In today’s productivity-focused culture, many of us feel the need to constantly be working. As a result, Americans are spending more and more time in the office. According to Psychology Today, “working hours in North America and the U.K. have steadily risen in the last 20 years. A DIT research report found that 1 in… read more
4 Mental Health and Therapy Myths, Debunked
Mental health problems are costly—not just in terms of the money (though the global cost of mental health care was estimated to be a whopping $2.5 trillion in 2010), but in terms of time, energy, and life satisfaction. Debilitating psychological symptoms like fatigue, irritability, and the inability to feel joy are often compounded by comorbid… read more
Thriving During a Major Job (or Life) Transition, ft. Lea Sloan, M Ed, LPC, BCC
According to The Balance, the average employee can be expected to change jobs 10-15 times during their career. This includes not only switching to a new company or field, but also receiving promotions or transferring within one’s current organization. With so many work transitions occurring in our lives, we checked in with professional counselor and… read more
Beating Workplace Burnout
Feeling emotionally drained and exhausted? Have you been distancing yourself from work, growing numb to occupational tasks, or experiencing reduced job performance? According to an article published in the US National Library of Medicine, you may be suffering from burnout, a term coined by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s to describe the symptoms of… read more
Somatic Resting to Decrease Stress: 2 Examples of Resting Practices and How to Apply Them
In need of some relaxation? Clinician Erin McClearly, LGSW, recommends somatic resting techniques for those looking to decrease symptoms of stress. Somatic resting is any sort of relaxation related to our physiological functioning. Typically, it involves activating the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of our nervous system that relaxes our muscles, lowers our heart rate,… read more
5 Easy Ways to Reduce Stress and Improve Health As You Age
Our bodies go through myriad changes as we age; in terms of stress, as we grow older, we are both exposed to new physical stressors and begin to handle those stressors in a different way. This post seeks to break down those stress-related changes and provide methods for coping with them. A New Response to… read more
To Dye or Not to Dye? Dr. Julie Lopez on the Difficulties and Joys of Going Gray
Aging men and women, particularly the latter, have long felt pressured to hide their gray hair. In the 1930’s, Jean Harlow bleached her hair because she felt that her reputation as a platinum blonde was essential to her career. During World War II, Clairol ran ads referring to gray hair as a “heartless dictator,” claiming… read more
Staying (Or Becoming) Close With Our Siblings As We Age
Studies suggest that satisfactory sibling contact later in life correlates to increased health and positive mood. Yet it’s not easy to gain or maintain closeness as adults, especially when our lives take us physically and emotionally far away from one another. Most of us are no longer able to simply walk across the living room to see a sibling—now, we might need to take a plane. Further, longstanding conflicts can prevent us from getting in touch even when we’d like to.
Our Brains On Sleep: The Work Our MInds Accomplish While We Rest, ft. Melanie Shapiro, LICSW
We think of sleep as something we do when the day’s work is done—but when we doze off, our brain’s work is just getting started. Take a deeper dive into how the brain improves our health during sleep, and how we can help that process along.
The Psychological Effects of Stereotyping: A Study Through the Lens of Asexuality
Researchers have a number of theories about why we engage in the act of stereotyping. Some believe it developed as a way to promote group identity and strengthen the social systems that allow us to survive. Others believe it’s simply a matter of ease, as our brains process categorized information more efficiently.
Yet for every evolutionary “pro” that comes with stereotyping, there are several obvious cons. In addition to popularizing untrue (and often insulting) myths about large and diverse groups of people, stereotyping can have devastating psychological effects on the people being categorized.
