Parenting can be hard, even on the best of days. But if your child doesn’t listen to rules, struggles with emotion regulation, or has behavioral issues, you’re probably at your wits’ end. It’s important to balance discipline and boundary-setting with love and gentleness.

We tend to think of fight or flight as the body’s only two responses to trauma. In reality, we can react to perceived threats in several different ways. Evolutionarily, they’re all designed to help us survive, but in today’s world where we’re rarely in life-threatening danger, they can affect our mental health in the long term.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects millions of people and can significantly impact daily life. But how do you know if your challenges point to ADHD? Understanding these telltale signs can help determine if you should speak to a therapist or doctor about an evaluation.

Grief is an experience we’ll all face at some point. Typically, it’s in response to a death or another deep loss. However, grief can be much more complicated than that. Some people go through anticipatory grief, which happens before the loved one dies. Understanding anticipatory grief can help you come to terms and cope with it.

Eating disorders are one of the most stereotyped mental health issues. Society has an idea of who develops an eating disorder: young women, driven by a desire to conform to beauty standards. In reality, anyone can suffer from an eating disorder.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy applies techniques from family therapy to the individual. Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in the 1980s, IFS approaches the mind as an internal family of parts, each with its own voice, emotions, and needs.

DBT focuses on teaching practical skills that help people manage their emotions, improve their relationships, and navigate life’s challenges. These four skills are mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation. But what are they and how do they help?

Relationships all have their ups and downs. When you’re in a healthy relationship, you feel a strong emotional connection and communicate well while maintaining your identity. However, being in a relationship like that takes a conscious effort from both partners.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects millions worldwide. Its symptoms can be both obvious and less apparent and present differently in people of different demographics. Here are several signs of ADHD and how to begin managing them.

In our society, we might think that to be in a “perfect relationship” means never fighting with your partner. In reality, things are more complicated. In healthy relationships, couples do fight. What’s most important is how conflict is handled.

Grief is our natural response to loss. It’s a complicated journey that is difficult to understand until we go through it. If you’ve just experienced the loss of a loved one, pet, or part of your life, you might be feeling lost and alone. One way to feel supported and heard is through grief counseling.

We will all eventually come to know grief. Even though it’s ultimately a universal human experience, it’s one of the most difficult experiences to navigate. You may someday mourn the loss of a loved one, a pet, a job, a relationship, or even a way of life. Grief’s complex process is not linear—you will likely feel better on some days and worse on others. Finding ways to ease this burden can sometimes feel like an impossible task.

It’s important for people to feel seen and heard in their relationships. Invalidation can be hurtful and damaging to your self-esteem. When your partner doesn’t validate you, it can also lead to breakdowns in communication and simmering resentment. If you’re struggling with a partner who doesn’t validate your feelings, here are a few ways to cope.

If you have an emotionally distant partner, you might struggle to get them to have deeper emotional conversations. They might avoid talking about their feelings or feel uncomfortable and defensive when you’re working through a conflict. In the long run, this can lead to resentment and frustration. To fix this, avoiding placing blame when discussing emotional conflicts is essential.

When we imagine a depressed person, we might picture a stereotype. The depressed person is someone who struggles to get out of bed, who has a hard time keeping a daily routine, and who has withdrawn from their friends and family. However, there’s a lesser-known version of depression that doesn’t fit this conventional idea: high-functioning depression.

Those struggling with depression often see their relationships suffer due to isolation and a fear of getting help. If someone you love has been showing signs of depression or doesn’t seem like themselves, it’s natural to want to step in. While it’s important not to try to fix them yourselves, there are a few practical steps you can take to support your loved one in a healthy way as they battle their depression.

Many people go through depressive episodes in their lives. It’s not just feeling down or sad; it’s a pervasive sense of hopelessness, emptiness, and numbness that can make even the simplest tasks seem daunting. However, there are small steps you can take on your own that can lift your mood and take care of your mental health.

When your thoughts are spiraling due to anxiety, one way to head them off is just by distracting yourself. This will help you manage these big emotions in the moment. Distractions are usually used in combination with other coping mechanisms so you don’t become overly reliant on them.

Our society celebrates high achievers and high standards. It’s easy to fall into the trap of perfectionism to please others and ourselves. While we do think of perfectionism as a personality trait, it also comes with some telltale behaviors. Perfectionism isn’t always a good thing—over time, these behaviors and mentalities can harm your mental health.