Online stalker! This type of harassment is becoming more common. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2017 Online Harassment survey, 41% of Americans have been personally subjected to harassing behavior online, and an even larger number (66%) has witnessed these behaviors directed at others. The incredible popularity of social media sites and apps make it all too easy for people to stalk others online. If you’re being harassed by someone online, you might wonder: are they just a pest, or ...read more
Why Anger is Different from Other Emotions
Why anger is different from other emotions: Of all the emotions, anger is perhaps the one that most people have the hardest time dealing with. That’s most likely because anger is not like the other emotions. It is unique. In fact, a 2017 survey by the Mental Health Foundation of 2000 people found that 28% are sometimes worried about the level of anger that they feel. While feeling anger can have negative consequences, anger, in general, can move us toward a happier and healthier life. Here ...read more
Strategies for Talking to an Abused or Neglected Child
Here are some helpful strategies for talking to an abused or neglected child. For many of us, we remember our childhood fondly with images of birthday parties, family holidays or playing in the park with friends. But for approximately 6 million children in the United States this year, their childhood will also include memories of abuse. It’s impossible to understand why anyone would want to harm an innocent child, yet every year approximately 3 million cases of child abuse and neglect are ...read more
What is Emotional Incest?
Emotional incest is troubling any time it shows up in families. Many of us grew up in households that were dysfunctional, where boundaries between parents and adults were blurred in unhealthy ways. Emotional incest is not sexual in nature. It does, however, describe unhealthy emotional interactions between adults and children that are psychologically damaging. In a real-life this looks like a parent treating their child as a partner, relying on them for emotional support and care. ...read more
Healing from Childhood Emotional Neglect
Many of us were raised with the notion that kids are meant “to be seen and not heard.” Said differently, don’t speak until you are spoken to.” While this idea may have only meant to keep the volume down at the Thanksgiving table, it can have negative ramifications on a child’s psyche. Worse still, there are many children who suffer from Childhood Emotional Neglect. These children were raised to believe that not only do their ideas not matter, but neither do their feelings or needs. Though the ...read more