that particular situation better than someone who’ll not.

15/01/2021

🤍 Do you and the people you love speak the same love language?
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🤍 Lots of times when we try and show our love to a friend, our family or our partner, it doesn’t seem to make a great impression on them even though we try our best and put in a lot of effort in the loving gesture/ action. Learning the right love language will give you the satisfaction and joy of being able to express your love and feeling truly loved in return.
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🤍 Your partner sends you flowers when what you really need is time to talk or when your partner gives you a hug when you really need is a home cooked meal. Things that speak volumes to you may be meaningless to your partner.
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🤍 When problems arise in a relationship or when we feel that the love isn’t there anymore, understanding each other’s love language becomes crucial for sustaining the relationship since the love might still be there but your partner is just not able to understand it. The key here is to understand each other’s unique needs.
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🤍 Our love language is developed by the way our parents and other significant others expressed love to them.
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18/10/2020

⛈ An insight to what depression actually is in comparison to what people think it is.