Work From Home Burnout: What It Means and How to Stop It

It has been six months since most companies officially sent employees home for what many thought would be a few weeks and has now become months, stretching on for the foreseeable future. The flexibility to work from home has long been part of the trend toward flexible work arrangements aimed at attracting and retaining talent in an ever more competitive market. However, half a year working from home has had the opposite effect on work-life balance for many and instead of feeling less stressed, people are feeling the WFH burnout.

The Deathly Consequences of a Mental Health Stigma

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a condition where the brain lacks the standard amount of impulse control receptors. Your moods are intense, fast, unpredictable, and rapidly changing. Everything is felt in extreme waves of emotion. It's as if you are in a tornado of your feelings. Some days you are in the calm eye of the storm. Other days you are swept up and out of control. No matter which day it is, you tend to leave destruction in your path.

Stop Scrolling: Your Social Media Use May Do More Harm than Good

About six years ago, some colleagues and I published research that indicated that increased time on the social media platform, Facebook, was linked to depressive symptoms among young people. The studies, which served as the basis for the article, were, of course, not conducted during a major global pandemic. So even during the best of times when the economy is booming and people feel relatively safe, they tended to suffer from mental health consequences as a result of spending too much time on social media.

Questions That Aren't Being Asked About Eating Disorders in Black Women

Like most people, I am often asked, "What do you do for a living?" As a therapist of color, I think about what it is like to walk into my office. The walls are covered with my photography and beautiful illustrations from former patients of anxiety, depression, and recovery. "Thank You" cards are strung up, and the bulletin-board shows messages of allyship. On closer inspection, you might notice a carefully curated bookcase with titles on trauma, body image, and culture. Everything in the office is done consciously and intentionally; my space is not only a reflection of me but an invitation to others: an invitation offering my office as a safe space to do the work necessary for recovery.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Mental Health

As women, I believe that we are all familiar with societal pressures to "do it all." Some women thrive under this mindset during normal circumstances, however, COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in all of our lives and added an unprecedented level of stress and additional barriers to normalcy. How can we, as women, now handle our "new normal?" How can we do it all, when that now means so much more and doing anything is more difficult than it's ever been before?

Plant Power: My Story of Starting a CBD Company as a Black Woman

I didn't seek entrepreneurship in the THC-Free CBD business at first. It was something my partner, who is an addiction physician, nudged me towards while working in corporate America. When the coronavirus hit, we saw our friends and family suffering from anxiety and stress due to job loss, staying at home, lack of exercise, and uncertainty. We knew we had to do something to help, without relying on medication. If you go to a doctor and complain about anxiety, stress or depression, he/she will probably recommend medication as the first line of treatment. They bypass natural remedies, because they don't teach about them in medical school. That is where the problem lies with most people. We identified a problem where doctors did not look at viable alternative treatments and we wanted to change that.

4 Tips to Not Lose Friendships Over Your Mental Health

Life can be messy, and you might be wondering if you should involve your friends with your mental health ups-and-downs. You might be afraid because your friends are undereducated and misinformed about people living with mental health issues. They might be in the dark.

Why Weight Loss Compliments Do More Harm Than Good

Michelle was a three-sport athlete in high school. While there was a part of her that enjoyed the camaraderie with her teammates, the sense of accomplishment she felt when setting new records — there was another part of her that participated in the hopes of shrinking her body. Michelle, who is now studying to be a therapist, didn't know about eating disorders when she was younger. She reflects, "I had this idea that I wanted to become a professional swimmer so that I would be able to exercise even more. I would get many compliments on my body during swim season, even though that was when I hated my body the most."The comments Michelle received on her weight and body when she was restricting and compensating fueled her eating disorder.

Self-Hypnosis Might be the Key to Self-Care During the Pandemic

The abrupt appearance of the novel coronavirus in late 2019 brought with it a health crisis that quickly swept across the globe. Millions were confined to their homes in an attempt to flatten the curve, but the virus continued to spread quickly, sickening millions and killing hundreds of thousands. The physical toll has been stunning, but the effects on our mental health have been insidious and no less serious. In these days of social distancing and Zoom meetings, self-hypnosis offers a creative solution to stress management and holistic healing.

My Top Four Tips to Staying Creative During the Coronavirus Quarantine

The spread of the current pandemic and the resultant quarantine is affecting all of us at the moment, and for each person its effects are unique. Something I know I've been struggling with in the midst of this change is holding onto my creativity, and somehow I don't think I'm alone in that fact.

When First Love Becomes First Abuse

I'm talking about first love — that distinct sensation of butterflies fluttering in your stomach and the pounding in your chest that takes over your entire body.

How to Balance Unraveling Mental Health and Dating

To maintain your mental health, you need your friends, family, and potential life partner's support. It's important to ask questions like, "Who's the better fit?" and "When's the right time to open up?" Educating your perfect match on your health needs may also be necessary.

When America Catches a Cold, Black America Gets Pneumonia.

We know that all of these things, from illness to job loss to systemic racism, hit the Black community harder, making it even more essential to develop a self-care routine that centers our own physical and mental well-being in ways that are practical yet effective.

The Healing Power Of Complaining: How To Complain Effectively

I've been talking about trauma and loss for a long time, so I want to talk about complaining. We are experiencing a loss of freedom, lack of connection and increased fear of economic fallout during this pandemic. We are not used to this kind of prevalent, lengthy. and collective grief in the air.

Tropism, Mindfulness, and Responding to Your Environment

One of the few things I remember from grade school biology is the concept of tropism. In plain language, tropism is the reaction of a living thing, like a plant, towards a stimulus like sunlight or heat. You've likely seen this before but just didn't recognize it for what it was. If you've ever seen the leaves of a potted plant bending towards a windowpane, that's tropism in action. The plant is bending towards the sunlight. In our everyday lives, we are all inundated with stimuli throughout the day...

Why Are We All Still Obsessed With Being Perfect?

Growing up, my parents (particularly my mom) expected greatness. This helped me do well in school but it also had a negative side effect: I became a perfectionist. I think perfectionism is tied to pleasing others and trying to make sure people like us. If we are perfect, you have to love us right? We feel like we aren't good enough as is, so if we are perfect, it will make up for it.

The Moral High Ground: Looting And Why It's Not Just "Stealing"

In the the wake of Mr. George Floyd's brutal murder, the United States of America suddenly had something monumental at the forefront of its dissonant mind. The protests and the unrest that burgeoned across the country, and tellingly, across the world, simply said, "Enough, is enough."

Packing Light: What Traveling Has Taught Me About Emotional Baggage

Since I can remember, I have always had anxiety, and travel brought it out in full force when it came to packing for a trip. Until recently, my control freak process always involved pulling out my suitcase a week in advance, building a check off list with quantities, and planning out two times the number of outfits that I actually needed on the trip. This process made me feel safe.

Blackness, White Fear, and a Sizzling Oedipal Complex

As a psychologist — i.e. one who studies the mind and human motivations — my mind periodically returns to Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist who is lovingly known as the father of psychoanalysis, which is the foundation of psychology and the basis of many of the psychological treatments that we use today.As part of his theory explains, the Oedipus complex is a childhood psychosexual stage, wherein young people harbor unconscious sexual desires that fuel their anxiety and/or frustrations that may, or may not, appear negatively in life — depending upon the successful resolution of this puzzling, internal conflict.I have periodically come back to this tenet of psychoanalysis, always with the nagging inclination that this somehow explains America's issues with racism

Discriminated, Disrespected, and Detained: How an Encounter With the NYPD Changed my Life

I was about one month into my dream job as a forensic psychologist in a remand facility for adolescent girls in Brooklyn, New York. Unlike my old job, this one did not offer a parking lot for employees, but I was issued a state parking plaque to use in front of the building when there was space. However, that employee-issued parking plaque was enough illicit the suspicion and disbelief of the NYPD leading to me getting wrongfully arrested and detained for two nights. This experience was not the only instance of racial discrimination in my life, and it certainly was not my last as an employee. I chose to tell this one as it was, sort of, my official introduction to life in America as an educated, African-American woman.

Women of Color: The Eating Disorder Survivors Who Suffer in Silence

Since I was 12 years old, I have struggled with an eating disorder. For me, being a woman of color and having atypical anorexia was definitely uncommon. In my own personal experience, we never really spoke about anxiety or depression, so you can imagine the lack of conversation around having a healthy relationship with food. In the African American culture, the more curves you have the better, and if you don't have curves, you know you aren't the picture-perfect small waisted, ample-bottom stereotypical Black woman.

I Live With PTSD Every Day: Here's How I've Learned To Increase Mental Resilience

What we are going through as a nation and a world is completely unprecedented in our lifetime. Other than finding reputable advice on COVID-19 from the CDC and WHO, we are all looking to one another for support to create a daily road map for this uncharted territory we are all traversing with high anxiety. Everyday, we are stuck wondering how we will get through this experience and questioning if we are making the right decisions or not. It is nervewracking. I know these feelings well, as I endured them for more than a year after the onset of PTSD back in 2016.

How I Turned My Trauma Into A Thriving Business After Major Brain Surgery

The first pic you see of me here is from November 2018, roughly 3 weeks after having brain surgery. It all started one morning in January of 2018. I flew from LA to San Jose en route to Santa Cruz for several meetings I had set for the day. I was driving on Highway 17 heading to Santa Cruz from the San Jose Airport. I was on the freeway for all of 20 minutes, and out of nowhere a car comes out from a residential area to the right of me, attempting to make a left turn onto the freeway where there was a concrete median divider — making it impossible to turn left. The car stops literally in the middle of the highway — in my lane! I was going over 60 mph. Beginning to slam on breaks, I attempted to jump in the right lane but there were cars coming, so I couldn't make it. At that moment I clenched hard because I knew I was gonna have to hit this car!

Please Don’t Interrupt My Work-Life Balance

I remember when I was growing up, my dad would read the local newspaper in the morning with his cup of tea, and a plate of runny eggs and toast. In the evenings, he came home by 6pm and would watch the CBS evening news and help us with our math homework. On some nights when he had dinner meetings, he would come home with leftovers for the next day. But then he started traveling more globally as we grew up, and he would only be back home in a handful of days

It Was Never About The Toilet Paper: This Pandemic Is Triggering PTSD In Survivors Of Trauma

I close my computer screen, but the headlines remain etched in my mind like the voices of my father and mother when they told me I had to follow their beliefs, or I would not be saved when the fire rained down from heaven When I let in the onslaught of social media and voices of worried friends and neighbors, it brings me back to a frightening time. A time when I grew up with a looming dread of Armageddon. Listening to how people talk about the pandemic has triggered these memories.

My Journey From Foster Homes To Fostering Peace of Mind

Technically, my life is no different than millions of others. It's a part of the human condition to experience trauma. But somewhere along the way, we have to figure out who we really are and do some real work on ourselves.

How I'm Maintaining My Work-life Balance In Quarantine

The day I started writing this essay, I got in a spat with my husband while I was baking brownies with the kids. He didn't understand why I had doubled the recipe. Despite the fact that I announced this fact multiple times, because I wanted to make them thick like I did as a child. As soon as I poured the batter into the pan, he came in and said, "Oooh, that's going to be so thick! Shouldn't we split the batter into two pans?" I saw red; I lashed out on him telling him how dare he question my nostalgia brownies and why not just say, "Thank you for doing this with the kids and I can't wait to eat them"? He looked at me like I was crazy.

Stop Coping And Start Thriving: How To Fill Your Mental, Emotional, Spiritual Bucket

How do we build an emotional moat around ourselves so that we can still thrive in a time such as this?

4 Steps To Build Resilience In Turbulent Times

Resilience, it's a word we are hearing a lot right now.

Patriarchy Stress Disorder is A Real Thing and this Psychologist Is Helping Women Overcome It

For decades, women have been unknowingly suffering from PSD and intergenerational trauma, but now Dr. Valerie Rein wants women to reclaim their power through mind, body and healing tools.