If you believe that someone you care about is at risk for suicide, you may feel worried, helpless, or unsure how to help (Understanding and Helping the Suicidal Person). If that person is you, chances are that you might not even feel like you do care about yourself, or that anyone cares about you. But, the truth of the matter is that even if it doesn't feel like it, someone does care very much. Suicidal thoughts have an uncanny ability to shut out any positive thought processes and make the suicidal person believe, falsely, that his or her life does not matter.

Despite considerable effort by parents, professionals, and others to reduce stigma and enhance understanding of teen mental health issues, a troubling amount of misinformation remains (Youth And Mental Illness Stigma). This post is one humble attempt to dispel four unfortunately common stigmas about teens and their mental health.

Experiencing any type of trauma will inevitably leave a lasting impact on a person’s life. When children and adolescents experience a traumatic event, it can impact various stages of their development. Because of their young age and lack of life experience, children often do not possess the appropriate coping skills needed to deal with trauma in a healthy way. (3 Key Things to Prepare Children to Deal with Traumatic Events) For this reason, receiving treatment can be extremely beneficial in helping youth overcome the symptoms that may arise as a result of traumatic experiences. But the thought of seeking treatment for your child after he or she went through a traumatic experience can be intimidating because you know that he or she will inevitably have to talk about all of the things that happened to him or her. You may wonder if rehashing the events themselves will ultimately cause your child to feel more pain, leaving you to question whether or not it would be better to just let time heal the wounds.

While group therapy can be extremely effective in helping individuals learn the skills needed to overcome many mental health and/or addiction problems, what happens when a person is afraid of group therapy? The fact of the matter is that most people are anxious about starting group therapy for the first time and you shouldn’t let that stop you from participating in this type of therapy. Once you get used to the group setting, you may find that group therapy is extremely supportive and beneficial.

With the start of 2015, it is a good time to step back and take a look at the past year and identify some areas of your life that you would like to improve this year. No matter if you are suffering from a preexisting mental health condition or not, everyone can benefit from a resolution to improve one’s overall mental health.

I’m not sure about the rest of you, but when I first got into the field of psychology, I was overwhelmed with all of the information I had to learn about the different types of mental health therapies that are used (Depression Therapy: How Psychotherapy for Depression Works). I had always thought that the counseling process was much simpler; you had a problem, you went to a counselor for help, you laid on a couch while they asked you a lot of questions, and then, voile, after a number of sessions you were done. However, there I sat in one of my first classes with words and terms, such as client-centered, CBT, or eclectic approach, being thrown at me and I had no idea what they were talking about. Turns out that there is much more to the counseling process than many might think. Not only are there different types of mental health therapy, but some methods work better in certain cases than others. Who knew?

When struggling with a mental health or substance abuse disorder, there are a variety of treatment methods available. One of the most commonly known methods that is used at many different locations and in all levels of treatment is group therapy. Group therapy is a form of psychosocial treatment in which a small group of patients meet regularly with a therapist to talk, interact, and discuss current problems with one another.

Many individuals believe that self-harm and suicide are directly linked but, in fact, this is not the case. In all honesty, self-harm and suicidal behaviors are completely different. Unfortunately, it is common for these two behavioral disorders to get grouped together because they both have something to do with inflicting pain on oneself. Additionally, there are some instances when an individual who self-harms will end up committing suicide. The simplest way to put it is that, generally those who self-harm do not wish to kill themselves, while suicide is a way of ending life.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health illness that is often difficult to treat and can become quite frustrating for the individual suffering from it, as well as for his or her family members. Those with borderline personality disorder see things in black and white, they are resistant to change, often have what they perceive as emergencies, and tend to participate in self-harming (Self-Injury and Borderline Personality Disorder) or suicidal behaviors. While all of these symptoms are distressing, one of the most difficult problems occurs when individuals with borderline personality disorder refuse to get treatment.

When you are struggling with a mental health disorder or substance abuse problem deciding to seek inpatient treatment can be one of the best, but also scariest decisions of your life. This decision can be even more difficult if you have no idea what to expect when you arrive at a mental health or addiction treatment center.