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Unraveling the Mind: Intrusive Thoughts, Rumination, and Obsessions

Have you ever found your mind wandering into a maze of thoughts, unable to escape its grasp? Let's dive into the world of rumination, obsessive thoughts, and those pesky, uninvited guests - intrusive thoughts. We'll unravel what these terms really mean, and how they're all interconnected. Intrusive Thoughts: Imagine standing on a cliff, and suddenly your brain whispers, "What if you jump?" Intrusive thoughts are like the uninvited weirdos at the mental party. They're bizarre, inappropriate, and downright scary thoughts that pop into your head out of nowhere. The kicker is, you can't control them. They're like a jack-in-the-box of the mind, waiting to surprise you. But here's the thing: intrusive thoughts are normal. Yep, you heard me right. They're a common quirk of our brains. Rumination: Rumination is the act of overthinking and going over and over a particular thought or situation, often with a negative twist. It's that replay button...

Cultivating Positive and Healthy Relationships with Your Romantic Partner

Few bonds are as profound and transformative as the romantic relationships we share with our partners. A positive and healthy romantic relationship can bring joy, fulfillment, and support, while an unhealthy one can lead to stress and unhappiness. Nurturing a strong bond with your partner requires dedication, communication, and a commitment to personal growth. In this blog post, we will explore key elements that contribute to building positive and healthy relationships with your romantic partner. 1. Communication is the Key Effective communication is the foundation of any strong relationship. It involves not only expressing your thoughts and feelings honestly but also being a good listener. Open, compassionate, and respectful communication can resolve conflicts, strengthen emotional intimacy, and enhance overall understanding between partners. Remember, it's essential to communicate both during good times and bad times, as this fosters a deeper connection between you and your partner. 2. Cultivate Trust and Honesty Trust is the backbone...

Setting Mental Health Goals for 2023

As the New Year rolls around, you’ve likely heard somebody’s New Year’s Resolution. There’s a good chance you’ve even set one yourself as 38.5% of American adults set a resolution yearly. If you did set a resolution, there’s also a good chance it’s health related - in fact, 23% of resolutions involve living healthier, and another 20% of resolutions are centered around losing weight. Do these sound like your goals for 2023? New Year’s Resolutions are notoriously hard to keep. 23% of people who set a resolution have already given up in the first week - and only 9% will successfully fulfill their resolution! Why are New Year’s Resolutions so difficult to keep? One reason you may not be sticking to your goals is because we tend to set New Year’s Resolutions without intention. If you just picked a common resolution without much reflection, chances are it may not line up with...

Navigating the Holidays with Depression

Two weeks ago, we talked about navigating the holidays with anxiety. Those with anxiety may feel triggered by social gatherings, such as holiday meals. They may feel distress trying to keep up with their expectations of a picture-perfect holiday, especially when things go wrong. Toxic family dynamics may make their anxiety feel unmanageable. But what about those with depression? If you feel particularly depressed during the holidays, you aren’t alone. In fact, 55% of people this year reported experiencing holiday loneliness or a feeling of the “holiday blues”. For some, holiday blues aren’t a once-a-winter thing - 3% of the population is impacted by seasonal affective disorder (SAD), otherwise called seasonal depression. Those with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder are especially susceptible to seasonal affective disorder, with a 20% chance and 25% chance of experiencing SAD respectively. If you’re struggling with depression this December, check out these three tips from Straight...

Navigating the Holidays with Anxiety

When you picture the holidays, what do you picture? Do you think about gentle snowfall on a quiet morning? Or gathering with friends and family to exchange gifts? How about holiday traditions you have with others, like baking, religious rituals, or movie marathons? Or - are the holidays more anxiety-inducing for you? Do you picture tight budgeting to buy presents? Do you think about crowds as you brave stores to buy gifts for others? Or do you think about hosting your family who inevitably will fight with each other during their stay? If your picture of the holidays sounds closer to the latter than the former, you’re not alone. In fact, 69% of Americans feel stressed out during the holidays. Almost half of Americans - 45% - report they’d rather skip the holidays altogether. For those with anxiety, navigating the holidays can feel even more stressful. Anxious thoughts can be stirred up by...

Three Emotional Boundaries You Can Set Today

You likely know what a boundary is. Chances are, you are even a little familiar (if not a lot familiar) with setting them. Are you aware, though, of the benefits of boundaries? Just a few include: Building self-esteem Establishing or re-establishing your values and beliefs Preventing burnout at work or in relationships Maintaining autonomy Having a clear identity Higher level of mental health / mental wellness From this list, it’s clear that setting boundaries has a variety of benefits. Setting boundaries especially helps us to establish and maintain our identity. They serve to say “this is something I will or will not do,” and our enforcement of our boundaries makes it clear where our values lie. There are a variety of boundary categories. There are physical boundaries, which are those parameters around our body and our space. There are time boundaries, which are rules we place around our energy and day....

Navigating an Enmeshed Relationship

Picture this: you’ve finally found the perfect partner. You do everything together. You share all the same friends, do all the same hobbies together, and like all the same things. You two like each other so much, you find it hard to spend any time at all apart. In fact, you even find yourself canceling your plans to stay home with your partner. This must be a fairy tale, right? Well, maybe. While having affection, shared interests, and a positive social circle with your partner is not a bad thing, partners who fit the above scenario are at danger of becoming enmeshed. An enmeshed relationship is one in which the needs of each individual are so blurred, there’s only the needs of the couple. This means one or both partners may neglect their personal aspirations, thoughts, feelings, friends, hobbies, and desires in an attempt to be identical to their partner. Some signs...

How to Both Like and Love Yourself

In 2022, self-care and self-love have been big buzzwords. You may be tempted to write them both off as the newest wellness fad and not give too much thought to them. However, self-love is no fad - increasing your self-love has a huge impact on your mental health! Low self-esteem has been linked with a myriad of negatives - for example, addictions, depression, anxiety, and a lack of quality relationships can be correlated to low self-esteem. On the other hand, high self-esteem allows us to cultivate confidence, be realistic with ourselves, be more resilient, and be more assertive. It’s clear that self-love is beneficial to us. Now, how can you cultivate self-love? Try out these 10 journal prompts from Straight Up Treatment to increase your self-love today! 1. Make a list of all of your expectations for yourself. This may include your role as a child, parent, employee, boss, student, spouse … the...

Common Fears With Dating Anxiety

Does dating make you feel nervous? If so, you’re far from alone - in fact, 1 out of 5 people feel nervous about relationships and the dating experience. Just some of the most dreaded things about dating included being ghosted - or suddenly ignored - by a potential partner, awkwardness around defining the boundaries of the relationship - the “what are we?” talk - and the influence of social media presence on modern relationships. For all people, these elements can be, and usually are, nerve-inducing. What if you have dating anxiety, though? Dating anxiety is more than just the normal dating jitters - dating anxiety is an overwhelming, sometimes debilitating feeling around the process of dating. Dating anxiety can cause us to have physical symptoms, like a racing heart or sweating. It can also be a sign of unresolved relationship trauma, abandonment issues, or social anxiety disorder. What are some common fears...

How Can I Better Manage My Anxiety?

An amazing 19.1%, or 40 million, American adults battle with anxiety each year. In fact, an anxiety diagnosis is so common, anxiety disorders are now the most common mental health concern in the United States. As of March 2020 (when the pandemic began), 9.7 million Americans were prescribed an anti-anxiety medication. As you can see, anxiety is a common mental health concern to struggle with! If you have anxiety, what are your options? There are several different approaches you can take to anxiety treatment. First, anxiety that is manageable may be handled with holistic methods at home. Second, anxiety that has elevated beyond your known coping strategies may be brought to a licensed psychotherapist. Third, anxiety that is unmanageable even through holistic and therapeutic methods may benefit from medication management. Anxiety does not necessarily follow these “levels”, either; if you and a psychiatrist discuss medication management before trying anything else, that’s...

Managing Expectations in Relationships with an Anxious Partner

For those impacted by it, the reality of anxiety is that many, if not most, things they do are in some way affected by anxiety. Going to the grocery store may be anxiety-inducing from the crowds. Visiting a new place for the first time can be overwhelming from uncertainty and departure from the norm. Meeting new people can be absolutely terrifying and avoided at all costs. For the forty million adults in America living with anxiety everyday, it may feel that the mental health concern has a hand and presence in everything. What about relationships? Anxiety can impact a myriad of things in romantic relationships. For example, an anxious partner may ask (or expect without asking) more reassurance from their partner. They may be more indecisive. They may overthink conversations, texts, and scenarios after a non-anxious partner has long forgotten about them. Anxiety may lead to avoidance, too - avoidance of...

Making Friends While Anxious

Let’s face it: making friends is hard for most people. 45% of American adults reported they continually struggle to make friends. Young adults, from ages 18 to 34, were the highest category for reporting making friends was difficult for them. Though there are less studies, making friends can be difficult for children and teenagers, too, with pressures like fitting in to peer groups and the influence of social media just being two barriers to friend-making. Making friends with no mental health concerns is hard. Making friends with anxiety is even harder. Aside from the traditional struggles everyone faces, those with anxiety may experience: Intense worrying about social situations Isolation from avoidance of social situations Missing responsibilities, such as work or school, from avoidance Physical symptoms such as racing heart, lack of concentration, nausea, and more Anxiety can make it even harder than normal to make friends due to intense distress over the...

Tips for Parents Dealing with Back to School Blues

Whether you’re sending your little one away for the first time or your adult child is heading to college for their last year, parents everywhere may experience a range of emotions when their child goes to school. It’s completely normal to feel a little sad; after all, school means your baby is growing up! You may feel the opposite - complete relief! - as you finally get a break after dealing with, er, we mean, having the pleasure of being with your child all summer. Fear, happiness, rest, joy, tearful - you’re likely to experience them all. Some parents, however, may feel more anxiety than anything else. In fact, one study estimates that mothers are far more stressed out about kids than going back to school - 63% of moms had the hardest time with back to school time, compared to only 23% of kids! Some of the top causes for...

Journal Prompts: Releasing Stress and Anxiety

Have you ever tried journaling? Chances are, you’ve likely tried to journal in some way - be it tracking your mood, keeping a daily log, or writing about your dreams - at some point in time. However, did you know consistent journaling has several mental health benefits? Studies have shown that just 15 minutes a day, three days a week has decreased signs of anxiety and depression in as little as three months. Not only does journaling reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, it can also increase awareness - another great skill we talked about in last week’s blog. If you want to start journaling but have no clue where to begin, try out these 10 journals prompts to release anxiety and stress. Name a time you didn’t feel anxious. Where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with? Take a silent moment to check in with your body. Where are...

Have Anxiety? Start Meditating!

When you hear “meditation,” what do you think of? Do you picture a wise, old sage, cross-legged with eyes closed? Or do you picture yoga retreats with incense burning? Maybe you have your own frustrations with meditation and are picturing nodding off, battling with concentration, and trying to resist a scratch that you didn’t notice until you started meditating. In all your imagination about meditation, do you picture the benefits, especially for those with anxiety? Meditation is one of several mind-body exercises that work to reduce symptoms of anxiety. Aside from anxiety, meditation can help with chronic pain, sleep disorders, depression, and headaches. Meditation can help soothe anxiety by increasing our emotional regulation skills, helping you to stay in the present moment, and decreasing physical symptoms like increased heart rate. If it’s difficult for you to meditate due to your anxiety, try the following tips to establish a consistent, fruitful practice. Allow Anxious...

Mental Health and the Mind-Body Connection

What do you picture when you hear the word “health''? Chances are, you think of a balanced diet and regular exercise. You may think of other healthy habits, or you may even have an image in your mind of what a “healthy” person looks like. When you think of health, however, do you think of mental health? Mental health is largely left out of the conversation about a healthy lifestyle. Even when it’s brought in, there is a tendency to simplify mental health to mindfulness, meditation, and mantras. While these things can certainly contribute to a positive outlook, mental health is much, much more: it’s our coping mechanisms, ability to recover from dysregulation, thought processes, and even our physical health. Physical and mental health are deeply connected. Have you ever felt out of breath, like your heart is racing, fatigued, and nauseous, but you weren’t otherwise sick? This happens to be one of the tell-tale physical...

Rates of Anxiety in the LGBTQIA+ Community

As June rolls around, we feel more inclined than ever to honor our LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month. Pride originated to honor the Stonewall riots, to celebrate our original Queer trailblazers, and to advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights. Just one of the numerous barriers to our LGBTQIA+ community is the rate of mental health disorders as well as access to culturally-competent care. In the Queer community alone, almost 5.8 million folx report being diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Between 30 percent and 60 percent of LGBT people report struggling with anxiety or depression. These rates are higher than those of hetereosexual and cisegender folx. Yet, there is still a startling lack of gender and sexuality affirming healthcare across the United States. If you’re wondering where the disparity between non-LGBT and LGBT rates of mental health issues come in, consider these three factors impacting anxiety in the LGBTQIA+ community: Lack of Support At Home: In one study by the Trevor Project, it was found that LGBTQ+...