Thoughts — Emotions

Most of us have been able to sense the anxiety around us. Sneezing, coughing, no masks or no sanitizers are making us uneasy all over again. March and April seem to be the months of doom. If you’re saying “Stop! I haven’t been able to cope with last March, stop throwing more stressors at me again.” Honestly, same. Having to deal with the uncertainty in 2020 was bad. But 2021 feels like a repeat. And the fact that this time around, we know what’s coming, how we might feel and what’s going to happen, but we are still uncertain about...

If you’ve ever had an argument with a friend, your significant other or your relative- one of you might have said this at some point “you’re not even actually listening to me” or through the argument, one of you might have not “felt heard”.Listening is an activity where you receive information through sounds. You might listen to a lot of sounds when you’re having a conversation with your friend- the phone buzzing, the music, other people talking, etc. In a situation like this, you might think you are hearing them out, but there is a high chance you will not...

Marijuana does have its benefits. Research done shows that marijuana might help reduce nausea, chronic pain, seizures and sleep apnea. But on the flip side, long time use of marijuana may lead to deterioration of cognitive abilities. Memory loss, decrease in the speed of thinking and slower processing of information are some of the most common long-term side effects of smoking cannabis. An experiment done by Schuster et al. (2016) stated that individuals who smoked marijuana early on, had lower verbal memory. In the experiment, individuals who had started using marijuana before the age of 16, took longer to learn words as well as...

I have symptoms of depression. But my parents are not willing to accept. How can I show them reality? Hey! Dealing with a mental illness can be a lonely road, and at times we need the care and love of those closest to us. Depression weighs on us a like a foggy dark cloud, makes our daily functioning difficult and often sends us off on a spiral questioning the point of things. Often people struggling with depression smile and drag their feet along just to look like things are okay – but they know they are not. Family members often...

Empathy, the ability to step into the shoes of another person, is a skill accentuated by almost everyone in the business of human interaction. Being empathic, makes one feel understood – gives one the freedom to express their feelings and perspectives without fear of judgement. It’s like dropping a ton of weight and then experiencing a huge sigh of relief. Practising empathy is simple, doable and most importantly necessary to bridge the gap between friends, family members or a professional and his/her client. Here’s the interesting part, empathy, is not only used by psychologists and psychiatrists, it’s used even by...