Blog posts, news articles, and other resources from The Center • A Place of HOPE
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,...
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...
Being a nice person is a wonderful quality. But is there such a thing as being too nice? This could be the case for people who have what’s known as a people-pleasing personality. People-pleasers are always nice – not because they want to do good, but because they’re terrified of...
Attachment theory highlights the importance of a strong, healthy attachment in childhood. This important attachment comes at the earliest stages of life to a parent or primary caregiver, usually a mother. This first, fundamental attachment, or relationship, sets the stage for all relationships going forward.
People arrive at the point of depression from many different places, indicating there are a variety of paths to recovery. In short, there is no one answer for depression and no single path to recovery. Just as the reasons for depression are a varied as the individuals who suffer from...
Depression is a common and serious illness that can affect how you feel, think, and act daily. If you or a loved one are suffering from depression, you are not alone. Over 350 million people worldwide suffer from depression each year. But the good news is that depression is treatable with...
According to recent statistics, about 25 percent of people with eating disorders also engage in some form of self-mutilation, self-injury or self-harm. Self-mutilation, also known as self-harm or self-injury, is the act of intentionally harming one’s own body through cutting, burning, hair-pulling or a wide range of behaviors that inflict...
When a pandemic like the Coronavirus happens in the world around you, it can be incredibly scary and overwhelming. Everything around you seems to have changed and be out of your control. You may be on lock down at home; or be on social distancing restrictions; or you may have...
One of my clients had had his marriage blow up in his face only months before. His pornography habit had been discovered yet again--after repeated promises of “I’m quitting now"--and his wife was so fed up she had left the house for a week. (It could just as easily be...
“Things were going well all week with my wife and me, and I thought the tensions were behind us,” a client told me recently. “But no, last night, she got all upset again over nothing.” If your marriage has been disrupted by your spouse exploding over their discovery of your...
How can you put your life back together after addiction? Healing happens when you reintegrate healthy connections with yourself and others. Once you admit you’re broken, you must agree to look at reconnecting the pieces of your life that addiction has torn apart. Your relationships may be strained, estranged, or...
Do you know the difference between fear and anxiety? If you look in the dictionary or ask most people, these words are often used interchangeably. However, there is an important distinction between them. To understand, let’s consider Janet and Marc. The sun was just beginning to peek through the blinds...
There's something important to remember in the quest for strength and courage, and that's a spirit of kindness. Too often we teach our children the verse, "Be kind one to another" (Eph. 4:32 RSV), and then we forget the admonition as adults. True forgiveness and kindness are cut from the...
Have you ever noticed how relaxed you can feel after you've done something physically strenuous? It's possible to relive a little of this feeling by engaging in progressive muscle relaxation.
"*" indicates required fields
The whole person approach to treatment integrates all aspects of a person’s life: