The Masks We Wear: Through the Lens of Persona, Masking, and Code-Switching
This is the time of year when people who celebrate Halloween begin to think about their costumes or maybe they already have their costume picked out by this point. Some of these costumes may include a mask to create the desired effect. Masks, however, serve other purposes besides dressing up for Halloween, and some of these purposes and variants will be discussed in this post.
Changing the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health
Mental health and stigma are words that are often used together, though there is hope for a future where that is not the case. The stigma surrounding mental health is insidious, embedded on many levels and can have harmful consequences. This post hopes to explore the topic of mental health stigma in hopes of inspiring everyone to do their part to help break this stigma, which can only be done if we all work together.
Why Mental Health?: Through the Lens of Emotional Regulation, Social Connection, and Systemic Environmental Systems
Yes, mental health. I said it, and it is a topic that must keep coming up because of how essential it is to our overall well-being and quality of life. Mental health, like physical health, exists on a continuum (Menefee et al., 2022). Think about this as shades of gray between white and black. Mental health is not all or nothing nor is it an isolated aspect of being human. Mental health is linked to our physical health, emotional well being, and social relationships.
The Power of Narrative and Reframing
We often craft narratives or stories in our head about events, experiences, people, places, etc., which, given what the brain is programmed to do, makes sense. In the process, we may adjust, add, or omit facts or aspects to make the story fit. When we craft narratives or stories our brain accesses the parts that are involved in emotional, processing, memory, and social cognition (Martinez-Conde et al., 2019). While there is plenty of neuroscience research that talks about the specifics, we will not dive into that here and now. If you would like to, the research is interesting and Google Scholar is a great tool for investigating this topic. Our focus takes us down a different path.
The Shades of Advocacy in Mental Health
Advocacy is a choice. We do not have to be advocates. We need to decide for ourselves whether that is something that we want in our lives.
Welcome Autumn!
The green of summer fades into fiery reds, dazzling yellows, and soft oranges. The flowers of summer bear fruit and we begin to enjoy winter squash, apples, cranberries, and sweet potatoes. Along with the unique astronomical phenomena and the beautiful change in color palette, this time of year often elicits different themes that invite reflection.
Domains of Grief: Spiritual
When we experience a loss we can experience the loss of a mirror in our life. For example, if someone had a child die, the question that may arise is, “Am I still a mother/father?” Another example that is not death related may be, “My parent is in jail. What does my life look like now without my parent?”
Domains of Grief: Physical
The body has a role in grief! It may seem like an obvious statement, and yet, it seems like it can easily be missed in some contexts. Grief does naturally result in our body responding to the stress of the loss.
Domains of Grief: Social
The social domain of grief is looking at a mourner's experience engaging with the world. As was introduced in a post a few weeks ago introducing the domains of grief, there are potentially two different perspectives to consider when looking at this domain. As a reminder, the first facet is if friends and/or family withdraw due their own need to not be around grief, lack of knowledge of how to be present for someone, etc. and the result is isolation. The second facet is on the part of the person experiencing the grief and their potential reactions to socially isolate, detach, avoid reminders of the loss, or refrain from asking for support.
Domains of Grief: Cognitive
So when a loved one dies, you can no longer find the person in time and space and the brain struggles to understand that based on previous learning. The neural architecture of a bond with another enables a belief that the loved one still exists even though there is substantial evidence saying the opposite (O'Connor & Seeley, 2022).
Domains of Grief: Emotions
Emotions serve a purpose in our lives. Some people have learned to embrace their feelings while others have been taught to stuff them away. There is also a continuum within embracing and stuffing emotions away. These lessons are learned via our culture, family culture, and from individuals, consciously or unconsciously.
Domains of Grief: An Introduction
With some of the basics of grief covered, it is time to do a little bit more of an exploration so that we can learn more about grief. Readers be warned! Learning about grief can remind you of your own grief. That is okay. Grief is not something we get over. Rather it is something we integrate into our lives. The below quote drives this point home.
Grief and Bereavement Basics: Part 3
Disenfranchised grief is what people experience when the loss is not or cannot be openly acknowledged, socially sanctioned, or publicly mourned. Another way to say this is that a person may experience a loss, but it is not recognized by others or society nor is the grief associated with the loss.
Grief and Bereavement Basics: Part 2
When you think about loss in the context of grief and mourning, where does your mind go? Does it go first to death? For many people it does. However, loss includes so much more.
Grief and Bereavement Basics: Part 1
Grief, mourning, and bereavement are topics that people generally do not like to talk about as they bring up all sorts of different feelings, thoughts, and memories. While we will not dive into this topic in-depth, please do take care of yourself as we cover the basic terminology so that we have a common language and an opportunity to understand some of the terms that are often used interchangeable, but that are different concepts. Hopefully, we all walk away from reading this post remembering to hold our grief and that of others with tender care.
Emotions: Mind and/or Body
Have no fear, we are not going to talk about neuroscience today regarding emotions. Instead, we are going to investigate something about emotions. Do emotions begin in the mind or the body? Before you keep reading, take a guess about the answer. Most importantly, keep track of your train of thought about how you arrived at this answer.
Inviting Self-Compassion
Self-compassion is totally different from being self-centered or self-indulgent. These terms are often conflated and a detriment to self-compassion, and to us and our mental health. While the blog on this website has brought self-compassion before, this post really makes self-compassion the focus for inclusion in everyday life.
Mindfulness and the Mind-Body Connection
The body gets lost in the mix. So, what do you think happens? The body loses trust in you that it will be heard or listened to in times of challenge and in times of peace. So the lesson becomes about building that trust back.
Summer Celebrations! The Importance of Traditions
June 20th was the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere! What is a solstice? Coming from the Latin words sol meaning Sun and sistere meaning to stand still, the solstice is when the angle between the light of the Sun and the plane of Earth’s equator looks as if it stands still (Farmers’ Almanac, n.d.). We can see this most directly at the Arctic Circle where we may have heard the term “Land of the Midnight Sun.”
Porges Polyvagal Theory: The Six States of the Autonomic Nervous System
Polyvagal Theory was introduced by Stephen Porges, PhD focuses on the role of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the vagus nerve, as it relates to the physiological/psychological states related to our daily behavior. There are three defining principles (Polyvagal Institute, n.d.):
Hierarchy of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) per Polyvagal Theory (PVT)
Neuroception
Co-regulation