Depression. Bipolar. Anxiety. You’ve probably heard these terms before, but how much do you know about these mental health conditions, and about how they affect people? Understanding these conditions can help reduce fear and misunderstanding of mental illness, and empower everyone with the knowledge on how to care for their mental health, and that of their loved ones. Read on to find out more about some of the more common conditions. What is Anxiety? Anxiety is a common emotion when dealing with daily stresses and problems. But when these emotions are persistent, excessive and irrational, and affect a person’s ability to function, anxiety becomes a disorder. There are different types of anxiety disorders, including phobias, panic and stress disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Symptoms of Anxiety Apprehension, confusion, on edge, a sense of helplessness, repeated negative thoughts, muscle tension, palpitations and difficulty breathing. Treatment and help Simple strategies, suc
Self-care is extremely important, especially as we enter the stressful holiday season. You can practice self-care in many ways: exercise, eat well, meditate, seek therapy, and more. Each method of self-care fits into one of the seven pillars: mental, emotional, physical, environmental, spiritual, recreational, and social. A well-balanced self-care routine involves each of these, so avoid restricting yourself to just one or two pillars. The seven pillars are broken down below with examples on how to practice each one. 1. Mental Mental Self-Care involves creating a healthy mindset through mindfulness and curiosity. You can do this through journaling, meditation, thinking outside of the box, creating a brain dump list at the start of each day, and taking an intentional break from screen time (TV, internet, and phone usage). 2. Emotional To practice emotional self-care, you want to create healthy coping strategies for any stresses that might occur in your daily life. You can do this by w