During the holiday season, it's nearly impossible to turn on a television or walk into a store without being bombarded with images and videos of holiday joy and cheerfulness. While the intention of these messages is to spread joy, the constant reminders of happy times can have the opposite effect on those who struggle with the holidays. If you experience depression during holiday seasons, then you aren't alone. Holiday and depression can be twin sides of a coin, but the good news is there are ways to cope and enjoy recovery from holiday depression and anxiety. The following are a few helpful tips and tools for how:
Catharsis is an ancient Greek term primarily used to refer to the way we can purge our emotions through drama.
Today, we’ve expanded on this idea, using drama therapy to connect with our emotions, process and express them and thereby find healing.
Have you ever read The Secret Garden? It’s a children’s story about a girl, damaged, suspicious, and neglected after the death of her parents. However, when the girl finds a walled garden, overgrown and in disrepair, she decides to revive it. In this secret garden, she finds what she calls “magic”: a connecting force that allows her to heal and thrive.
Many who have found themselves caught in the web of drug or alcohol addiction feel that it’s up to them—and them alone—to face their addictions head-on and overcome them. They place themselves under so much pressure that the thought of even beginning an addiction recovery program seems overwhelming. But the good news is this: you don’t have to conquer addiction alone. In fact, the most successful paths to recovery involve group-oriented forms of treatment, including group therapy, family programs, and sober living. Here are four reasons that successful recovery from addiction means involving others in your recovery journey.
Addiction recovery is a very unique culture of people who all have been through similar trials and experiences. This sort of culture has led to a certain vocabulary that is specific to the world inside of the 12-step program. There are many phrases that you will hear in addiction recovery that you won’t hear anywhere else, but many of these phrases are common words that have a completely different meaning in the world of recovery. Here’s some unique addiction recovery lingo...
Group therapy is therapy conducted with a small group of individuals experiencing the same or similar problems. During group therapy, therapists treat multiple clients together. The purpose of group therapy can be as simple as a support group to a skills training therapy group. Group therapy comes in all shapes and sizes, all different lengths of time, and each group holds different amounts of sessions. Typically, 5-10 individuals meet with a trained group therapist. For many conditions, such as addiction, group therapy works even more effectively than individual therapy. It has been found that combinations of group and individual therapy can produce more positive effects than individual therapy alone. Group therapy gives individuals the opportunity to relate with people experiencing similar problems, creating a feeling of universality and connection. It also creates a sense of hope in individuals as they watch each other learn and grow.