Coronavirus and Social Distancing: The Psychological Effects

You do indeed have the power to shift your energy, shift your perspective, shift your reality. Research tells us that through the practice of certain mindfulness techniques, you can rewire your brain by becoming an "emotional electrician." Take a listen!

If we don't learn to live like the ocean with all its variability and unpredictability, we suffer. The ocean’s mighty swells, its deadly currents, its frightening depths, the beauty, grandeur and even the mystery, fascinates us, but also scares us. Humans are attached to the deception of permanence and the desperate need for guarantees. However, as we all know, life can be unsteady, frightening and super difficult if we don’t learn to go with the flow. We can indeed learn how not to be averse to adverse events. We all need to find our sea legs.

Depression does not only affect those who’s struggles are evident. “High functioning” depression highlights that a person can experience significant symptoms of depression and not have it be obvious to people around them or even to people they are close to. The way someone carries themselves in public and in their professional life, does not reflect the entire profile of their personality or what they are grappling with inside. One of the key features is that people who are "high functioning" depressives have periods of time when their depression temporarily lifts and they are able to be productive. This podcast discusses notable luminaries who have accomplished a great deal in their lives despite suffering from depression. Take a listen!

In this post-pandemic era, it's a great time to revisit self-care. This podcast focuses on one aspect of self-care that is often forgotten about. Embracing "alone time" or "me" time is crucial for building emotional resistance and personal growth. It helps us to be more creative, more humble with ourselves and others and helps recharge our batteries. It also helps us to problem solve better, think more clearly and ground ourselves in reality. So, learn how to take advantage of your "aloneness."

The cliché, “Life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% how we react to it,” has a great deal of truth. Hence, learning how to be more reflective than reactive via a few subtle mind-shifts will help you handle the stressors of life better regardless of what is happening around you. These tools can be helpful with career goals, in every day social interactions and even with family and intimate relationships. Some of these concepts include, listening to yourself more compassionately from the inside than outside. Learning to be a facilitator instead of a fixer, adopting a “process orientation” to life instead of a “results orientation” to life and assuming an attitude of gratitude. Let me know what you think. JT

Covid Confidential: After testing positive for Covid 19, John Tsilimparis, MFT discusses mental health coping skills to help deal with prolonged isolation and all the worries and fears that emerge during quarantine. 

It's evidently clear that Americans are overwhelmed with loss. Grief is a new norm. Covid-19 not only put us on a fast track to a new age of virtual existence, it also ushered in a new era of isolation, heightened fear and persistent grief among other things. Mindfulness For The Soul takes a look into how and why this trend had been building since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. A new diagnosis from the APA offers hope for many.

In the last decade, there has already been a significant deterioration in the mental health of adolescents partly due to the escalation of social media. But, since if onset of the pandemic, the emotional fallout for adolescents has been particularly cruel. Mindfulness For The Soul takes a deep look into why this trend is surging and what we need to do to change it.

Whenever we experience worry, fear, anxiety or any emotional discomfort, our built-in "threat response," also known as the fight, flight or freeze mechanism kicks in and shifts into protection mode. This very uncomfortable and scary feeling leaves many stuck in perpetual survival mode. John Tsilimparis, MFT and Karen Pickett, MFT discuss valuable techniques to help you calm your central system and deactivate the threat response. 

What is mental illness stigma? Where does it come from? How can we change society's perception? What are ways that we all can be more proactive instead of reactive with mental illness? John Tsilimparis, MFT and special guest Karen Pickett, MFT take a closer look.