Are you struggling with depression and want to know if you're getting better? These are three therapist-approved ways to track your depression and mental health progress to make improvements and start feeling more like yourself again! Today we're going over how to use self-guided questionnaires, journaling, and mental health apps to start making progress with your depression!

Struggling with mental health is not glamorous by any means. One of the lesser talked about struggles with severe depression and mental health looks like re-wearing the same clothes because doing the laundry feels like too much, not showering for a week, and needing constant reminders to brush your teeth. The inability to keep up with personal hygiene is a common, but rarely talked about part of struggling with depression. 

Depression and anxiety around the holidays isn’t an uncommon experience. You’re not alone - and while hearing that doesn’t make it go away, it can be comforting to know others relate to this same feeling right now. Today we’re discussing what you can do to help yourself cope through the holidays, as well as offering advice for your family and friends who want to better support you.

It is completely possible to be struggling with anxiety and NOT know it! Anxiety can show up as symptoms in our physical body without us being consciously aware of this mental health struggle emotionally. Just because the anxiety isn’t something you may be aware of, it doesn’t mean that it’s not negativity impacting your quality of life. The feeling of anxiety may be so normalized within our community, our families, and within ourselves that we don’t recognize where the problem stems.

Those who are diagnosed with depression may experience physical symptoms of depression before recognizing the emotional one’s. One of the many physical symptoms is changes in sleep patterns. While depression naps and oversleeping are the commonly talked about symptoms of depression, only about 15% of people struggling with depression deal with oversleeping. In fact, most people with depression tend to struggle more with insomnia and lack of sleep.

Knowing how to help your partner when they’re struggling with major depressive disorder can feel intimidating and stressful. Your support and love can go far for your partner when they really need it. These are some of the ways that you can show up better for your partner when they’re struggling with a bad mental health day.

Our mind and body are always communicating and working with one another collaboratively. When you touch a hot stove, your body lets your mind know that the stove is hot, so you quickly pull your hand away. It happens so quickly and naturally that you’re not even aware of the connection between the mind and body. This process happens through the nervous system; signals are sent through the spinal cord to help you in making decisions. Your mind can also impact your body through thought alone. Every single thought that you have leads to a chemical reaction in the brain. 

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, about 50% of the homeless population struggles with severe mental illness and/or substance abuse. Lack of (or inaccessible) mental health services is one of the top four causes for individuals to end up homeless…

Untreated mental health disorders have a severe impact on our economy and its only looking to get worse from here, but the good news is that we, as a society and each of us as individuals, can turn this damage around and it starts here, by educating yourself on the impact…

Survival mode is an instinctual fight or flight response caused by perceived threats, stress, or trauma. When a person perceives danger, their nervous system immediately draws all of its attention and energy towards getting them to react quickly for safety. The survival responses are fighting, running, hiding, or freezing for survival from that stressor...

This manifestation and visualization technique is probably the most powerful one I’ve used in really helping me create solid change in my daily actions, almost immediately after applying this. “What is the best version of you doing?”

Oftentimes, in the name of “productivity” we get into these patterns of crash and burn, even more so when struggling with mental health. In the world of efficiency, we fight to be “useful” and prioritize this over our own mental and physical health. By further neglecting our own mental health and self care, we risk eventually neglecting not only ourselves, but also the people we care about.

A monthly reset is intended to help you in reflecting on the prior month, set and adjust task-based goals, organize, and re-energize. The goals you set can be in relation to finances, budgeting, business, career, personal projects, fitness, or even self care! If you have a goal, this is your way to make sure you’re on track with it and still feeling good about what it is you’re striving for!

There are studies showing that just 15 minutes of journaling up to 3 times per week can not only improve mental health struggles (including overthinking, obsessive thoughts, and emotion regulation) after a month, but it may also speed up physical healing. Here are 5 proven journaling techniques that help to improve mental health by decreasing anxiety and depression symptoms.

Our overall well-being relies on seven major aspects of our life; mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, environmental, recreational, and social health. When these pillars of self care are not balanced and/or are neglected, this can effect our mental health and send us into a downward spiral. These are the 7 pillars of self care and how we can work on improving each aspect to thrive in our everyday lives.