Expert Interviews & Perspectives in Counseling

Gender dysphoria is a complex diagnosis with a controversial and sociopolitical history that cannot be ignored. It’s also a very recent concept that should not overshadow the full scope of gender diversity throughout the ages.

College student culture makes bad sleep habits, such as staying up late, pounding energy drinks, having strange napping schedules, and pulling all-nighters, seem normative. Peers might single out students who actually pursue good sleep hygiene as being odd.

Codependency can be a tricky topic in the world of mental health. Broadly speaking, codependency means relying upon someone else to a detrimental extent, where the desire to help causes further harm.

Studies have consistently shown the mediating impact social support and LGBTQ+ community connection have on mental health for sexual and gender minorities. When they’re loved and accepted, they thrive. When they’re outcast and oppressed, negative messages start to get internalized.

While studies have shown that short-term stress boosts the immune system, chronic stress has the opposite effect, suppressing the immune system and placing us at risk for a host of physical and psychological disorders.

While there are many parts of a client’s self-actualization process that are certainly outcome-oriented, larger life goals such as self-acceptance, self-affirmation, and self-love are not finish lines or races to be one.

Learning and attention issues can pose difficulties for individuals acquiring academic skills like reading, writing, and math. They can also pose challenges in other areas related to learning like listening and comprehension, organization and focus, and even social and motor skills.

Bullying can affect people of all ages emotionally, mentally, and physically. While it is an issue that predominantly affects children and adolescents, bullying can still be problematic through adulthood. The effects of childhood bullying can be long-lasting, with many adults being able to vividly reference times they were bullied decades after it happened.

Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children in the US. Each year, an estimated 15,780 children across the country are diagnosed with cancer, and an average of 40,000 children in the US are in active cancer treatment at any given time; approximately 20 percent will not survive it.

Factors as diverse as diet, stress, and drug use can produce epigenetic change. Epigenetics helps us understand how nature and nurture can interact to produce an outcome, including whether a person develops a psychological disorder.