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coping with holiday stress

5 Tips for Coping with Holiday Stress

The holiday season is filled with joy, wonder, and magic to many. For others, it can be an overwhelming and stressful time with family in town, work deadlines looming, and just planning to have a holly jolly holiday with your loved ones. If you find the stress seeping into every part of your day during the holiday season, you’re not alone. We’ve put together five tips for coping with the holiday stress in your life to help you get through the hard times. 5 Tips for Coping with Holiday Stress in Your Life Stick to a Budget One of the ways holidays get out of control for people is the cost. Presents, dinners, gift cards, and more add up and if you don’t stick to a budget – or exceed it – it can cause undue stress on you mentally, emotionally, and financially. Before the holidays begin, set a budget, stick to it, and set aside money in advance so that you don’t feel overwhelmed come winter. Get in Your Exercise You may not be the most active person but the holidays tend to make us want to curl up on the sofa and get away from it all. Get in some exercise every day, even if it’s just something as simple as cleaning your home, walking around the block, or taking a break during the day to hit the gym. Just a little bit of exercise each day can brighten your mood and help you overcome stress. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Just like any other day of your life, the holidays are filled with difficulties. Don’t let them get to you! Something may happen that derails your day but don’t let it control your life. Let go of the small stuff, everything thrown your way can be handled even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment. Take Some Time for Yourself Don’t feel selfish walking away from it all for a while during the holidays, especially if you have family in town. A quick breather away from the chaos can help calm your nerves, anxiety, and stress allowing you to handle whatever’s thrown your way. Pop into the bathroom, head out on the porch or go for a short walk to collect your thoughts and tackle the next challenge. Pick and Choose Your Battles No matter what happens during the holidays, you don’t have to deal with everything coming at you. Pick and choose your battles, especially if they involve relatives, and just let some of it go. Not everything has to be dealt with, argued about, or even discussed. Learn what’s important to fight for and let everything else fall to the wayside to melt stress. While the holidays are a stressful time for most, remember that at the end of the day, they, too, shall pass.

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seasonal affect disorder

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Do you get blue during the holidays? Do you fall into a depression? For some, as the holidays and winter roll in, things seem to slow down and get dreary. Whether it affects your daily life or not, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that many just shrug at. For those who suffer from it, it can be debilitating if left untreated during winter. Let’s look at what SAD is, what the symptoms are, and what type of treatments are available. More About Seasonal Affective Disorder Seasonal affective disorder typically begins in the fall months and gets worse the further into winter it affects a person. Low energy and moodiness are two key symptoms that people tend to attribute to the stress of the holidays, working hard before taking time off and seeing extended family. However, these symptoms can be the start of season affective disorder beginning to burrow its way into you. Seasonal affective disorder is a type of major depression that comes out during fall and winter. Some of the other symptoms of SAD include: Low interest in your normal activities Feeling agitated or sluggish Changes to your appetite and weight loss Sleeplessness Difficulty concentrating At the worst of SAD, you may experience suicidal thoughts if left untreated. For most, these symptoms will fade away once spring rolls in. If you suffer from other forms of depression or mental illness, it’s important to recognize that those “winter blues” can cause your other symptoms to be heightened and overwhelm you. While everyone feels sad or down occasionally, it’s not normal to feel that way all the time. That’s why identifying seasonal affective disorder and reaching out for treatment is essential for those who are suffering from more than just a case of the blues. If you already suffer from a mental illness, making sure to reach out to your therapist as soon as you begin feeling blue. There’s a variety of treatment options to overcome seasonal affective disorder, such as talking to a therapist, light therapy, medication, and immersing yourself in a new activity or meeting new people. Working with a therapist will help you identify the symptoms of SAD, put together plan to treat it, and overcome it so it doesn’t overtake your life during the fall and winter months each year.

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Is this too OCD?

Do I Need Counseling for OCD?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a form of anxiety that manifests itself in a variety of ways for sufferers. Repeated and unwanted thoughts, ideas, sensations, and behaviors lead people to act out to get over the compulsion driving them. The anxiety that comes from OCD can destroy someone’s ability to live a normal life. Let’s look at some of the background on OCD, why people avoid treatment, and whether you need counseling to overcome obsessive-compulsive disorder. More About OCD On average, about 2.2 million Americans adults suffer from OCD with most symptoms beginning to manifest at a young age. It can appear at any point in life but 1/3 of adults begin experiencing anxiety from it as children. Research also indicates that OCD might run in families, so if your one of your parents experiences it, you might, too. The earlier you begin suffering from OCD, the more of an impact it has if it goes untreated as you get older. Why Do People Avoid OCD Treatment? Since OCD can severely impact the ability to function in school, work or at play, many will try and hide symptoms. The embarrassment associated with OCD can drive those who suffer from it to do whatever it takes to avoid others finding out just how bad it is for them. When someone suffering from OCD sees how others joke about it and how it’s portrayed in entertainment, this leads to additional embarrassment and stigma admitting they have a real issue that needs treatment. Those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder are often misdiagnosed or concurrently diagnosed with other mental health issues. Often, the OCD is misclassified as a symptom of another issue instead of treated on its own. This can lead to other symptoms being overcome with OCD itself intensified or ignored, leading to even more anxiety for the sufferer. Do You Need Counseling for OCD? If you suffer from OCD, and it’s negatively impacting your life, counseling to overcome OCD is a must to be able to control your compulsions and live a better life. Finding the right counselor is the key to learning how to cope with obsessive-compulsive disorder. There are many types of treatment options out there for OCD, including therapy and medication. Finding the right therapy, coupled with the right treatment options, can help anyone overcome OCD and learn to live life with the disorder.

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PTSD Therapy in Denver

3 Reasons Why Trauma Counseling Will Help You

There are events that happen to us in life that we can’t handle ourselves. These events often overcome our daily life, making us depressed, hopeless, and powerless to even get out of bed in the morning. Trauma can make it harder to live life, be happier, and see the good in everything around us. If you’re the victim of a traumatic event, trauma counseling will help you by working through the trauma and finding ways to cope with it so you can live a normal life. 3 Reasons Why Trauma Counseling Will Help You Live Life Help Alleviate and Deal with Flashbacks One of the hardest aspects of dealing with trauma is reliving the events repeatedly. These are called flashbacks. Flashbacks can be triggered by similar events or reminders of the trauma; they can come at any moment, often at the worst times when you’re at school, work, or out in public. These flashbacks can shut you down, making it impossible to go on with what you’re doing. Trauma counseling can help alleviate flashbacks and learn how to deal with them when they strike. These coping skills can help you live a more normal daily life as well as confront the trauma head-on to overcome it. Help You Function in Day-to-Day Life Trauma can make it hard to get out of bed in the morning, participate in conversations, or just get through a single day. Depression, lack of sleep, anxiety, hopelessness, and more can manifest from trauma which can make it hard to feel like your normal self. This can impact everything from your education to your work to your relationships with family and friends. Trauma counseling can help you develop coping skills for the aftermath of trauma, like overcoming flashbacks. You’ll be able to talk through your fears, identify triggers, and develop the skills to confront negative feelings and anxiety. Help You Form and Maintain Relationships When you’re dealing with a traumatic event, the way you’re coping often hurts the relationships you’ve built. This makes it even harder to have the support system you need around you to deal with trauma. While you aren’t intentionally trying to destroy your relationships, the symptoms your trauma takes on as you’re dealing with it can make you moody, angry, or withdrawn. When the people around you don’t understand that, it will be hard to form and maintain relationships. Trauma counseling can help you identify how you’re interacting with the people around you and what you could be doing differently. It can also help you learn how to talk to the important people in your life so they understand and are aware of what you’re going through. There’s many more reasons why trauma counseling will help you overcome the event in your life that’s making it difficult for you to live a normal life. If you’re dealing with trauma and need help, consider a trauma counselor to get you on the right track and develop the coping skills you need to get back on track.

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How to use mindfulness to be a rock star at relationships

How To Use Mindfulness to Be a Rock Star at Relationships

Relationships make the world go round. In fact, research shows that the number-one thing that leads to happiness is having great relationships with others; with spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends, best friends, co-workers, roommates, you name it. So where dos mindfulness come in? Does sitting in the lotus position automatically improve our relationships? Not quite, but here are some ways that mindfulness actually does impact our relationships in a big way. Listening mindfully, Understanding More When we are being present and in-the-moment with someone else, we actually hear what they are saying. We also pick up on all the non-verbal cues that complement conversation. When people understand us, we like them more and feel connected, safe, and respected. To do this effectively, focus your attention on whoever you’re talking with. When you notice your attention wander away (and it always will, don’t worry, that’s normal), notice that you’ve strayed and gently re-focus on whomever you’re talking to. It does take practice. Keep at it and you’ll be an amazing listener in no time. Mindful of yourself, Better communicator When you are mindful of what’s going on with you when you’re with others, you can choose to share your observations to communicate better with others. For example, maybe you notice feeling irritable whenever talking with your spouse about money. You can share that to lead to a deeper conversation and better understanding about what’s going on. For example: “Hey honey, I notice that I feel irritable when we go over the bills. Have you noticed the same thing? I think it comes from stress, what do you think? What are money issues like for you?” Much better than getting irritable and not really noticing until you snap at them: “Seriously, how many times do you need to go to Chipotle every week??” Mindfulness Practice, Better Emotional IQ Having your own mindfulness practice, which is just a few minutes a day of focusing your attention on the moment and what you notice, leads to a big boost of Emotional Intelligence. In other words, mindfulness helps you better process incoming emotional information. If you can recognize and process your own and others’ emotions in the moment, you don’t make assumptions about others, hold grudges or feel unheard. It breaks us out of being reactive and teaches us how to be responsive instead. People love being in relationships with people who have high emotional IQ.

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Depression Therapy

3 Signs You May Be Suffering from PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common mental illnesses in the world. PTSD occurs after witnessing or being involved in a traumatic event. It manifests in a variety of ways, including flashbacks, uncontrollable thoughts, nightmares, and depression. These symptoms often get worse over time becoming debilitating to those who aren’t getting help to overcome it. Let’s look at three of the most common signs of PTSD so you can begin fighting back. 3 Signs You May Suffer from PTSD There are two main types of symptoms of PTSD: Emotional and physical. Emotional symptoms present in a variety of ways, such as intense guilt, worry, depression, and feeling emotionally numb to the world around you. Physical symptoms also present in different ways, like headaches, sleeplessness, heart flutters, and tension throughout the body. Three of the biggest signs you may suffer from PTSD include: Re-experiencing the traumatic event Avoiding reminders of the event Increased emotional arousal and anxiety Re-experiencing the traumatic event and avoiding reminders of the event are the two big indicators you may be suffering from PTSD. By going out of the way to avoid triggers that make you relive the event, you’re affecting telling your brain you don’t want to deal with it. From there, your mind and body begin “dealing” with it in other ways, which leads to other emotional and physical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Increased emotional arousal and anxiety will manifest, too. This can include angry outbursts, feeling suicidal, and extreme anxiety in even the easiest of circumstances. Other symptoms to look at for when suffering from PTSD include physical aches and pains, substance abuse, hopelessness, feelings of mistrust, and guilt or shame. PTSD can have short-term and long-term effects for sufferers. It’s important to determine if you need help after a traumatizing event, even if you’re not presenting emotional or physical symptoms. By going into therapy or on medication from the beginning, you can begin to learn the coping skills you need to overcome issues that arise from symptoms of PTSD.

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man person fog mist

5 Signs You May Have a Substance Abuse Problem

Not everyone can tell they have a substance abuse issue. While others around you may notice you acting differently, you may not understand the signs and symptoms of a problem until confronted. Here are five of the most common signs you may have a substance abuse problem and what you can do to help yourself overcome it. 5 Signs You May Have a Substance Abuse Problem to Fight Cravings Intense cravings for drugs, food, drink, or other substances can be an indication you have an issue that needs to be addressed. Depending on the drug in question, you may find you not only crave the substance but food or drink as well when high. Physical Dependence A physical dependence on a substance can manifest itself in a variety of ways, sometimes mimicking withdrawal symptoms as well. As you become dependent on a substance, your body becomes dependent on it, too which means you’ll often feel bad or sick when not high or when not using regularly. Tolerance As time goes on, you become more dependent on a substance which builds your tolerance to it. You may need a higher dosage to get high. If you notice you need to drink more, smoke more, or partake in a substance in higher dosages, you’re building a tolerance which is cause for concern. Withdrawal Symptoms When you go without the substance, even for a brief period of time, you may experience mental, emotional, and physical symptoms of withdrawing. You’ll crave the substance like never before and until you get more, you may continue with withdrawal symptoms that make you feel horrible. This is always something to be on the lookout for, especially as tolerance for a substance grows. Isolation While some substance users feel more social when indulging, others isolate themselves so the world around them doesn’t see what the substance does to them. If you’re a social person and you start ditching your family and friends to indulge in your substance of choice, consider what’s making. Substance abuse problems are never easy to deal with, regardless of the support system around you. By being able to identify some of the signs yourself or with the help of others, you can set yourself up for overcoming them before your life becomes unmanageable.

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Denver Therapy Weekend Appointment

How Do I Find a Weekend Therapy Appointment in Denver?

At Thrive Counseling, we get it. You’re busy. You’re working hard at your job during the week and you need to find a weekend therapy appointment. We are excited to announce that a new therapist, Jessica Leiby, has just joined our team specifically to work on the weekends and meet that need. So if you need a weekend therapy appointment in Denver, contact us and we will be happy to meet you on the weekend.

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Denver Therapist Depression Anxiety

How Depression & Anxiety Go Hand in Hand

While depression and anxiety are two very separate mental health issues, they often go hand in hand with one another. Anxiety can lead to depression; depression can lead to anxiety. Depending on the severity of one thing or another, they can be crippling to those suffering from these forms of mental illness. Let’s look at how depression and anxiety play on one another and how to get treatment for them. Why Depression and Anxiety Go Hand in Hand More than half of people who suffer from bouts of depression also suffer from anxiety. Sometimes it’s two different disorders, sometimes it’s triggered by one or the other. When you’re feeling down from depression, it’s easier to let the world around you make you nervous. Talking to other people, going to work, heading to classes, and just visiting family can feel you with crippling anxiety. Over time, without treatment, you can develop an anxiety disorder triggered by the way depression makes you feel. Here are some signs you may be suffering from depression and anxiety: Irrational fear and worry about the world around you Physical symptoms, such as headaches, fatigue, difficulty breathing and rapid heartbeat Insomnia and other troubles sleeping Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed or those activities cause panic attacks Difficulty remembering things and making decisions Inability to relax, even under normal circumstances Panic attacks Everyone experiences mental illness symptoms differently. If you see some of the above, or others, it may be time to get help. Whether you notice the symptoms yourself or someone who cares about you does, heed the warning signs. Anxiety and depression are treatable forms of mental illness. With medication, therapy, and other forms of intervention, you can overcome both. Whether you suffer from depression and have anxiety or vice versa, a qualified therapist can help you identify the symptoms and situations that make it worse. From there, it’s a matter of learning how to cope and what works best to get you over the hump. Once you have the tools at your disposal to handle depression and anxiety, you can begin living a more normal life and get back to enjoying the life you lead again.

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