Mental Health Archive

Denial is a natural response at times when you're unable or unwilling to face the facts. As a defense mechanism, it can be helpful or harmful. Here's how to spot it in yourself and others, and how to move from denial toward meaningful change.

Trauma can register within our bodies on a cellular level. What that means — and how best to heal from serious traumas — is the focus of somatic therapy, a newer form of mental health counseling that highlights how deeply painful experiences affect us and can be addressed through mind-body approaches.

While the COVID pandemic changed how many people approached their health, the experience offers a teachable moment about how people can maintain new and improved healthy habits. Four areas that were most affected by COVID and enabled people to create positive changes are exercise, diet, medical check-ups, and social connections.

A 2023 study suggests regular exercise improves symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress more effectively than sedentary behavior.

Optimism and other positive emotions may guard against serious heart-related events and death. Simple exercises such as expressing gratitude and performing acts of kindness can counter depression and improve well-being. These interventions may encourage people—including those with heart-related conditions such as heart attacks and heart failure—to exercise more and take their medications more consistently. Having a more positive outlook may help reinforce other positive behaviors, or what psychologists refer to as the "upward spiral." This momentum can help people start healthy habits like exercise, which then becomes self-reinforcing.

Adopting a dog is one of the best ways for older adults to combat many common health issues. Research has shown that dog owners have lower risks of cardiovascular disease and take more daily steps compared with non-owners. Having a dog also can lower stress levels and help people become more social.

A 2023 study suggests that certain social challenges, such as isolation, may be useful to help predict older adults' risk of earlier death.

Survivor's guilt includes strong, persistent feelings of sadness and remorse. Advances in cancer treatment have led to an unprecedented 18 million Americans who are cancer survivors, making survivor's guilt a possible psychological outcome for greater numbers. Survivor's guilt may be more common among people who have survived cancers with high death rates. Strategies to cope include taking time to grieve, seeking support from fellow survivors, and getting counseling to explore underlying contributors to feelings of guilt.

About one in three Americans engages in gardening, and the activity became even more popular during the COVID pandemic. Research suggests gardening provides many physical and mental health benefits. It can boost movement, improve diet, fight illness, smooth mood, sharpen brain function, and strengthen social bonds. Gardeners should wear a hat and apply sunscreen to protect against sun exposure. They should also wear gloves to create a barrier against skin allergens on plants and bacteria or fungi in potting soil mixes.

What drives forms of self-harm like cutting that some teens engage in? Gaining an understanding of why some children harm themselves by cutting their skin, what signs to be aware of, and how to approach the subject can help parents respond if this occurs.