Stuck thoughts … the brick walls that form a prison around your mind. The harder you try to get rid of them, the more powerful they become. I’ve been wrestling with stuck thoughts ever since I was in fourth grade. The content or nature of the obsessions have morphed into many different animals over the...

I will always remember the therapy session 12 years ago in which my therapist told me I smelled. “Have you been showering?” she asked me. “Yes,” I responded sheepishly. “How often?” she inquired. “I don’t know … a few times a week,” I said. “Well, you should really shower every day, because you have some stink...

According to Dr. Cliff Arnalls, a British psychologist with Cardiff University, a number of factors coincide to make January 24th the most depressing day of the year: It’s dark. Not as dark as December 21st, the shortest day of the year, but dark enough to make our heads and bodies crave sunlight. Christmas bills come...

Every year on MLK, Jr. Day, I like to repost my dream.  In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.: I have a dream that one day I won’t hold my breath every time I tell a person that I suffer from bipolar disorder, that I won’t feel shameful in confessing my mood disorder. I have...

Admittedly, I have always been a skeptic of art therapy until recently. I didn’t understand why psychiatric units included occupational therapy into the mix, where suicidal people painted birdhouses. However, having recently joined up with a group of women to paint free form, I now understand that this creative form of expression can access emotions...