Research suggests that psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, may have potential benefits for alleviating treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, including for people with cancer.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that these drugs appear to work by encouraging the growth of new connections between neurons in the brain….

How is self-harm defined? What behaviours can constitute self-harm? Self-harm refers to the intentional act of causing harm or injury to oneself. Self-harm can include cutting, burning, biting, hair-pulling, self-punching, head-banging, scratching, and skin-picking. What are some of the reasons patients self-harm? There is no one reason why people self-harm, and it’s not necessarily a…

1: What is “sleep hygiene”? The term sleep hygiene refers to the practices that people undertake that affect their sleep experiences. Sleep has been proven to have an outsized impact on the quality of life and therefore the sleep hygiene you practice is very important. 2: What are some behaviors typically associated with poor sleep…

What is toxic positivity? Toxic positivity is a term that refers to not only the excessive and insincere encouragement of a positive mindset but also the dismissing or invalidating of negative emotions. It can hinder authentic emotional expression and create pressure to mask true feelings, potentially causing long-term harm to overall mental well-being. Why is…

Empty nesters are parents whose children have grown up and moved out of the family home to live independently. This can be a difficult phase of life that typically occurs when children leave for college, work, or other life pursuits. There are a number of ways to deal with this challenging time, which mostly include…

Why do we look for red flags in a friend’s partner, especially when we already like them or don’t have a reason to dislike them? There’s not one simple reason why we find fault in our friend’s partner. One major reason that’s often identified is that people are jealous and threatened by their friend finding…

How does AI therapy work? There are a number of ways that artificial intelligence can be used to provide therapy. For example, certain AI technology provides feedback for the journal entries that a patient makes. This means that an algorithm reviews and reaches conclusions about the entries, determining the emotional status of the patient and…

What is an echoist?  An echoist is someone who excessively prioritizes the needs of others, often to their own detriment.  What is the difference between narcissist and echoist?  Narcissists and echoists represent opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of personality traits. Narcissists have an inflated sense of self-importance and a constant need for admiration…

Do pacifiers help calm anxiety in adults?   Anxiety is a serious medical condition and should be treated by a doctor. There is not significant medical research yet on the health benefits of adult pacifiers. And while some adults might believe that pacifiers offer them relief from tension, such a benefit would only be temporary…

Research tells us that over 40 million adults in the United States are experiencing anxiety disorders of some type. However, only about 37% of them receive treatment for the condition, according to Healthline. That’s a big problem, leaving millions and millions of Americans experiencing anxiety that takes a toll on their quality of life and…

In general, we’ve seen an increase in anxiety amongst our younger patients. There are a number of reasons that we believe this has been the case. They include the isolation that the younger people experienced during Covid, the side effects that they experienced from not interacting with their friends during Covid and related difficulties. Lack…

How does ASMR help people relax and fall asleep? There are a number of theories on how Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) improves sleep. The Sleep Foundation states that ASMR seems to stimulate areas of the brain which produces neorohormones associated with calming and sleep such as dopamine and oxytocin and endorphins. Among people who…