There are numerous reasons young Americans choose to enlist in the armed services, including a sense of patriotism, a family tradition of service, education opportunities, and financial incentives. Many recruits are high school graduates with limited options, and enlisting seems like an opportunity to learn skills and have a job. The reality often ends up…
Yoga therapy utilizes yoga poses, breathing exercises, guided imagery, and meditation to improve physical, mental, and emotional health. The holistic nature of yoga encourages the integration of mind, body, and spirit. Yoga therapy incorporates elements of physical therapy and psychotherapy. A growing field, yoga therapy has been widely studied, and this research supports its effectiveness…
Eastern medicine, also called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is a system of medicine that has been used for thousands of years to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. These practices are rooted in the belief that qi, the body’s vital energy, flows through channels in the body, keeping a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health…
Major depression is a severe mental health disorder marked by a perpetual depressed mood, diminished interest in activities, and impaired daily functioning. Treating depression involves a combination of psychotherapy and medications. Most people are aware of the emotional symptoms of depression, but depression has physical symptoms as well. Many people, including doctors, often miss the…
Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health disorder characterized by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms and mood disorder symptoms. Schizoaffective disorder is divided into two categories based on the type of mood disorder involved: bipolar disorder type and depressive type. There is no cure for schizoaffective disorder, but individuals can learn to manage their symptoms and…
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic mental health disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. PTSD impacts millions of people every year. We are all different, so not everyone who shares the same trauma will develop PTSD. However, anyone can develop PTSD at any age. For most…
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, EMDR, is a therapeutic process that helps people free themselves from the harmful memories, negative thoughts, and upsetting emotions connected to past trauma that hinder their ability to lead healthy, productive lives. EMDR is non-invasive, evidence-based psychotherapy that has been clinically proven to be effective for treating trauma, PTSD,…
Learning that a friend or family member is engaging in self-harm can be deeply upsetting. You may feel frightened for their safety and confused or angry about why they are doing this to themselves. For a long time, self-injurious behavior was wrongly categorized as “attention-seeking” behavior. On the contrary, most self-harm individuals go to great…
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health disorder that usually manifests in early adulthood. People with borderline personality disorder have difficulty managing their behavior and emotions, which often results in significant impairment in their daily functioning. Individuals with BPD also struggle to maintain healthy relationships. As with most mental health disorders, there is no…
Schizoaffective disorder is a relatively rare chronic mental health disorder affecting less than one percent of the population. Those affected exhibit symptoms similar to schizophrenia (hallucinations and delusions) and bipolar disorder (mania and depression), though not necessarily at the same time. Because of this, individuals suffering from schizoaffective disorder are often initially misdiagnosed and improperly…