The first thing to know is that stalking is a crime in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and on all Federal land. Here’s the legal definition of stalking: “A pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.” If someone is calling, texting, showing up, posting or commenting on your social media feed so much that it’s scaring you, then there’s
At this time every year, about forty percent of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions. That’s roughly one hundred thirty million people. On one level, this is encouraging. It shows that in general, we’re optimistic about the future. We want to change something in our lives for the better and have plans to put that change into action. But on another level, when you dig into the statistics on how many
If you have the winter blahs, they might be more than just a personality quirk. They may well be a specific sub-type of depression. According to the well-known psychiatrist who coined the phrase in 1984, they could be a legitimate psychiatric disorder known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), identifies SAD as an emotional disorder that’s at its peak
Family Time: Triggers Everywhere Holiday time is family time. For people in recovery – especially those toward the beginning of their recovery journey – the holidays can be a minefield of triggers. Why? If you’ve been in treatment, therapy, or support group meetings, chances are you’ve heard someone say this: “Of course your family knows how to push your buttons. They’re the ones who installed them!” Understanding family dynamics plays
Drug and Alcohol Help for You If you’re a teenager and you think you may have a problem with alcohol or drugs, don’t despair: you have options. You probably know the first option is to tell your parents. They will most likely make an appointment with a mental health professional, get you a full addiction and mental health assessment, and then pursue whatever course of treatment the professionals recommend. That
Facts About Homeless Youth in the United States November is Homeless Youth Awareness Month. We’re going to share facts and statistics throughout the month about homelessness, homeless families, and homeless youth. We’ll start this effort by acknowledging that homelessness is a problem we all need to address together. Local, state, and federal agencies, in cooperation with private philanthropic organizations and private citizens, can take steps to help keep individuals, families,
if E-cigarettes, vaping nicotine, and Juul pods are all the rage. You can buy them in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. While most teens know they contain nicotine – that’s the reason they use them – some think they’re harmless, fruity flavored fun. That’s not quite the case. E-cigarettes contain nicotine, and one Juul pod – the most popular form of e-cig right now – contains as much nicotine as
The researchers at Common Sense Media deliver again: this time, with an in-depth look at social media use among adolescents. The report “Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences” examines answers to salient questions that adults – including parents, educators, mental health professionals, and public policy makers – want to know about teen social media use. It’s a follow up on their 2012 report “Social Media, Social Life: How
You might be too old to go trick-or-treating, but you’re not too old to have fun on Halloween. No one is too old to have fun on Halloween. Still, though, you’re personally done with trick-or-treating. The first thing we recommend – if you want to go trick-or-treating but feel weird about it because you’re sixteen or seventeen – is to chaperone younger siblings or maybe help neighborhood parents by chaperoning
While researching ideas for articles to share with you for Halloween, we came across something that hadn’t occurred to us: the fact that many Halloween costumes reinforce negative stigma attached to mental illness. An article in Psychology Today points out that some of the most respected and widely-read news outlets in the nation, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, have run articles on this very topic. They’re
