SPace's PsychoHealth Blog

  How is Your Mental Health? May is National Mental Health Awareness Month .  Beginning in 1949, Mental Health Month has put a spotlight on the importance of mental health and wellness.  There is such a stigma attached to mental illness or mental health in general, that over 70 years of advocacy and education have yet to overcome.  While 1 in 5 people will experience mental illness at some point in their lifetimes, everyone has faced or will face struggles and challenges that affect their mental health.  You don't have to be diagnosed by a doctor or therapist to know if you're mental health is compromised.   Anxiety:   Intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Some symptoms include: Fast heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, and feeling tired. Stress:    Any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain. Stress is your body's response to anything that requires attention or ac...

This year has brought unprecedented levels of stress, anxiety, trauma, depression, addiction, suicide, and hundreds of thousands dead, and millions infected with a disease that has no cure as of yet. Our lives have been upended, having to accept this new reality for the foreseeable future.  While difficult, it is not insurmountable.  But we have to do it together.  The time for divisiveness is OVER .  It is not about us vs. them or me vs. you or blue vs. red.  We as a people, Americans, are wayyy better than this, and it is time we as a country recognized it and started acting like it.  It shouldn't have to take a traumatic event to bring us together, but after 9/11/2001, that's exactly what everyone did.  We were all Americans and treated each other kindly and with respect.  Now we are in the middle of multiple crises, and what are we doing?  Taking sides, pointing fingers, and spewing hate the likes we have never seen in decades, if not cen...

Men:  Fatherhood and Family “My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’” –Harmon Killebrew There is nothing that can provide men more of a true meaning of life then fatherhood.  Being a father is rewarding and challenging in ways that most of us probably did not anticipate (prior to having kids).  Our frame of reference was our own dads or father figures growing up.  While our genetics may be similar, our experiences and behaviors may not be.  There are some critical issues that men need to face in order to become responsible and committed dads.    The family of origin influences a father's knowledge, attitudes, values, and behavior about raising and caring for a child.  To gain better insight, fathers should be asked what he learned about being a father from his parents and extended famil...

Men’s Issues: An Introduction (Part 1 of a series on behavioral health issues affecting men) "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”  -Marcus Aurelius Let me just start by saying  MEN HAVE ISSUES!   We do, we really do and most of us aren’t talking about it.  It’s not manly for guys to talk about their problems, it makes them look weak!  Right??  WRONG!!   Instilled from an early age, boys are told to stop crying, suck it up, “rub some dirt on it!”.  Basically they learn to suppress their feelings because society frowns on men who may not be able to control themselves or be productive members of society.  It is assumed that men will just work and provide for their families, and any problems will be “handled” or ignored. The “Strong Silent-Type” is an image that is admired and attractive.  Admired and attractive to who you ask? Well, other men and women of course!!  Is that what makes...

'Tis the season to be jolly... Fa-La-La-La Let's talk about the holiday season shall we?  For years I have noticed the day after we put our Halloween costumes away, the Christmas music and decorations start up.  COME ON, REALLY?!?!? I just finished watching Night of the Living Dead and now It's a Wonderful Life?!?!  Can we take a little break and enjoy Fall for a little longer?  I mean, we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet!  And don't get me started about Thanksgiving...Ok, I'm getting started...I understand Black Friday has been around for awhile, but why does it have to start ON Thanksgiving???  The one holiday that traditionally has been a gathering of friends and family to enjoy food (and football) with no expectations other than maybe bring a dish, and keep Uncle Bob from whizzing in the fireplace.   Are the stores really making that much of a difference getting "into the black" by opening ON Thanksgiving Day?? (Yeah I'm talking to...