I Hear Voices and I’m Embarrassed – What Do I Do?
If you hear voices, or you think you hear voices, you might be ashamed. Psychosis – particularly the prodromal symptom known as hallucination – is often connected to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or another mental health or substance abuse disorder. But we’ve got news for you. If you’re hallucinating, you don’t […]
Am I Hearing Voices? Teens and Auditory Hallucinations
If you think you’re hearing voices, you may be wondering what’s going on. You also might be a bit nervous. Are you actually hearing voices? And if so, why are you hearing them? First, know that this experience is more common than you think. Researchers estimate that between 5% and 28% of the entire population […]
My Best Friend Ended Their Life. I Feel Hopeless.
If your best friend recently committed suicide, it’s normal to feel a tremendous sense of loss, grief, and distress. You may feel, right now, as if you’re in a black hole and that nothing will ever make it better. There’s so much pain you wonder whether your life will ever be the same again. You […]
What to Do When People Don’t Believe Your Depression is Real
You know you have depression. You might have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). But what happens when other people minimize or discount your depression? What if they don’t believe you at all? Friends, family, peers, or even strangers may tell you that your depression isn’t real. They might say most people with depression […]
Understanding Peer Pressure in LGBTQ Spaces
Most people understand the bullying, exclusion, and violence that LGBTQ youth sometimes face from straight and/or non-LGBTQ people in their wider community. But something many people don’t know is that the pressure to look and act certain ways that teens experience from their LGBTQ peers can be just as damaging to their wellbeing. As television, […]
Is My Depression Real?
If you have depressive thoughts, you might sometimes wonder if you have depression – as in clinical depression. A voice inside your head may say things like: “Is this really depression? Maybe it’s just a phase? Or maybe I’m just overanalyzing my feelings? If I was actually depressed, shouldn’t I be… XYZ?” What makes it […]
Is Middle Child Syndrome Real?
Alfred Adler, an early psychoanalyst, and contemporary of Sigmund Freud, was the first to theorize that birth order affects personality. According to Adler, your personality is directly influenced whether you’re the youngest child, oldest child, or somewhere in between. Note that birth-order studies are mainly correlative. And – as it’s important to understand – correlation […]
How Understanding Grief and Loss Can Help During COVID-19
You don’t know anyone who passed away due to COVID-19. So how come you feel like you’re grieving? Because you might very well be. During this pandemic, many are experiencing different types of losses. Whether it’s loss of a job, social interaction, money, missing a special ceremony or milestone event, or even the loss of […]
Rumination: How to Handle Unwanted Thoughts
Someone sent you a really mean text message or email, and you can’t stop reading it. You can’t help yourself. You get all worked up. Or someone seriously hurt you in the past, and you can’t move on from the injustice of it all. You keep replaying what happened again and again in your mind. […]
Do I Have a Psychosomatic Disorder?
Your back is always hurting. You have relentless stomach pain or cramps. Headaches. Chest pain. Pains in your limbs that aren’t going away. The thing is, while the pain is absolutely real, you’re not sure where it’s coming from. Have you considered whether it could be psychosomatic? Psychosomatic Symptoms in Teens The word psychosomatic comes […]