Abuse is never your fault. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, spiritual abuse- any kind of abuse, anything defined as abuse, any abuse that happens to you is never your fault. Abuse is also never justified. To anyone who has not experienced abuse in their life this seems like common sense.Read More
Imagine you are having a hard day with your mental health symptoms. You’ve tried everything in your tool kit. Today is just one of those days where nothing seems to work. Like a kettle coming to boil, you feel like you’re about to rattle if you can’t blow off the steam and pressure being createdRead More
This month, rapper and celebrity Kanye West took to his preferred social media platform, Twitter, and made some controversial statements. As the media does, they dove into psychoanalyzing Kanye’s less than orthodox tactics as well as his seemingly irrational commentary. The media used words like “crazy” and “mentally ill” to describe and judge West’s anticsRead More
Sometimes, the best way to know what to say to someone who is struggling with PTSD and going to treatment is to know what not to say to someone who is struggling with PTSD and going to treatment. Mental health struggles are serious and often accompanied with guilt and shame for not being “normal” orRead More
Addiction is often associated with chemical substances like drugs and alcohol. However, someone can become addicted to people, places, processes, activities, and much more. What designates a diagnosable addiction or a “legitimate addiction” is something constantly under debate in scientific, academic, and psychological professional communities. For the millions of people who live with addictions, theRead More
Borderline personality disorder is one of the more complex personality disorders. The depth of emotional pain and suffering, coupled with irrational and impulsive behaviors, is perplexing to psychological professionals. Many believe that the source of borderline is a significant and traumatic event of abandonment. Researchers have linked borderline to autoimmune disorders and chronic inflammation. TheRead More
Trauma assaults our development. Like a time machine, the moment of our trauma freezes forever. Part of us stays stuck in that place- that age, that mindset, and that set of emotional regulation skills. Another part of us moves forward, grows up, and gains responsibilities, like having a child. Yet at any moment, our twoRead More
Ocala, Florida, where The Guest House Ocala is located, is just an hour and a half or less from the world famous Daytona Beach. Florida serves as the nesting grounds for the Loggerhead species of turtles. Beaches up and down the east coast of Florida create ordinances for this time of year, asking beachfront neighborhoodsRead More
What are you feeling? The therapist asks in this phrase or another one. At the height of an overwhelming emotional experience, one for which we haven’t fully developed the emotional vocabulary to cope with yet, we usually exclaim with an edge of defensiveness: I DON’T KNOW. Just about any therapist will immediately retort, that sayingRead More
How do we know when there is a part of our personality that just makes us who we are and a part of our personality which is a symptom of mental illness? People who are “worry warts”, for example, may be excessive worriers which is part of their personality. What would indicate to someone whoRead More