Chronic pain is physically and psychologically stressful and its constant discomfort can lead to feelings of anger and frustration. While the medical community may be able to provide treatment for the physical aspects of chronic pain, psychologists are uniquely trained to help manage the mental and emotional aspects of this often debilitating condition and can offer many avenues for pain relief and management. Counselors can help to re-frame negative thinking patterns about pain that may be interfering with normal daily functions such as work, and relationships.
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Art therapy can be beneficial for stressed caregivers of cancer patients
Creative activities like art-making are mindful practices, allowing patients and caregivers to stay in the moment, which by definition can free them from the stress that cancer brings. Caregivers experience stress, which can affect their own health and the patient’s outcome. A recent study showed coloring and open-studio art therapy benefits stressed caregivers of cancer patients.
Offering kindness to others reduces anxiety and increases happiness
Several studies reported in the 1990s and early 2000s that mindfulness based treatments can be effective for a range of psychological problems, particularly those associated with anxiety and mood disorders. A study Published by NCBI found that Loving Kindness exercises were effective for self-critical individuals for reducing self-criticism and depression and improving self-compassion along with positive emotions.
Controlling sad thoughts not a help for grief process
People who are grieving a major loss, such as the death of a spouse or a child, use different coping mechanisms to carry on with their lives. Psychologists have been able to track different approaches, which can reflect different clinical outcomes. One approach that is not usually successful is avoidant grief, a state in which people suffering from grief show marked, effortful, repeated, and often unsuccessful attempts to stop themselves from thinking about their loss. While researchers have shown that avoidant grievers consciously monitor their external environment in order to avoid reminders of their loss, no one has yet been able to show whether these grievers also monitor their mental state unconsciously, trying to block any thoughts of loss from rising to their conscious state.
Pandemic related anxiety, depression due to downtime doldrums
In this study focused on what wandering thoughts can teach us about mental health, ruminative individuals had negative thoughts that lasted longer than positive thoughts, and those negative thoughts became progressively narrower in topic over time.
Getting help with suicide
“I think it is essential that we have the ability and opportunity to explore our thoughts, feelings and ideas. Such as what it means to feel like, that we might be better off dead, or that the world might be better off without us. Exploring what it feels like to think, talk and even to fantasize about it can be the first step in diffusing what could be a very bad choice. It is important to have a safe place to talk about suicide and the feelings associated with that idea.”