Most of us will face dealing with loss multiple times throughout our lives. Overcoming grief is often associated with the death of a loved one or loss of a partner through breakup or divorce. But other losses can cause grieving as well. Loss of a meaningful job, having a child develop a life-changing disability, or moving away can profoundly affect your life and cause grief.

As difficult as it may seem when dealing with loss, overcoming grief is possible. Grief counseling in Michigan can support and show you how to overcome the loss. The following tips will also help you through the process of overcoming grief.

How to move past grief

1.  Accept your feelings. There are no right or wrong feelings when dealing with loss. Grieving can bring about a myriad of emotions, which is a normal response and part of the healing process. The alternative is to deny or bury your feelings. Neither of these is healthy because subconsciously, those feelings will remain. As a result, unresolved grief can crop up down the road and in other areas of your life, and undermine your happiness, well-being, and relationships. So accept your feelings and allow yourself to experience them fully. Doing so will help you to process and work through your emotions and begin to heal.
2. Practice self-care. When dealing with loss, it’s easy to put taking care of yourself on the back burner. You may not feel like cooking healthy meals and be too fatigued to exercise. You may let doctor appointments slip. The last thing you may care about is how you look. As a result, you look and feel less healthy, which only serves to fuel your sadness and grief. No matter how down you may feel, prioritize self-care. Make a special effort to eat healthily, get daily exercise, and take time for grooming.
3. Take advantage of your support system. In overcoming grief, it’s essential to lean on family and friends. When dealing with loss, you may not feel very sociable. But your support system can bring you solace. It provides people who will listen to you without judgment and even the opportunity to reminisce about your loss. Supportive family and friends can also provide a distraction from your pain. Taking breaks from your sorrow is an essential ingredient in overcoming grief. Professional help, such as grief counseling in Michigan, can also provide you valuable support.
4. Try not to obsess. When you experience loss, your mind can become a broken record. It may try to convince you that you’ll never be able to move on. You may ruminate about unlikely, distressing scenarios. If you find yourself obsessing, try a thought-stopping technique. Allow yourself 15 minutes each day to obsess. At the end of 15 minutes, snap your fingers, or say ‘stop’ out loud. Outside of those 15 minutes, when you catch yourself obsessing or thinking negatively, immediately snap your fingers and get back to your day. If you need help overcoming obsessive thoughts, grief counseling in Michigan can help you resolve your negative thinking.
5. Allow yourself to feel happiness. When dealing with loss, particularly of a loved one, you may find it difficult to experience pleasure or feel guilty when you do. But experiencing joy and happiness is crucial to overcoming grief. So find at least a couple of ways to experience happiness each day. Take a walk in the park, watch your favorite sitcom or a funny video, listen to some upbeat music, or do something fun with a friend. Gradually, you’ll become more comfortable with experiencing happiness, which will help you in overcoming grief.

If you’d like to talk with a counselor, Landmark Therapy offers grief counseling in Michigan to anyone residing in the state. Counseling is available via online telehealth or at our Troy, Michigan counseling center. Give us a call today! (248) 931-0016

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Anxiety is the most common type of mental illness in men. The reality is, a lot of men all over the world have anxiety these days. The statistics shows that up to 20% of men suffer from anxiety disorders during their lifetime. And of course, psychologists are deeply concerned about these numbers.

It’s important to know that men and women deal with anxiety attacks differently. Anxiety can cause different symptoms in men. Men feel nervous, have sleep disorders, experience headaches or worry a lot when they suffer from intense anxiety attacks. However, there are also other signs of anxiety in men. Anxious men may experience muscle aches. Anxiety symptoms in men also include alcohol and drug abuse. Oftentimes, anxiety disorders in men result in anger. It’s important to note that anxious men often express anger over insignificant things.

It goes without saying that anxiety always has to be taken seriously. If left untreated, anxiety can make things even worse. In the worst case scenario, anxiety can even result in suicide. Recent studies have found that there is the link between anxiety disorders and suicide attempts. According to the opinion of the famous psychology professor from Harvard, Matthew K. Nock, anxiety disorders are a big problem for panicky people. When facing difficult situations in their life such individuals usually try to escape instead of trying to find the way to deal with hard times.

Another well-known professor of psychology, Michael Addis, points out that the vast majority of anxious men choose not to seek for medical help when dealing with tough situations in their life. The problem is that men tend to consider getting this type of assistance as weakness. As a result, men with anxiety disorders don’t contact mental health professionals for help and, therefore, they don’t get the necessary treatment for their issues. If this happens, things will most likely get worse. However, men usually agree to receive a treatment for anxiety when they face a work crisis.

The big question is – how to convince a man to get a treatment for anxiety? The psychology professor, Dean McKay, says that it’s not a good idea to use ultimatums for this purpose. The professors say that ultimatums are likely to result in the resistance to treatment. He recommends loved ones to tell anxious men that the quality of their life will improve dramatically after treatment. It’s incredibly important to explain men with mental disorders that anxiety has a huge negative impact on the quality of their life. Also, you need to show an anxious man that you take care of him.

Actually, it’s normal for people to feel anxious or nervous. However, things are likely to go wrong if a person can’t keep the situation under control. Anxiety often goes hand in hand with depression. It’s worth noting that anxiety disorders as well as depression negatively affect the entire people’s life (family life, relationships, work and many other aspects).

Anxiety disorders can be effectively treated. Treatment for anxiety is about changing the way of thinking and taking antidepressants. Medications such as Lexapro and Prozac are widely used for anxiety treatment these days. Using the words like “anxiety” and “depression” should be avoided during the treatment process. It also makes a lot of sense to replace the words like “treatment” and “therapy” with the words such as “coaching”, “performance improvement training” and so on. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy takes approximately 12 – 15 weeks.

The post What Anxiety Looks Like for Men appeared first on Landmark Therapy.

Do feel down from time to time? Are feelings of hopelessness and guilt interfering with your daily functioning? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be experiencing depression. Feeling down every now and then is a common experience for most people. However, when negative emotions such as irritability and despair take hold, it can become debilitating.

Depression occurs when the symptoms significantly impact your ability to enjoy life. It can also interfere with daily functions such as eating habits, work, and sleep. Depression is a common mood disorder that has the potential to change how you think, feel, and manage life. There are many life situation or events that can trigger depression. Some of these include illness, social isolation, and stressful life events such as losing a job. Substance abuse and trauma can also contribute to the development of depression.

Some of the most common symptoms of depression are the following:

Loss of interest in daily activities
Irritability
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
Decreased energy or fatigue
Concentration problems
Appetite and/or weight changes
Thoughts of death or suicide
Difficulty sleeping
The good news is that depression is treatable. It can be treated with medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of the two. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one type of treatment approach that can help alleviate the symptoms of depression. Through the use of CBT, a therapist can assist you in identifying false or negative thoughts and replace them with more realistic, healthy ones. The method helps you become aware of your thought patterns and behaviors that are contributing to the depression.

What can you do to cope with depression in Michigan?

Connect with other people – Isolation is the breeding ground of depression. Reaching out to a friend or family member can help to lift your spirits.

Eat well – Reduce the intake of things that can adversely affect your moods such as caffeine and alcohol.
Exercise – Getting active is a natural antidepressant and can help to alleviate symptoms of depression.
Engage in an activity – Pick up a hobby that keeps your attention. It will help you keep your mind from wandering to negative thinking.

Set goals for yourself – identifying and achieving goals is a great way to increase motivation and develop a positive mood.
Help is available! Sometimes support from family and friends is not quite enough. Besides discussing the problem with your primary care physician, it might benefit you to meet with a therapist face-to-face or online via a teleconferencing platform.  A trained therapist can provide you with the tools and the motivation to alleviate your depression. Therapy can also provide you with the right tools to prevent re-occurrence of depression. If you are ever feeling suicidal please reach out by calling 1-800-273-TALK.

If you would like help coping with depression in Michigan or other issues that might be on your mind, please feel free to contact us. We are here to help!

The post Coping With Depression in Michigan appeared first on Landmark Therapy.

Setting goals can be a very empowering endeavor! They give you the control to guide your life in whatever direction desired. It is a great feeling to know that your success does not have to depend on anyone else. You can take command of your life by following a plan and taking action one step at a time.

You need to know what you want, organize your thoughts, make a plan, and follow through with your action steps. Here are some tips to consider that can help you achieve your goals:

Develop specific goals. Goals that are well defined tend to be obtained because they have a clear direction. You have to truly believe that your goals are attainable and that you have the means to make them happen. If your goals are specific, you will be more apt to follow through and maintain motivation.

Set goals that motivate you. Goals that are not inspiring to you collect dust and go nowhere. The goals that you identify for yourself need to have personal value. Success in reaching goals depends on commitment. For this reason, the goal must relate to your life priorities. You need to have an “I must get this done” attitude which drives the pursuit of your ambitions. Motivation is essential to achieving goals.

What do you want to achieve? Without an end result in mind, it is difficult to start a goal when the final destination is not clear. By knowing why you are working towards a specific goal, motivation can build throughout the process as you begin to see your dreams becoming a distinct reality. Think of goals as a process rather than a final result! Each short-term step accomplished boosts your motivation as you work towards completing your vision.

Create a plan of action and stay committed. A goal without action steps goes nowhere! Working towards a goal without a plan of attack is like trying to build a model without directions. You will get frustrated, lose motivation, and lose confidence in future attempts at goal setting. Make it a daily routine to review and focus on your goals. This will help them become easier to achieve.

Hold yourself accountable. One of the best ways to keep your goal in motion and stay motivated is to share your goals with another person. It can be useful to have someone available who can offer you words of encouragement and provide feedback when needed. Write your goals down. By doing it just makes them more official and helps you keep them in the forefront of your mind.

The benefits of creating meaningful and well-defined goals are many. They provide direction and purpose in our lives. Goals can help us lift ourselves out of a state of hopelessness.  They help us focus and makes the task of day to day decisions less burdensome. You have the means to control your future! Accomplishing goals builds motivation and fuels the personal satisfaction we get out of life. Start now! No time is like the present. When you have reached what you have worked so hard to accomplish, don’t forget to celebrate!

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