You may have heard people talking about doing “parts work” or “inner child work” in therapy. Parts work is becoming more popular, and people are asking for it more often. I love talking about parts, so here’s an explanation of what that means.

When my clients say they want to control their emotions, they are usually asking me to help them turn off their emotions so that they look like the second group. The second group is often baffled that they have problems since their emotions are so under control. They often see themselves simply as unemotional people, struggle to locate their emotions, and generally have their emotions as turned off as possible. This all makes sense because our culture has long devalued and misunderstood emotions, telling us that being unemotional is the goal. However, neither of these groups is regulating their emotions.

Anxiety is a normal, human experience that comes for a wide range of reasons. While diet is not usually the cause of anxiety, research has found that our diet can play a role in the severity of our symptoms, how we manage anxiety, and the impact of stress and anxiety on our body. There are foods and habits that are best to both include and exclude to help mitigate and manage anxiety. Below are 12 evidence based nutritional considerations when it comes to anxiety.

My best gift ever was the nurse announcing to me that since it was Christmas Day, she would let me hold my daughter for 30 minutes. It still makes me cry to think of it. Thirty minutes of peacefully holding the tiny human that should have been inside of me.

Every year at Christmas, when it comes time to decorate the tree, I get super crabby! I seem to be able to handle decorating other parts of the house, just don’t let me near the tree. Is it because I’m not a visual person? Did I suffer some ornamental trauma at age 2?

You have turned to the 3rd post in a series about managing anxiety. Anxiety affects all of us, really. It couldn’t be more common. It’s also complex. We are aiming for it to become a more balanced and helpful part of our lives instead of taking over.

Anxiety is unsettling by definition. It changes everything from how you digest food, the quality of your sleep, your ability to think clearly and freely, and how you relate to others. It strongly influences the decisions you make and can so easily shut down whole areas of your life.

Have you had an injury that just doesn’t seem to be healing? Sometimes there’s more going on than just tissue damage or things out of place. Here’s what can happen.