Category: Mental Health
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Goal-Based Assertive Communication Using Emotion Regulation Skills
Different communication styles How might you define communicating effectively? Some people might define effective communication as ensuring that you convey your desires to the other person (i.e., getting what you want). However, aggressive communication, which focuses on your own needs rather than the other person, may affect your relationship with others. What if you were…
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How To Not Let One Bad Night’s Sleep Turn Into Insomnia
What if my sleep gets worse again? People with a past history of chronic insomnia are often very reactive about poor night’s of sleep. Even if they are generally doing well, there’s an underlying fear that ‘sleep is fragile’ and anything can upset the balance. Just like one bad apple spoils the bunch; one bad…
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Intolerance Of Uncertainty In Generalized Anxiety Disorder
An introduction on Generalized Anxiety Disorder Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by excessive and difficult-to-control worry. Simply put, people with GAD spent a lot of time thinking about possible bad things that could happen in different situations. As the name suggests, the fears in GAD are very generalized –…
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Three Components Of The Emotional Response And Skills To Regulate Them
A primer on Emotion Regulation Emotion regulation is our ability to change the trajectory of an emotional response based on our behaviours. Simply put, it’s our ability to change how we feel using strategies we have in our emotion regulation toolkit to make us feel better quicker. For example, being able to bring ourselves back…
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Changes In Older Adulthood That Lead To Insomnia And Tips To Fix Them
Insomnia in older adults Chronic insomnia – difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early – is quite common in older adults. Studies have found that 15 to 35% of the older population struggle with insomnia symptoms (Ohayon, 2002). In older adults, insomnia is linked to increased risk of accidents, physical and mental…
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How To Deal With Postpartum Depression Using CBT Skills
Introduction New mothers have it tough. Having a baby and introducing a new member of the family to take care of is a full-time job. These new responsibilities are already challenging for a regular healthy person. It’s even harder for mothers who experience postpartum depression. Unfortunately, postpartum depression is quite common: research suggests that nearly…
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Ways To Increase Distress Tolerance In Emotion Regulation
What is distress tolerance and why is it important? Distress tolerance is referred to as “the perceived capacity to withstand negative emotional and/or other aversive states, such as physical discomfort” (Leyro et al., 2010). Simply put, distress tolerance is our ability to handle negative experiences in a way that is consistent with our goals. Distress…
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Why It Feels Like We Haven’t Slept For Days In Insomnia
“I haven’t slept in over a week” You’ll sometimes hear of instances in people with chronic insomnia saying that they haven’t slept a wink in days or even weeks on end. That’s a terrifying feeling when you are worried about the effects of not sleeping on your functioning and overall health. To be honest, as…
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How To Get Over Post-Job Interview Anxiety Using Evidence-Based Strategies
Post Interview Anxiety And Post-Event Processing You just finished an important job interview at a software development company. It was nerve-wracking experience, but you got through it! It’s time to relax and give yourself some well-deserved props. However, over the next few hours you begin to think back to the job interview. This type of…
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Overcoming Perfectionism: A Step-By-Step Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Strategies
When Perfect Just Isn’t Good Enough Although striving for excellence can be a noble pursuit, striving for perfection can have more negative consequences. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines perfectionism as “a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable”. When we focus on an outcome like perfectionism, we open ourselves up to becoming susceptible…
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