The holiday season can be such an exciting time for so many people — and it can also hold a lot of emotion that isn’t all joy and merriness. I’m sure we’ve all acknowledged that there’s a societal pressure to be cheerful during this season, and sometimes just that thought can feel overwhelming.
How do we know when it’s time to bring in a professional to help manage anxiety? And at what point is therapy really necessary? If you’re asking yourself some of these questions right now, now is the time to stop and reflect.
Think of communication skills as tools. They’re only accessible when your nervous system feels safe enough to access them. In moments when it feels challenging to access our regulation tools and our mind chooses reactivity instead, our brain is simply prioritizing safety over connection.
Teenagers undergo several life-altering transformations that can make it hard to determine what is a symptom of this transition and what is something that warrants mental health support.
Do you ever have “mixed feelings” or experience several different emotions all at once in response to one pertinent issue or life stressor? In these moments, does it sometimes feel like you’re sitting around a chaotic dining table with all of your most opinionated or eclectic family members talking about controversial topics like politics, social issues, simulation theory, flat-earth rhetoric or what kind of bagel is objectively most delicious? You may have just encountered the cacophony of your various inner parts, or your Internal Family System.
