Useful Mental Health Articles
Relationship is Everything: Inhabiting the Space Between
By Bonnie Badenoch
In the last fifteen years, two books landed powerfully in the space between who I was at that moment and who I would become. Both radically changed how I experience the world. Their ability to move so deeply into my embodied self seemed to arise from how much they embodied what matters to their authors. The first was Dan Siegel’s (1999, 2012) The Developing Mind, making its appearance in my world in 2003. It was as though the mysteries of the neural landscape began to unroll within me like a delicate scroll, much in
When a Stress Expert Battles Mental Illness
By Brad Stulberg • University of Illinois at Chicago
Our columnist literally wrote the book on peak performance, but he had to reconsider everything after an unexpected battle with mental illness
Last August, I was in New York City doing media spots for my book, Peak Performance. In between interviews, I went on a long run in Central Park and didn’t eat or drink enough afterward. I went to meet a friend for dinner, but the place turned out to be a bar without a real kitchen. I had a stiff drink and a handful of kettle chips.
NEUROCEPTION: A Subconscious System for Detecting Threats and Safety
By Stephen W. Porges • University of Illinois at Chicago
What determines how two human beings will act toward each other when they meet?
Is this initial response a product of learning from culture, family experiences, and other socialization processes? Or is the response the expression of a neurobiological process that is programmed into the very DNA of our species?
A Beginners Guid to Polyvagal Theory
By Deb Dana
Dr. Stephen Porges, originator of Polyvagal Theory, identified a biological order of human response that is active in all human experience.
With gratitude to Dr. Porges for his work, this handout explores and explains Polyvagal Theory in user-friendly language.
Mitigate the Stress Response with a Hand on Your Heart
By Linda Graham, MFT
Barbara Fredrickson, a pioneering researcher in the behavioral science of positive psychology
Discovered that the neurochemistry of two people can sync up when they are:
In physical proximity to each other
making eye contact
sharing a positive emotional experience
experiencing a mutual care and concern for each other
The neurochemical synchrony generates a felt sense of shared resonance that can be characterized as a moment of love, certainly a state of safety.
A mom describes her tween son's brain. It's a must-read for all parents.
By Annie Reneau
It started with a simple, sincere question from a mother of an 11-year-old boy.
An anonymous mother posted a question to Quora, a website where people can ask questions and other people can answer them. This mother wrote:
How do I tell my wonderful 11 year old son, (in a way that won’t tear him down), that the way he has started talking to me (disrespectfully) makes me not want to be around him (I’ve already told him the bad attitude is unacceptable)?
Self-Compassion
By Kristin Neff
Having compassion for oneself is really no different than having compassion for others.
Think about what the experience of compassion feels like. First, to have compassion for others you must notice that they are suffering. If you ignore that homeless person on the street, you can’t feel compassion for how difficult his or her experience is. Second, compassion involves feeling moved by others’ suffering so that your heart responds to their pain (the word compassion literally means to “suffer with”). When this occurs, you feel warmth, caring, and the desire to help the suffering person in some way.
5 Love Languages Quiz
By Dr. Gary Chapman
Strengthening Millions of Relationships … One Language at a Time
Lasting relationships, like anything worthwhile, take intentional commitment over time. But when you’re just not on the same page, keeping your love alive can feel intimidating – or even impossible.
In his #1 New York Times bestseller, The 5 Love Languages®, Dr. Gary Chapman presents a simple truth: relationships grow better when we understand each other. Everyone gives and receives love differently, but with a little insight into these differences, we can be confidently equipped to communicate love well. This is true for all forms of relationship – for married or dating couples, for children and teenagers, for friends and coworkers, for long-distance relationships, for those brand-new loves and for the romances that are older than the hills.