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Staying Cool to Help Your Mood

June 24, 2019 in Be Positive

adeolu-eletu-ohh8ROaQSJg-unsplashSummer is officially in full swing. Even though the season formally started on Friday, it may feel like it’s been that way for a while now if you’ve recently finished the school year or noticed just how hot and muggy it’s been.

You may have noticed that these temperature changes have affected how you’ve been feeling. Summer cat-1378203_1920is often associated with positivity because of the longer hours in the day and sunlight, but it can also be a crankier time as the temperatures continue to rise.

Heat can have a negative impact on your mood: high temperatures can lead to dehydration and heatstroke, which are extremely unpleasant situations to be in. The nausea, headaches, and exhaustion that come with them hardly ever puts anyone in a good mood, and these can contribute to crankiness. In general, intensive heat can make us uncomfortable and make us feel restricted in what we can do, such as needing to stay inside all day to avoid said heat. Between these and feeling like we have no control over what we can do and having no control over the heat can all contribute to shortened fuses, and at its worst, signs of aggression and violence.

fan-1241685_1920That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the warmth though. If you want your summer to be as pleasant as it can be and you want to have some control over your mood, there are tons of ways to keep cool beyond feeling like you need to stay cooped inside all day with air conditioning. It’s important to stay hydrated – not just by drinking water, but through things like misting sprays (there are even some that are combined with fans to help keep you extra cool!). Cooling towels are usually associated with sports, but you can also keep them with you when you’re outside, especially if it’s so hot that you sweat the second you’re exposed to the sun.

Summer is a double-edged sword, providing freedom yet restrictions because of the warmth and heat. While it can feel like the humidity and heat are the ones controlling your mood, you have ways of fighting back and enjoying your time off as much as you can.

How do you feel when it’s really hot outside? Do you think your mood has a tendency to drop when it gets too hot? What recommendations do you have to stay cool?

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We R Native

June 21, 2019 in LINKS

indians-2637405_1920Native Americans and Alaskan Natives (shortened to AIAN) make up nearly 3 million people in the United States today. The proportion of AIAN youth in the community is higher than that of the total American population: while 24% of the total population is under 18, 32% of AIAN are under 18, with the average age being 26 compared to the total average of 37. More than 40% of AIAN are under 24, too.

Considering these larger youth proportions in the AIAN community, it’s important to note that the mental health disparities are also higher than average. This specifically affects Native adolescent girls, who have death rates at nearly four times the rate of white female adolescents. This includes suicide, which is the second leading cause of death in AIAN youth, and is 3.5  times more than the national average.

In an effort to provide a thorough resources for all things health, including mental health, We R Native provides content specifically for AIAN youth. Their mental health section covers a variety of issues, from depression to grief to suicide. All of their topics include articles and information that don’t just educate AIAN youth as a whole, but includes stories, videos, and information that affects them directly. They even have sections about issues that could contribute to mental health issues too, such as gangs and life transitions.

We R Native also offers a service where they can text users weekly for health tips and life advice. You can explore more of what the site has here!

Do you identify as AIAN, or do you know anyone who does? How do you think people can spread awareness about AIAN youth and the mental health issues they face?

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Where do LGBT+ Youth Look for Mental Health Help?

June 20, 2019 in Social Media Guide

Although the internet is most likely the preferred method for pretty much anyone trying to learn more information, whether it be news stories, recipes, or advice from those who have gone through similar experiences, it’s particularly important for LGBT+ youths.brain-2789677_1280

The Trevor Project released a new national report recently about LGBT+ youth mental health, and while some of the results they found, while upsetting, may not seem surprising (for example, more than half of LGBT+ youth experienced depressive symptoms in the past year, have faced discrimination, and felt that the recent political climate has impacted their mental health or sense of self), they also included information about how LGBT+ youth use social media.

blog-3602681_1280One of the ways that LGBT+  youth use social media is through a means of support for the above items. They prefer digital means of asking for and accessing help – be it through methods like texting or online chats – from intervention groups during a crisis as one example. Online community is an important aspect for LGBT+ people on social media, since it gives them a place to talk to and be with others who understand what they’re going through and can provide advice, and it gives them a chance to explore their identity before they’re comfortable enough to come out to those they know in real life.

And while major social media sites like Youtube and Facebook have been criticized – especially recently – for how they moderate LGBT+ harassment on their platforms, art-3591844_1280LGBT+ youth prefer using their social media as a means of information as well. This could include Tumblr blogs about gender transition or joining private groups to see how other LGBT+ youth cope with the mental health issues they may be going through and how it ties in with their identity.

There’s a comfort for people to look for information and help online in general, but for LGBT+ youth, this comfort also comes with the feeling of safety, without feeling like they have come out to those they know in real life in order to seek the treatment that they may need, especially if they aren’t sure how those people will react. Of course, it’s equally as important to consider your safety on social media too when looking for a community or for information, but there is also an anonymity tied to it that can make navigating your identity a little bit easier.

What sources have you used online to learn more about mental health? If you identify as queer, are there any that specifically talk about LGBT+ mental health?

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What is Resilience?

June 19, 2019 in Educate Yourself

Trying to combat mental illness and the effects it can have on you can be exhausting, hard, and can even make you feel worse. Nonetheless, resilience, or the process of fighting back and recovering from difficulties, is possible.

aron-van-de-pol-115112-unsplashResilience is a way to include positivity in your life and a way to fight back against the negative thoughts that often come with having a mental illness. It’s a way of like telling your mental illness that it doesn’t have more power than you have over yourself and that you can get back up when it knocks you down. There are tons of ways to practice resilience too, from changing behavior patterns or your environment to practicing healthy coping mechanisms.

Resilience acts as a type of protective factor, which are ways to prevent issues like more severe mental health effects from occurring. It’s different than simply trying to overcome your issues though; while it may sound like it’s the same thing as putting on a smile on your face and acting as if nothing is wrong, resilience is more about trying to find a way to battle your feelings and also means embracing that they’re in the first place.

But how does resilience look for adolescents specifically? One study interviewed five teenage girls who were being treated for various mental illnesses such as addiction, PTSD, and depression. Common patterns appeared in what all of them had to say; for example, embracing resilience for them was challenging, but they described the effects that it had on them to be really rewarding.

These difficulties came in the form of trying to find positivity when combating triggers or experiencing nightmares, or feeling like they were alone in their situation and trying to withstand trauma by themselves, especially because of things like stigma or being shut down when they did open up. They were able to find resilience through becoming more confident in dealing with their mental health issues, which led to an increase in self-worth, and it was something that they were able to work on not just with other’s help, but through their own individual determination. They were also able to find the resources they needed and simply just surviving when things felt like they were at their worst.

While it’s a journey, finding ways to be resilient against your mental illness is possible.

What do you think resilience is? How do you embrace difficulties or challenges that may come because of mental health?

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Creative Arts Therapy Feature: Bibliotherapy

June 18, 2019 in Educate Yourself

Do you enjoy the arts? Have you ever wanted to see how getting creative can help you mentally? This feature is just one in a series of entries exploring the different types of creative arts therapy. You can learn more about other outlets here!

The truth is, reading can be difficult. You may not have the time to settle down with a book to read, or you may get so overwhelmed with all the options that you don’t know where to start. jessica-fadel-431249-unsplashReading can also sound like a burden and a commitment, and it can be hard to pay attention to what you’re trying to read, especially given all the kinds of distractions surrounding you (see: your phone).

This is particularly true for adolescents. According to a 2018 survey, 1 in 3 teenagers have admitted to not reading a book for pleasure in a year. It may not seem appealing if you associate reading with the dry assignments you have to do for school, and it can feel so much easier to simply spend your free time on a device – the same survey found a relationship between the decrease of adolescents reading and an increase in technology use, for example.

If you do read leisurely, you may already know that it is a genuinely relaxing activity. There are benefits to reading to support mental health that include relaxation, improved sleep patterns, and increased brain activity. That can be taken a step further though in the form of bibliotherapy.

Bibliotherapy is a method that uses books (both nonfiction and fiction) to help people address issues that they are dealing with. In bibliotherapy, you meet with an expert, explain what difficulties and struggles you’re going through, and they’ll prescribe you some books to read that they think might help that you can read on your own at your convenience.

aziz-acharki-277346-unsplashBibliotherapy doesn’t necessarily have to mean that you have to read books just about mental health in order to understand why you feel the way you do. Most books used are usually novels: fiction gives us the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and increase our empathy not just towards the character, but with others. A study has also shown that when people read about another’s experience (in this case, with a fictional character), their brains react in a way as if they’re going through the same things themselves. The topics can be about anything, with stories not just about adolescent characters coping with mental health issues, but potential origins of stress, like their identity, homelessness, or chronic illness.milo-milk-1252512-unsplash

You may have experienced this already in the books you’ve read for yourself, or even ones you’ve read for school. We find ourselves connecting with certain characters and stories because of the way we relate to them; bibliotherapy takes that to another level in helping you discover which books can help and using said books as a driving tool to help you communicate with your therapist, your friends, or other loved ones to have them understand how you’re feeling. They don’t even have to be “realistic” stories either – you may relate to the stories and struggles about any kind of character, whether it be in a wizard in a fantasy world, a bounty hunter in space, or a teenager living in historical times.

There still needs to be more research done on bibliotherapy as a practice since it isn’t widely used, but it shows that reading isn’t just a way to unwind, but also a way to help you address what you’re going through via other’s stories.

Would you consider trying bibliotherapy? Have you read any books that have helped you with your mental health? What kinds of characters or stories have you related with?

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Weekend Reads: Finding Pride

June 14, 2019 in LINKS

fireworks-788799_1920Pride Month is pretty self-explanatory. Though pride isn’t limited to just these thirty days, June gives those who identify as queer and/or a member of the LGBT+ community a time to celebrate how far they’ve come with their rights, work towards a better future for themselves, and just have fun being who they are.

More often than not, the discussion surrounding LGBT+ issues, particularly for LGBT+ youth, can be bleak, with higher rates of negative mental health issues specifically. That’s why Pride Month is so important, sending a message that though things can be really difficult, there are others just like you and your identity is something to celebrate.

alexandre-godreau-524782-unsplashTo remind members of the LGBT+ community, allies, and those who are still learning about the significance of pride about the power of the positivity occurring this month, we’ve pulled a couple of lists and articles featuring  queer youth pride:

Several teen-centric online publications such as Seventeen and Teen Vogue have features where they interviewed teenagers and young adults at previous pride festivals and asked them what the word means to them. At a time where figuring out who your are and what your identity is almost always in question (and can potentially put your safety in jeopardy), attending your first Pride can provide both comfort and reassurance, and of course, some fun, as these teens describe in these articles.

open-book-2268948_1920Brightly – an organization that provides resources and lists to make finding children and YA books a bit easier – has a thorough list of fictional LGBT+ YA novels. These are novels that don’t just have queer protagonists, but have their own stories that go beyond just navigating their identity and beyond having their identity define them. Vulture also has a list of LGBT+ YA novels, but includes older novels as well, even ones dating back to the 80s.

It can feel like a cliche, but ultimately, now is the time to remember that it gets better.

Do you identify as queer? How do you feel about Pride Month?

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The Toll of Activism Online

June 13, 2019 in Social Media Guide

social-media-640543_1920Participating in causes to help make a difference and support the underprivileged can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Social media has made activism that much easier too – think of the hashtags and fundraisers people post about or how simple it is to repost other people’s posts on your story about important issues and how to get more information about the topic. Social media can also help you learn about issues that you may have not heard of otherwise (think of the current situations in Sudan and Hong Kong, for example), and just exposure to campaigns can lead to a significant increase in support of the people being affected.

henry-be-239191-unsplashThis accessibility is incredibly helpful and can still make a difference, even if it’s just providing the smallest bit of support, but it can also be taxing and overwhelming. Self-care and maintaining one’s mental health has become an important topic for activists, especially since the subject matter is most likely going to be painful on some level. Even if social media puts you in a physical safe space to talk about these issues, you can still feel a secondhand effect (known as compassion fatigue) and can lead to burnout. People who participate in activism online are more likely to have a tendency to gravitate towards issues that are related to their identity (i.e. their race, gender, or religion), and having that personal connection can lead to heightened anxiety and depression effects.

Just the exposure to these issues on social media can have an effect on your mental health, even if you’re not participating in online activism. There might be guilty feelings involved because you aren’t doing anything, and some of the wording on some of the posts can almost feel accusatory if you don’t get involved, which can further those feelings of guilt. Looking at posts can not just be upsetting, but can also make you angry and the bad things going on, and you can feel overwhelmed thinking about how nothing you do will be enough.

Both participating in and witnessing online activism can be hard and triggering, especially for people of color and other marginalized groups. It can be follow-1277026_1920tough figuring out how much you want to and can support, and sometimes you might really care about an effort, but it can hit too close to home or be too mentally exhausting for you to get involved in. Your level of comfort with what you engage in online – activism or not – is for you alone to understand and defend, whether it’s on deciding who you want to follow or if you need filters on posts.. Whether the social justice content is too triggering or it’s something you make sure to talk about and participate in, your mental health should be one of your top priorities.

Do you participate in activism on social media? What causes do you post about? Are there times where this feels overwhelming for you? If so, what do you do?

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How Mental Health Affects Second-Generation Adolescents

June 12, 2019 in Educate Yourself

The demographics in the United States have shifted significantly. The Pew Research Center reported that there were 44.4 million immigrants living in the country in 2017, making up 13.6% of boy-1300401_1280the total population. The increase in the immigrant population in the United States also means an increase in second-generation Americans – those who are born in the United States to immigrant parents (some people may also refer to these people as first-generation Americans, however).  The number of second-generation immigrants was nearly as much back in 2013 at 36 million, making up 12% of the population.

Immigrants bring much of their culture with them when the come to a new country. This is what makes America a melting pot: immigrants bring their food, traditions, and their languages with them, just to name a few things. It’s a way for them to keep their ties to their home country (after all, it’s what they grew up with), but it’s also a way for them to introduce something new to Americans, as well as connecting their children with their home culture.

ronny-sison-1138972-unsplashImmigrants also bring their cultural norms and beliefs with them too. For example, Asians (one of the largest groups of immigrants) and Asian-American adolescents underutilize mental health services. This has been linked to the strong stigma against mental health that resonates in the Asian community (most Asian immigrant parents interviewed in one study felt that adolescents don’t seek counseling because of the “shame” of having a mental illness and the effect it can have on their education and career).

Another study looked into mental health trends in both Asians and Latinx people (the other largest group of American immigrants). While there didn’t seem to be any significant increases in risks or diagnoses among the immigrants themselves, second-generation immigrants were more likely to have higher rates of substance use disorders.

There are several reasons why second-generation Americans have trouble seeking help for their mental health or even identifying it and acknowledging that it’s there in the first place. There’s the cultural clash that can occur with being raised in a culture and environment that’s different than your parents (which is jordan-whitfield-112404-unsplashharder in adolescents where you can feel like you’re constantly questioning your identity), and then there’s also immigrant guilt. This is the feeling that children of immigrants can have where they feel like they have to fight through or ignore their struggles because of the risks and sacrifices their parents made to come here. They may feel like what they’re going through is not as difficult as what their parents went through, or that they have to succeed to prove that their parents’ move was worth making.

bus-43991_1280External barriers also play a role. Second-generation Americans may have difficulty accessing mental health care because of their worry that their clinician won’t understand their culture, the costs of going to treatment, and not having accessible transportation to get there.

The number of second-generation Americans continues to grow as the country becomes larger and more diverse. It’s necessary to address these barriers and stigma that specifically affects this population as they grow up and not only enter adolescence but navigate their place in adulthood too.

Are you the child of immigrants? How do you think this affects your view on mental health? Do you feel comfortable talking to your parents about what you’re going through?  What are their beliefs on mental health?

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Affirmations

June 10, 2019 in Be Positive

taylor-smith-605201-unsplashWhile they may seem cheesy at first, affirmations can be pretty powerful. Self-affirmations are sayings that people say aloud with confidence about things that they are trying to believe in. By saying these frequently, out loud, and with assurance and confidence, it can help people believe in the very things that there are saying, making it come true.

It’s simple: find a phrase that you think is something you either need to hear or would feel really happy hearing from a loved one. From there, say it aloud whenever. It can be as a part of your morning routine while fixing up your hair, or something you quietly say out loud to yourself before doing an activity that may stress you out.

There are tons of affirmations available online. Some are common phrases too – you may have heard of people saying “I am good enough” or “I can do this.” You don’t have to stick to these though. Affirmations are meant to just for you and the things you want to believe in, and a way to fake it until you make it.

Do you have any affirmations? What are some that you say to yourself?

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Podcasts about Mental Health

June 7, 2019 in LINKS

microphone-307365_1280Podcasts are everywhere these days. You can find any podcast about any topic imaginable, story retellings, or completely fictional podcasts that are the 21st century versions of the old kinds of radio shows that were popular back in the 50s. You can learn a new skill or find more information about decades-old crime stories, or even just listen to a few people talk about nothing significant and just what’s been going on in their lives.

It shouldn’t be a surprise then that there are definitely podcasts available that candidly discuss mental health. Even these can be hard to navigate though; sometimes you may not feel like you’re the right demographic or what the people are talking about is something you can really relate to.

We tried to find a few podcasts about mental health that keep young adults and adolescents as one of their main audiences – check them out below!

The Bright Sessions Possibly one of the most popular podcasts, The Bright Sessions is a fictional audio drama about a psychologist’s sessions with her patients (with a bit of a twist). One blogging ambassador has previously recommended and talked about this podcast – check it out here!

This is Normal This podcasts gives the average, everyday young adult the microphone. Each episode has a different young adult talk about their challenges and struggles with mental health, offering advice and their experiences to remind listeners that they’re not going through their problems alone.

Teen Health Matters While the focus of this podcast isn’t specifically on mental health per se, it was still designed to be an educational tool for adolescents on all sorts of health matters. There are several episodes that relate to mental health (there’s one about dealing with back to school stress, social media and body image, and depression), but others may be of use as well (for example, there’s even one talking about managing money as a teenager). Professionals and doctors who are experts on these topics come into provide as much information as possible.

Do you listen to podcasts? If so, do you listen to any that focus on mental health? Share any of your recommendations!

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