Month: September 2024

Types of Therapy for Depression and Anxiety

If you are seeking help for depression and anxiety, there are many different types of therapy available. Sometimes, it can take some trial and error to find the right therapist and type of therapy to suit your personality and needs. Be patient, and continue looking if the fit isn’t right.

You might consider cognitive behavioral therapy, which is the most common type of talk therapy. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy can help you address traumatic events from the past and learn to cope with them in a more healthy way. Art therapy can help you express yourself without using words, and can help you identify underlying feelings and emotions. And finally, animal therapy can allow you to cope with stress and feel the self-confidence that comes with taking care of another living creature. Hopefully, you can try different forms of therapy and find the right fit for you.

Types of Therapy for Depression and Anxiety That Can Be Helpful

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is the most common of the types of therapy. It involves mostly just talking with a mental health professional about your experiences and emotions. Through your interactions, they’ll help you identify stress triggers in your life and learn healthy coping strategies for them. The goal of CBT is to identify negative thoughts and mind-sets, and challenge them and correct them into more healthy and realistic views.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy 

Another of the types of therapy that is getting more and more common is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, or EMDR. This was originally used for veterans experiencing PTSD, but is now used to address traumatic events of any degree. The idea behind EMDR is that when your body is experiencing emotional trauma, your brain doesn’t process the memories correctly. Therefore, they can continue to haunt you and cause anxiety for many years. EMDR aims to reprocess these memories by engaging both sides of your brain while you discuss the traumatic event by having you follow a moving light or object with your eyes. 

Art Therapy

Art therapy can be a fun way to explore your more creative side. This type of therapy allows you to explore your subconscious emotions by examining your artwork. This might include painting, drawing, sculpture, or other forms of art. A trained professional can help you identify emotional undertones, symbolism, and nonverbal messages within your artwork. You can also practice things like journaling at home to help you identify patterns in your thinking or gain more perspective on a situation. 

Animal Therapy 

Finally, one last examples of different types of therapy is animal assisted therapy, or AAT. This can involve petting, holding, or caring for a support animal like a dog, cat, bunny, or horse. The animals are trained, and you typically are guided through this therapy with a counselor. Interacting with animals can reduce blood pressure, release feel-good endorphins, and take away stress. Additionally, caring for another living creature can help you gain self-confidence.

There are many different types of therapy available for a number of mental health issues. It’s important to look around until you find the therapist and therapy that works best for you. Don’t hesitate to reach out to another counselor if the fit just doesn’t feel right. You need to feel comfortable with the person you are working with, and have confidence that they’ll help you get to a better mental space. You might consider CBT, or talk therapy to help identify and work through negative perceptions. You might also consider EMDR if you are dealing with traumatic situations from the past.

Art therapy can be a creative way to express yourself non-verbally and can reveal things you might not actually realize about yourself. And finally, animal therapy can be a soothing way to rebuild self-confidence and tackle stress. Hopefully, you can try a few different types of therapy and professionals to find the best fit for your needs.

Handling Divorce Stress: Breathing Exercises

Breathing exercises can help you reduce your stress and practice mindfulness, especially if you are going through something stressful like a divorce. You can do these exercises whenever you have a few moments of free time to help you mentally focus. And you can use them if you’re feeling particularly anxious. The idea is to focus solely on just your breathing and let your mind clear for a few moments. There are tons of techniques you can use, but 4-7-8 breathing is one of the most popular. You can also try breathing through alternating nostrils, or lying down and trying diaphragmatic breathing. Finally, the lion’s breath technique is also a good one to try if you are feeling particularly frazzled. Hopefully, you can use these exercises to calm down your nervous system and give yourself some time to clear your head.

Handling Divorce Stress: Breathing Exercises to Calm You Down

4-7-8

4-7-8 breathing is one of the most popular and widely recommended breathing exercises for stress. To do this, sit comfortably and touch your tongue to the back of your upper teeth. Then exhale all of your air in a whooshing sound. Inhale while you count to four. Then hold your breath for 7 counts. Then, exhale slowly with a whooshing sound for 8 counts. You should keep your tongue in the same position for the duration of the exercise. Repeat 3 more times.

Nostril Switch

Another of the easy breathing exercises that you can practice whenever you have a free moment is the alternating nostril switch. To do this, cover your right nostril and breathe in through your left nostril. Then, cover your left nostril and breathe out through the right. Breathe back in through the right and cover it. Breathe out through the left nostril. Breathe back in through the left nostril and cover it. Repeat this pattern for about five minutes or until you feel calmer.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

Some breathing exercises can do more than just battle stress. Diaphragmatic breathing can help you with lung health and blood pressure in addition to calming your nervous system. Lay comfortable on your back with a pillow under your head and knees bent. Lay one hand on your upper chest and the other below your rib cage. Inhale through your nose and feel your stomach press against your hand. Then exhale through pursed lips as you tighten your abdominal muscles. Keep your upper hand perfectly still. Repeat for five minutes several times a day. 

Lions’ Breath

Finally, one last exercise you can try is the lion’s breath technique. It’s an energizing yoga practice that can help release tension in your body. Sit comfortably with your hands on your knees. Inhale deeply through your nose and then open your eyes wide. Open your mouth as widely as you can and stick your tongue out and down as if touching your tongue to your chin. Exhale strongly through your mouth making a deep “haaaa” sound from your belly. As you do this, look up as if looking at the space between your eyebrows. Repeat two or three times.

Deep breathing exercises can be hugely beneficial if you are dealing with divorce stress or anxiety from any situation. And not only that, but some of the techniques can also improve your pulmonary or cardiovascular health as well. It’s important to find the practices that work for you if you are experiencing stress. In addition to deep breathing, you might consider things like journaling, yoga, affirmation, meditation, or speaking with a therapist. You can do deep breathing when you have a few moments throughout your day or when you’re feeling particularly anxious or tense. The main focus is simply to clear your mind of stress and focus it solely on your breathing instead. At least for a little while. Even just a short break like this can help you body and mind to begin to relax a bit. Hopefully, you can find the techniques that work best for you so that you can fight divorce stress and improve your mental health.

Elderly Parent Getting Re-Married: What to Know

An elderly parent getting re-married can feel a bit jarring, but it’s not actually that uncommon. Because people are living longer and in better health, more and more older folks are deciding to take another chance on love even in their seventies and beyond. However, it’s important to have a conversation with them and make sure that you are on the same page about avoiding scams and protecting them financially. There are potential benefits to the union, and it’s something that you should really give them space and autonomy on deciding. However, there are definitely some things to discuss and things that you might need to make sure they’ve thought about before they head down the aisle. For many, getting married at an older age can be a second chance at happiness and can help them make sure that they have a companion to share their golden years with.

Elderly Parent Getting Re-Married: What to Know to Protect Them 

Why It’s More Common

An elderly parent getting re-married is becoming more common mostly because our quality and length of life is extending. Medicine is improving and the quality of care for the elderly can make their last years much more peaceful. Many retirees living in retirement communities are finding new partners because they are in a place with our people that might share their same interests and experiences. It’s also become less of a stigma to go through divorce, so there are more single elderly people than in previous generations that are feeling more confident in choosing a new partner, even later in life.

Avoiding Scams

While we’d like to think that an elderly parent getting re-married is as innocent as we think, the truth is that there are a lot of scammers out there that target older populations in particular. Therefore, if your parent is expressing interest in a new partner, it’s helpful to try to get to know the person and see what your impression is. If they are significantly younger, if they seem overly concerned about talking about merging finances, or if there are other red flags, it might be worth it to do a little digging into their background.

Potential Benefits

There are a lot of benefits to an elderly parent getting re-married though, and it’s something that you should try to give them autonomy over. After all, they are adults who can make their own decisions. But that’s not to say that your opinions should be totally ignored. However, writing this off or treating it as something less than serious can actually be missing the point that a marriage might really benefit them. For example, it can give them a new lease on life, it can help them prevent loneliness as they get older, and it can create a relationship that helps them be more accountable for their health. 

Things to Consider 

There are definitely some things to consider and items that you’ll want to discuss with your parent. For example, are they planning on merging their assets with their new partner? Or are they going to sign a pre-nuptial agreement? Merging their life with another person might affect things like their retirement benefits, healthcare, social security, or veterans benefits. Additionally, it means splitting their assets up between potential step children that they might not necessarily have as close a relationship with. Finally, it can also mean that you now are inviting new siblings into your family traditions, which can buck the dynamic a bit. While none of these should necessarily be deal-breakers, they are things that you and your parent should discuss.

An elderly parent getting married can actually be a great thing for their mental health and overall wellness. People with partners are generally happier, they have more energy, better social lives, and they have somebody that can help them keep track of health issues or notice new concerns. The trend is becoming more common as people live longer and longer, and as older folks are feeling more comfortable leaving unhappy marriages and striking out in new relationships, even at an advanced age. If you are getting some red flags about the situation, you should do a little digging and make sure that they are not being targeted as a victim of a scam.

However, try to keep an open mind if everything seems on the up and up. While it might come as a shock, it can actually be a really monumental decision for your parent, and one that you should take as seriously as they took your engagement. Finally, there are definitely things that you should try to get on the same page with them about, like end of life care, health concerns in the partner and how they plan to handle their care, estate planning concerns, or just the general dynamic of merging two new families. While it can be a lot to consider, it might mean that your parent spends their later years much happier with a companion that they can share their experiences with.