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World of Psychology


General

Podcast: Panicked Over Finances? Why Money Influences our Mental Health

 

The rent is due tomorrow; but then you’ll be left with only $10 for the week’s groceries. What do you do? Many people panic over money (or the lack of it), but for those of us with mental illness, it can feel like a life or death situation: It can trigger an even greater anxiety attack and/or depression. Or it may mean not being able to afford the medication that keeps you well enough to work. What can be done?

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Suicide

Why Police Officers Are Dying by Suicide

Police officers are at a higher risk of suicide than most other profession. I wish the statistics were wrong but they are not. Although some police services are mandating bi-yearly or yearly psychological check-ins for officers, many are not unless you are in a specialty unit. Some police services might offer support immediately following trauma-related incidences, but not all do.

The reality is, police officers are reluctant to get honest about mental health and addiction issues. For many officers, admitting you are struggling with mental health or addiction issues runs the risk of your gun being taken away, being assigned to desk duty, or being passed over for a promotion. Some might say that makes perfect sense for safety reasons but not everyone struggling with addiction or mental health issues is a harm to themselves or others. Is shaming and ostracizing really the solution?
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Grief and Loss

Five Coping Skills You Need to Work Through Grief

When people experience a significant loss, such as the death of a spouse or child, shock and pain may make them feel like there is no hope for a normal existence ever again. Life has been altered in ways that cannot be “fixed.” Coping skills can help build a comforting sense of routine. They allow introspection and exploration of what happened from different viewpoints. Emotions that flood through the mind can be captured and examined instead of looping endlessly without resolution. Most importantly, they provide help in getting those emotions and conflicting thoughts out instead of keeping them inside where they can fester and cause problems in years to come. 
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Depression

Befriending Depression

If you’re reading this, there’s a chance you or someone you love lives with depression, and I say lives with for a reason. In this blog, I want to pose a different way to approach understanding your depression. Instead of pushing depression away and hating on it, I want you to love it. I want you to go to the store with it, to the bank, your favorite deli. Sit at home watching TV holding hands while eating popcorn.
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Anger

Why the Small Stuff Matters

Each day comes with its own challenges. For that matter, each week, month, and year does as well. Those challenges and other stressful events will vary in intensity and their affect upon our lives, but too often they can become overly consuming and distracting, leaving us anxious and seeing only the negative.

In order to manage the problems that life can throw at us we are often told to “Keep things in perspective,” and not to “sweat the small stuff.” But sometimes it really is the small stuff that matters. In fact, making time to notice and appreciate the small things can make a big difference in your day, your mental health and enjoyment of life overall.
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Anxiety and Panic

Were You Raised to Be Afraid?

“I was raised to believe that being frightened meant being alive. Timeo, ergo sum. That being scared is not a frailty but a skill. That I displayed intelligence by shunning whatever displayed itself as welcoming or wild. That the scariest time-bomb in the world was me.”
Some of us were raised to seek out scary things.

Not in a fun way. Not like skydiving or watching horror films.
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Depression

Startling Facts About Suicide and Mental Illness

If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or call 911 immediately.

The newest report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) shows the scope of mental health problems in the United States and some startling facts about suicide. 
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General

Podcast: Clutter vs Hoarding- How to Live Clutter Free

Are you drowning in clutter? In today’s podcast, decluttering expert Tracy McCubbin identifies the 7 emotional clutter blocks that may be lurking in your psyche and offers tips to overcome each one. For example, do you have a basket full of unopened mail? Do you have an absurd number of name-brand shoes collecting dust in your closet? And what about that expensive candle you'll light “one” day? Each of these clutter types is rooted in a different emotional clutter block.

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