Answer this question: How often are you kind to yourself and think you’re fine as you are? Choose a number between one and ten. If you rated yourself at a five or less, you fall in line with 46 percent of the 5,000 people recently surveyed by the charity Action for Happiness, in collaboration with...

Anyone who has struggled with insomnia knows that the harder you try to sleep the more likely you are to stay awake all night. There have been stories of folks falling asleep in the chairs outside the emergency room of a hospital because it is there that they must do the opposite — stay awake...

Notice the word “like.” I’m not going to be so bold as to introduce eight steps that will have you love yourself. Baby steps, right? For some, self-love is a no-brainer. They grew up in homes where LOVE was the predominant four-letter word. Some possess too much, and like Vanity Smurf, are most comfortable with...

Renown psychiatrist Peter Kramer once said that the opposite of depression isn’t happiness. It’s resilience, the ability to bounce back from tragedy, to regain a healthy sense of perspective after traumatic or stressful experiences. In my recovery from depression and anxiety, it is calm— more than excitement or joy or contentment–that I seek. I want...

A good friend of mine describes her depression as an elevator that takes her down to an unfurnished basement with toxic mold, the stench of cat urine, and no windows. When she is there, she has difficulty believing that there are any floors above her. What she sees and smells, she surmises, is the sum...