Essentially, sex addiction refers to compulsive sexual thoughts and behaviors that interfere with the person’s daily life and relationships. The person cannot stop thinking or acting in certain ways, even though they would like to. They might not be enjoying the sexual behaviors but instead feel ashamed or distressed by them, and still not quite manage to put a stop to them.
Read MoreSaying no is a hard task most days, but holiday time can make it especially difficult. Nobody wants to feel like The Grinch during the best of times, and the ongoing pandemic has not made it easier. During these times, a lot of boundaries come up and are challenged, so we need to see how to say no to things that are not good for us and feeling OK with it.
Read MoreOne of the biggest challenges people face when contemplating divorce is the fear of being alone. Nobody likes to feel lonely, and suddenly finding yourself without a life partner is scary. It’s not just your partner you have to learn to live apart from, either.
Read MoreThe reality of an affair is that it has a wide-reaching impact. It doesn’t just affect the couple or just the people directly involved. It can also ripple through the family and the community, changing and influencing the relationships we have with other family members and especially with children. Young or adult children are likely to struggle and deal with difficult emotions related to an affair, so it’s a situation that involves them and that might require a conscious effort to address and overcome the situation.
Read MoreAnger is a perfectly healthy human emotion. It’s only when that anger becomes uncontrollable that you start to experience problems. Constant or recurring anger uses a significant amount of energy and makes it difficult to think clearly in a given situation. When you’re angry all of the time, it also makes it incredibly difficult to actually enjoy life.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to make many changes. In particular, many households have had to change the way in which they operate. People spend a lot more time at home and engaging with each other, which has shifted the dynamics and the way in which many families approach chores and childcare. It might put a lot more demand on women, who traditionally engage more with these tasks, and create a situation where husbands need to pitch in more. How can women make this happen?
Read MoreGrowing up with a parent who has an addiction is an experience that leaves a mark on the person’s development. It can impact their identity, relationships, self-esteem, approach to parenting, attachment, and their perspective on alcohol use and substance use in general. Let’s examine what many adults face when their childhood experience was marked by a parent’s addiction.
Read MoreThe holidays are a time for family and friends, but it’s also undoubtedly a time for stress. The global pandemic hasn’t lessened the holiday anxiety in any way, either. Truth be told, the pressure of the holidays to travel to family, host a big gathering, and spend time around people is not something any of us needs right now.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has stretched over a period of months, becoming an on-going marathon rather than a sprint. We still need to limit our activities, face the risk of contagion and the possible consequences, worry for the well-being of our loved ones. Worse, the situation seems to stretch to the following months as well. This has left many people feeling exhausted, physically and emotionally.
Read MoreGrowing up with a parent with a personality disorder can be difficult and create lasting relationship issues that follow you into adulthood. Often, one of the first steps to overcoming these problems is understanding where they come from. Parents who exhibit borderline personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder both have the same fatal flaw.
Read MoreWhen talking about the impact of these and other factors on the person’s well-being, we can’t just talk about it generally. The person’s experiences will be influenced by many other things: their gender identity, their background, their socioeconomic level, and, of course, their race and ethnicity. Let’s examine the experience of many Latinx gay men and how these aspects of their identity influence each other.
Read MoreWe can define perfectionism as the desire to be flawless and to do flawless work. Sometimes, it affects only one aspect of our lives, like work, but other times, we feel the pressure to be perfect in everything we do. While perfectionism can motivate us to try harder, it can also make us feel constantly anxious and concerned with our performance.
Read MoreA particular issue for many women is that they find that their partners are emotionally unavailable and can’t fulfill the needs that exist within the relationship. And yet, although they seem to want something different, they face the same issues again. Why does this happen?
Read MoreEven during an affair, it’s possible to still love your partner and want to work things out. You’re likely experiencing a lot of anger, hurt, and betrayal right now, but that doesn’t mean you want a divorce. You probably want to lash out at your partner and punish them for hurting you, which is completely understandable. However, if you want to reconcile and solve your relationship problems, you have to face facts and start working toward a solution.
Read MoreAs people, one of the core needs we develop is to have a strong sense of self. We need to be “somebody” in the world, and developing a sense of identity is central to developing our sense of self. For men, often times this sense of self or being somebody comes in the form of identity formed through work and career, especially in our Western (and American) culture.
Read MoreExperiencing the divorce of one’s parents as a child can be difficult. It leads to many consequences for one’s emotional and psychological development, especially if the divorce is a messy one. However, the consequences might continue beyond one’s childhood years and adolescence into adulthood and impact the way in which a person experiences their adult relationships.
Read MoreIt’s great if everyone gets along and has a good time, but for a lot of couples marital tension is created when a spouse doesn’t get along with the in laws. If your wife doesn’t like your parents, you’re probably familiar with this experience. It’s hard to see the people you love fighting, and it’s even harder when you’re the one caught in the middle. Your parents raised you and have supported
Read MoreParenthood comes with a lot of challenges but one of the most daunting ones is coping with anger. When you have kids, it’s not always going to be sunshine, and experiencing frustration or anger at certain situations is a normal reaction. What matters, however, is the way we choose to cope with this emotion and how we can use it constructively rather than destructively.
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