Calgary Emotional Health

One understanding of obsessing automatically as a tormenting defensive process that cuts us off from our complex feelings and experiences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7_kJijFhyE

The True Cause of Obsessive Thinking We all are, at times, the victims of one of the cruellest and most remorseless of all mental afflictions: obsessive thinking. But why?FURTHER READINGYou can ...

Common automatic patterns identified and challenged by people working hard in therapy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku9gabtzmX8&t=80s

On Feeling Stuck Many of us feel ‘stuck’ - wishing we could escape a job or relationship, while being incapable of doing so. Coming unstuck involves examining unhelpful messa...

Good introduction of our automatic defensive patterns that can secure us in early development and smoother us in adulthood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIzzg6B9-60

How To Overcome Psychological Barriers We humans are extraordinarily and painfully vulnerable creatures. Especially in our early years, we are at huge danger of being psychologically damaged by th...

Interesting talk on trauma and healing with van der Kolk and Yehuda, including the use of psychedelics with intensive psychotherapy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-TtinQTNLw

Can Psychedelics Cure Trauma? Bessel van der Kolk and Rachel Yehuda in Conversation Traumatic events can overwhelm the brain, hijack the body, and distort one’s sense of self. Psychologists often address these responses through techniques th...

Descriptions of common depressive responses operating as an automatic and brutal shutdown of our complex emotional life with others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Su5VtKeXU8

How To Cope With Depression Depression doesn't have to ruin our lives. The most urgent thing we need to do is understand the ways in which depression is unlike sadness - and why self-un...

Piece on the costs of covering up our genuine values and feelings in relations with others:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/its-not-you-its-the-world/202304/smiling-to-death-the-hidden-dangers-of-being-nice?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1FIVV-1k2xoYH0eqwelzWlCwlbkKcQuaRtU42vZgRs5VM5QgEW1aM5tys_aem_AfUR3FeirGFs5-JRB8dHaygfMDPpJmbUv3oofymxUIfRiFT2XQZ9MqWNWF45u3wvKcCv65HvqTlTfXEj29rQlvpr

Smiling to Death: The Hidden Dangers of Being ‘Nice’ Being nice and pleasing others—while socially applauded and generally acknowledged as positive traits—can harm our health, says Gabor Maté.

Good video outlining our healthy mental and emotional processes involved in genuine and effective engagement with ourselves and the world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxx564hMBUI

What Is Mental Health? Nowadays, we know more and more about what it means to be mentally unwell - but what exactly constitutes mental 'health’? In this film, we’ll explore what ch...

Common debilitating thought patterns that can cut us off emotionally and drive depression:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYdjBAl-JyE

The Hopelessness Theory of Depression Do you wonder what causes chronic depression? Perhaps, you yourself are diagnosed with clinical depression or you know someone who has depression, but you ar...

Good overview of the impact of absence on developing people:
https://youtu.be/aJJ7YpW--dQ?si=QcU3gL6eGcYlgefC

What Is Emotional Neglect? And How to Cope Emotional neglect - the withholding of parental love during childhood - can have a psychological impact no less profound than other forms of abuse. Before we...

Nice piece by June Tangney differentiating shame, guilt, and self-blame so common in emotional health problems:
https://www.ted.com/talks/june_tangney_what_s_the_difference_between_guilt_and_shame?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

What's the difference between guilt and shame? We all experience feelings of guilt or shame at some point. What should we do with them? Clinical psychologist June Tangney differentiates between constructive guilt and crippling shame so that we can learn to better identify and manage our feelings. (This video is part of TED's "How to Deal with Di...

Nice clip on some key conditions for secure attachment in early development that provide children with a major advantage in life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eqnm6n8teo

The 5 Primary Conditions Needed for Secure Attachment This clip is taken from the Mindful Mama Podcast episode #276 with Paula Sacks. To listen to the full episode go to: https://www.mindfulmamamentor.com/blog/u...

Great video resembling a very difficult experience of high mental anxiety that can lead to disconnection from ourselves and others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZpvwUsQYY&list=PLxsntPEQcqILltUW-3bz-a7Ndq7MpRPDZ

What 'Brain Fog' Feels Like "Brain fog can be one of the most difficult symptoms of chronic illness to explain."Share this video with anyone who doesn't understand what brain fog feels ...

Nice video unpacking a very common defensive process that undermines real connections in relationships:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLj9HrKfcYE

How People-Pleasing Kills Intimacy (And Honest Conflict Builds It) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3nXYVlPrcY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyTkbg-u6j8

Great ideas about engaging in the challenging process of therapy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnZEqyD74eo

Absolutely Not: And other thoughts you might have about mental health support | UK Trauma Council After you’ve been through very frightening experiences, asking for help and getting mental health support can feel scary or overwhelming. Sometimes it might ...

Some basics on dealing with our feelings if they are not buried by automatic control, avoidance, and ignore processes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b197XOd9S7U

How to Process Your Emotions In order to be calm and at ease with ourselves, we need regular periods where we do something rather strange-sounding: process our emotions. Here is a guide ...

Piece on the major benefits of acceptance if we can overcome common defensive processes involving emotional avoidance, control, and disconnect:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/learning-to-accept-discomfort-could-help-you-thrive/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR3ajISyJ3DQypJe0YlWcQ2Pb6kzBQprJIEvYs22ACPIJH9tEohgMoaDhfQ

Learning to Accept Discomfort Could Help You Thrive Equanimity, a key ingredient of mindfulness meditation, helps people face life’s ups and downs

Video on automatic defensive patterns originally meant to avoid pain and preserve ourselves that can get tangled up with our autonomy and desire for real relationships later on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiQRJh0HL4E

Defense Mechanisms | How We Manage Anxiety (and Get Stuck) Defense Mechanisms in psychology are our inbuilt anxiety management system. Denial, projection, repression, intellectualization, shield us from anxiety and p...

Great talk with Marian McGavran on the role of emotional factors, such as powerlessness, in disordered eating behaviour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeu9d6nXfic

Eating Disorders Mortality & the Reinforcing Power/Control Dynamic Eating Disorders are common in people with BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). They are some of the most life-threatening psychiatric illnesses, and the m...

Great overview by Bessel van den Kolk of our understandings of trauma over time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTefkqYQz8g

How the body keeps the score on trauma | Bessel van der Kolk for Big Think+ Acclaimed psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of “The Body Keeps The Score,” discusses the widespread existence of trauma and how it manifests in our bo...

Primer on common features of PTSD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMC2jt_QVEE&t=4s

What is PTSD? (Whiteboard Video) Whiteboard video covering PTSD basics, such as types of trauma and symptoms.http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/materials/videos/index.asp

Therapy nerds: Wonderful interview with Jon Frederickson on the common features of working deeply with people tangled up with anxiety and avoidance patterns (4 mins in):

Lęk relacyjny, mechanizmy obronne i bezpieczna więź | Jon Frederickson | Sznurowadła myśli #97 ROZMOWA W JĘZYKU ANGIELSKIM (DOSTĘPNA TRANSKRYPCJA PO PL)Czy każdy lęk ma podłoże relacyjne? Dlaczego odsłanianie naszych mechanizmów obronnych pomaga regulo...

Some useful resources for burnout and occupational stress to try out before looking into deeper automatic patterns that can keep us stuck:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/burnout-prevention-and-recovery.htm

Burnout Prevention and Treatment - HelpGuide.org Feeling burned out, emotionally drained, or mentally exhausted? These tips can help you overcome burnout and regain your balance.

Podcast with Dr. Clarke offering a great overview of the role of overlooked emotional factors in chronic pain and other health problems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGnO9QMnExY

Episode 192 Ending Chronic Pain w/ Dr. David Clarke To learn more go to www.EndChronicPain.orgFind out more about the All In Running Club at www.allinhealthandwellness.com/all-in-running-clubVisit ConfidenceTh...

Old automatic patterns that can keep us tangled up in the present:
https://www.facebook.com/attachmentproject/posts/pfbid02WhiuQFdEsv8LvVUUttFZkYsJYVD2BBavhRxTUxqSPzBur4w1FiGHM9qGtWcFxXxPl

Nice video intro on the impact of unaddressed trauma on young people:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YSA7-xCz4k

Childhood Trauma, War and Conflict (with English subtitles) | UK Trauma Council The UK Trauma Council (UKTC) has created this short animation for young people to illustrate the ways traumatic experiences during war and conflict might imp...

Frank Yeomans on personality disorders as internalized views of self and others during development that can get in the way of genuine connections later in life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM11wlL25-c&list=PL_L7KEOxOeQ_-S7lmY2ZepFle6nM5ti4E&index=1

What is Personality (and Personality Disorder)? w/ Narcissism Example - FRANK YEOMANS Frank Yeomans gives a definition of 'personality' and describes what it means to have a personality disorder, including a specific clinical example of a pati...

Some useful resource for frontline personnel dealing with the burden of occupational distress and trauma over time:
https://istss.org/occupational-trauma

ISTSS - Public Resources ISTSS seeks to contribute to the health and resilience of people and communities in the face of traumatic events by providing the very best educational materials possible.

Nice piece by June Tangney differentiating shame, guilt, and self-blame so common in emotional health problems:
https://www.ted.com/talks/june_tangney_what_s_the_difference_between_guilt_and_shame

What's the difference between guilt and shame? We all experience feelings of guilt or shame at some point. What should we do with them? Clinical psychologist June Tangney differentiates between constructive guilt and crippling shame so that we can learn to better identify and manage our feelings. (This video is part of TED's "How to Deal with Di...

Old stuff stirred up with our little ones:
https://www.purewow.com/family/my-inner-jaws-music-is-a-toddler-tantrum?amphtml=true

What’s Your Inner ‘Jaws’ Music Trigger? Mine Is Whenever My Toddler (and Husband) Melt Down It’s a sign that a wave of mom anger is coming. But what does your internal ‘Jaws’ music really say about you?

A classic resource for helping distressed and traumatized children in the classroom: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_silent_epidemic_in_our_classrooms

How to Help a Traumatized Child in the Classroom Exposure to chronic trauma is having tragic effects on some of our students. How can educators help?