Strap yourselves in for today’s class as we look into a common chronic condition: Attention-deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, popularly known as ADHD. Many people like to throw this word around, and as a result, its intended purpose and meaning are skewed. This mental health disorder stems from the inability to sit still (hyperactivity), poor concentration, and ...

Have you ever stared at a billboard, catalog, or magazine and felt inadequate? Many people harshly criticize their bodies when beauty depictions of models center around popular “highly desirable” body shapes. The media and beauty industry inundates us with unrealistically glamorous ideals. There are insider guidelines and other little hacks with step-by-step tutorials on how ...

Welcome back to class, everyone. Today’s topic is widespread, done in the flesh and online with reckless abandon. Gaslighting is a repeated manipulation tactic that occurs in abusive relationships. These relationships can be between parents and children, siblings, friends, colleagues, and coworkers. However, the most spoken about relationship in which gaslighting occurs is in romantic ...

PTSD affects 3.5 percent of Americans every year, which is roughly over 11,630,00 people. The disorder is commonly known as “shell-shock” or “combat fatigue”. It has a stigma surrounding it that falsely assumes only certain groups of people can suffer from it. PTSD, like every other health disorder, does not discriminate. Combat veterans are the ...

 Hey, I know, I know it’s difficult to get out of bed sometimes. Life has desaturated, it’s uninteresting or overwhelming, perhaps to the point where you look forward in your life and it appears bleak and hopeless. Those meds on the shelf you’ve taken once or twice don’t seem to work, despite what your therapist ...

Let’s be real: anxiety has become a companion for many of us in recent years if we weren’t acquainted beforehand. So what exactly is anxiety and how does one cope with it? Anxiety is defined as intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about what is to come. It’s a common feeling everyone shares: the ...

For many people, their tattoos represent something special to them, especially their first one. At one point, I decided to plan for a tattoo of a hawk on my shoulder. But why a hawk in particular?Hawks are known to be adaptable, strong, decisive; portrayed as warriors, as survivors, and leaders. They show up when strength ...

Blank paper. A writer’s worst enemy. Oh, how it mocks me. It sits there blinking blue lines, waiting and watching for the first words yearning to be noted, taken account of, recorded to be marveled for years to come. My mind is overthrown with ideas, each one clear and unclear, distant and near, pushing and ...

“C’mon, c’mon,” I muttered to the flames. My knees hurt from sitting on them in the middle of a dirt path in the forest and I shuddered from the biting wind. The clouds covered the full moon now and I was running out of time. I flipped through my spell-book again, the pages fluttering. My ...

  Drip.      Drip.        Drip.           Drip. Welcome, welcome, dear friend, to Rutledge Psychiatric Institute. Come, come in. I know it is not the atmosphere you crave, but you did tell me you needed to go somewhere new. Really, there’s nothing to be afraid of. See, yes, there are lights everywhere; everything is clean and pristine and up-to-date. ...