Blog posts, news articles, and other resources from The Center • A Place of HOPE
Social media usage is becoming increasingly common. Now, over 75% of the world’s population uses some type of social media platform. Reports show that narcissistic personality traits are also growing in young people[1]. The question is: Are the two related? Are young people becoming more narcissistic due to social media...
Bargaining is one of the five stages of grief. The five stages of grief is a model also known as the Kübler-Ross model after Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who coined the phrase in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying[1]. Although the Kübler-Ross model was developed to support terminally ill...
On the road to success, there are many obstacles. But what happens when the biggest obstacle is…ourselves? Many people experience this, and it’s called self-sabotage. We might stay up late the night before an important event or start picking fights with a new partner even though we really like them....
Have you ever felt like you don't belong in your family? Maybe you don't have anything in common with them, or you feel like you can't relate to them. Maybe you've been rejected by your family. Maybe your family doesn't accept you for who you are. This is sometimes called...
Have you had this experience? You’re trying to focus on the task at hand – perhaps it’s studying for an important exam, or finishing work for an upcoming deadline. You know that finishing this task will bring you a lot of recognition, which is important to you. You will feel...
We get married believing we will be with our partner “until death do us part.” But for so many of us (nearly 50% of married couples, according to research), this isn’t how the story always goes[1]. There are many valid reasons to decide to end a marriage. But whether you...
‘Toxic’ is becoming an increasingly used word when discussing dysfunctional behaviors. As with its more traditional definition, toxic behavior describes actions or attitudes that are harmful, destructive, or negative to others, oneself, or the environment. Toxic behavior can have serious consequences for individuals, relationships, and communities, leading to stress, conflict,...
Everyone feels lonely sometimes – but that doesn’t make this emotion any less painful to deal with. There is a difference between being alone and feeling lonely. When you feel lonely, it may start to feel like you will never be loved again. Even if there are people in your...
When we think of someone with a distorted body image (known as body dysmorphia in the field of psychology), we tend to think of a frail young woman who eats very little (or not at all) in order to stay thin – a person with anorexia nervosa or another eating...
We all make mistakes. Most of us have been there more than once, and the feelings that come up as a result of our actions – guilt, regret – can be strong. Feeling guilty or regretful are common emotions, both falling under the broad heading of sadness. We know we...
“The pain of grief is just as much part of life as the joy of love: it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment. To ignore this fact, or to pretend that it is not so, is to put on emotional blinkers which leave us...
Being human means experiencing the full spectrum of feelings and emotions, good and bad. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless to shift to a more desirable mood. Below are 20 ways to get out of a bad mood, all of which are evidence-based (meaning that scientific research has found them...
You’ve probably seen the memes and heard the jokes. Someone will say they’re “so OCD” when they have a need to complete a task to perfection. They’ll describe it as “OCD” when they like their surroundings to be neat and orderly or their closet color-coordinated. But in reality, OCD and...
Hyperfixation is a form of intense concentration that lasts for a short amount of time, to the point where you lose track of everything else. It is all you can pay attention to. Another way to think about hyperfixation is that it’s a state of focus. For some inexplicable reason,...
We all use defense mechanisms, whether we know it or not. Defense mechanisms are your mind’s efforts to protect you against painful emotions and experiences. Despite the negative connotation that is often associated with defense mechanisms, they’re not always harmful – some defense mechanisms can be healthy ways of coping....
There are very few of us out there who are able to maintain a perfectly clean home all of the time. Kids’ toys are strewn about, the clean laundry never gets folded, and the dirty dishes pile up. This is all a normal part of adult life. But where does...
It’s well-known that restful sleep is one of the best things we can do for our overall health and well-being. But too many of us aren’t getting the sleep we need; reports show that over a third of Americans aren’t getting the recommended hours of sleep every night (at least...
In this article, we explore what grounding is and why it works. You will find nine of the best grounding techniques for calming panic attacks listed below for you to try, plus a full explanation of the theory behind them. As you will read, everyone is different, so experiment and...
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The whole person approach to treatment integrates all aspects of a person’s life: