Politics can drive us crazy:

In the New Year, shortly after the Capitol Insurrection in the United States, I wrote an article about how political polarization is terrible for our mental health. I had also written just prior to that about how the politics of division are driving people crazy.

These days, with the fourth wave of COVID upon us and given the way that this public health crisis has turned into a political circus, I thought I’d add another update on the negative impact of politics on our mental health.

COVID has become entrenched as part of our “new normal,” adding yet another stressor…

Human interactions at their most fascinating:

Watching the Bachelor franchise is always fun, because it provides an endless stream of fascinating human interactions.

Last night, Katie’s Bachelorette journey came to a close with an engagement to Blake. I wasn’t sure what to think of this ending because the circumstances leading up to it were so dramatic.

Shortly before the end of the show, Greg — who had been Katie’s first choice all along — decided to give Katie an unfair ultimatum. …

Abuse isn’t only physical:

Everyone wants good relationship, whether in their personal life or at work, but sometimes it’s hard to realize that you’ve gotten yourself into a bad one.

If your partner is physically assaulting you, it’s clear that you’re in an abusive romantic relationship; if your boss is constantly screaming at you, it’s obvious that you’re in an abusive professional relationship. But what about the more subtle forms of abuse?

An emotionally abusive relationship can be just as damaging as a physically abusive one, but it can also be more difficult to identify. …

The truth about trauma:

Trauma kills. Let’s not mince words here. If you’ve experienced trauma, some part of you has died. You can survive the experience of trauma, but you can’t come away unscathed. Like mountain-climbers who’ve been rescued from disasters, the frostbite has ravaged their fingers, noses and toes.

Like frostbite, trauma destroys your most vulnerable parts — killing bits of your hope, optimism, trust, and certainty. Most of all, it annihilates your innocence. You might survive the ordeal but these parts of you are dead and gone and they can’t be resurrected.

How, you might ask, could a psychiatrist say such things…

Grief. Not a monster be trifled with. When it jumps into your lap you have two choices: confront it or run away. Both have consequences.

Whether it’s grief from a sudden, shocking loss or a slow, agonizing death; whether grief arrives at the tail end of a betrayal or in the swirl of a disappointment, it gets right up in your face and says, “ignore me at your own peril.”

But grief is a cruel beast. It sucks your time and energy. It stomps its feet like an angry toddler, saying, “attention must be paid!” And when you finally acknowledge…

Anticipatory dread:

Confrontation. Doesn’t the word send chills down your spine? When you contemplate talking to a friend, family member or romantic partner about something they did to upset you or something you need them to do differently, does it fill you with dread?

You might imagine the other person becoming upset or angry — even rejecting you. You might imagine saying the wrong thing and inadvertently causing offense.

There’s not a lot of information available these days about how to engage in constructive confrontation — the type that’s more likely to result in a good outcome than a bad one —…

Effective communication is crucial, in the post-pandemic era:

Over the years, I’ve written a lot about effective communication. These skills are more vital than ever before, as we’re living in a time of rampant misinformation, misunderstanding and miscommunication. And now that we’re starting to come together after many months of social isolation, effective communication is essential if we want our relationships to thrive.

Effective communication is being able to simply and concisely convey the message you want to get across as well as understanding exactly what someone else is telling you. It’s about speaking clearly and listening carefully. …

Socializing is a skill:

With the mass distribution of vaccines against COVID, the world is slowly re-opening. Many of us have spent the last sixteen months relatively isolated. Those who live in a family unit have only been in contact with the same few people all this time. Those who live alone have had minimal contact with anyone.

Socializing is a skill that we develop over time and it’s a skill that we can lose if we aren’t practicing it. After all this time with hardly any in-person connecting, our social skills could be pretty rusty. …