Mental health

Happiness is a difficult state of mind to define because it is a subjective concept based on each individual's experience. Although researchers have yet to find a definition or unifying framework for happiness, it can be defined as a positive emotional state. There are many external factors that affect...

Some people are easily recognizable by their laugh. You can hear it down the street without the person laughing being in sight and know who they are in an instant. Some people are thought to have lovely laughs, others are considered not so lovely. The circumstances of the laugh is also important as...

Sleep is an important function that allows your body and mind to recover so that you are refreshed and awake when you wake up. While some sounds can promote sleep, others jolt us awake and make it hard to fall back asleep. Even when you are asleep, sounds can be so disturbing that they wake you up. For restful...

Our relationship to our own genitals is something we often take for granted. As we develop through puberty, they change and fascinate us. Some people simply accept them as the biological equipment they are, some may have dysphoria in regards to them and often people can be either insecure or too secure...

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness during the day, with different causes and can result in several symptoms such as sudden attacks of intense, uncontrollable sleep. The impact of this disorder in the life of a person is considerable, and although there is no cure, there...

Nowadays it is becoming more and more difficult for young people to leave the parental home and become independent, but sooner or later it happens. Most parents find that their children "fly" and a new stage of life begins for them. This can be very positive and fulfilling, but it can also make them feel sad,...

Many myths and beliefs surround sleepwalkers, and there is disagreement about what to do if you see someone walking and performing mundane tasks while supposedly asleep. People often wonder whether or not they should wake up a sleepwalker and what happens if you do. There are many popular myths that if you...

Dealing with someone suffering from depression can be challenging. If you are caring for a loved one who is depressed, whether it is a child, a partner, a relative, or a friend, you may feel as debilitated, in pain, and frustrated as that person. You may have felt frustrated because you wanted to help...

Enjoying regular restful sleep is essential to our health and well-being. While sleeping, our body recovers from daily activity. Our brain and nervous system consolidates the information it collects throughout a given day. The average person should sleep about 8 hours per day. Not getting enough rest has...

Have you ever felt tingles when you hear a particular sound? Have you ever entered into a state of deep relaxation while getting a hair cut? Have you ever experienced a trance when someone talks in a very gentle voice? If so, then you know what ASMR feels like. ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian...

People frequently use the words anxiety and anxiousness interchangeably. Although both have similar meanings, they have certain differences too. Both terms refer to a general meaning of disquiet and concern, but their common usage has different implications. This difference relates to our mental and...

Our sense of smell is perhaps the most evocative of our senses. It is certainly the one which is most connected to memory. If smelling something can bring to us certain emotions and sensations, then is it possible it works the other way round as well? If they can, then it is found in the idea of phantosmia...

Body dismorphic disorder, also known as body dismorphia, is a kind of mental illness in which the patient feels obsessed with a minor or imaginary flaw in their appearance. The person may spend all of their focus on fixing a perceived flaw, even going to the extent of cosmetic surgery. You will frequently...

Starting articles with a definition is old hat, but complacency has different meanings depending on how you look at it. When we take it in the pejorative (i.e. the negative interpretation), it means self-satisfied, unconcerned and even obsequious. However, as good a case could be made to say that being...

Counting in your head is a kind of OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder, in which the person feels the need or urge to count certain things or everything that he comes across. Whether it is counting the stairs while climbing them, tiles on a floor or wall, birds on a line or peas in a bowl, the patient...

It’s normal to count your money, and then come back again to double check the total. But doesn’t it sound unusual if someone counts the steps that he walks, stairs that he climbs, letters in every word he reads, tiles on the floor, panes in the window, and everything he comes across. Occasional counting...

Normally people can always find something that makes them feel afraid, scared or repulsed. However, when it comes to people suffering from a phobia the number is reduced to one in ten. There are some phobias that are more common than others, like the phobia of spiders (arachnophobia), snakes, heights,...

It's not about having a big ego or exaggerating our virtues, self-esteem is about knowing what our positive qualities are and learning to value them, to respect ourselves and learning to love who we are. This level of acceptance leads to confidence, but must first come from within to project it on the outside....

Snoring is a common problem among masses. Initially, it seems like a mild irritation and sometimes a subject of joke. But as it progresses, it starts becoming a serious problem for the person as well as for other people who sleep with him or her. Snoring can lead to sleep deprivation for both, due...

When we say catatonia, we are referring mainly to difficulties in motor activity. So people with symptoms of catatonia demonstrate certain characteristics relating to their motor activity that we will clarify for you. Symptoms of catatonia may occur in various disorders, such as manic episodes, major depressive episodes,...

It is very important to detect Asperger's syndrome in the early stages to diagnose it in time for a specialist to be able to treat it. But what happens to people who have not been diagnosed in time and have reached adulthood with this syndrome? It is usually overlooked because parents think it's "just a...

New Year's resolutions are becoming harder and harder. With the amount of distraction we face on a daily basis from increased work commitments to blinking phones reminding us of the tasks we absolutely MUST take care of, sticking to the resolutions we make to improve our personal development is increasingly...

Do you feel constantly worried or on edge, as if something bad is going to happen? Does your state of constant alert and threat not let you relax? You may be suffering from anxiety. There are many types of anxiety; in some cases, it appears in front of stressful situations - like test or social anxiety...

Clearing the mind is an exercise that's highly recommended for relaxing the body and disconnecting the mind from the everyday, of facts and the material living. Practiced to develop self-awareness, self-reflection and improve your quality of life, as it has been shown that clearing the mind for a few...

Schizoaffective disorder is a disease that is characterized by the presence of characteristic symptoms of psychosis and altered mood. Generally, this disorder usually has its onset in adulthood, although it can also occur in adolescence. There are several treatments for this disorder, and depending on the...

Do you look in the mirror and feel bad? Do you think that everything you do, you do badly? Are you unable to communicate how you feel beyond self-deprecating jokes, or do you think that nobody is interested? This means that your self-esteem is very low. No matter the cause, this should not be ignored....

Narcissists are self-loving people who are extremely obsessed about their own self and looks. In their perspective, they are the best and they look down upon all others around them. The theory suggests that such people should have difficulty in getting along with the society, but sometimes, the opposite...

Déjá vu is a French term that some people use to describe the feeling of living through novel experiences that somehow seem strangely familiar. In English déjà vu means “already seen” and this phenomenon has widely picked the interest of scientists and psychologists. If you have ever traveled to a new place...

Anger is an emotion that everyone feels, but some people struggle with their tempers more than others. Whilst it is completely natural to sometimes feel angry, there are occasions when losing your temper isn't advisable! Often, we will know if something is making us angry, it can start with a minor sense of...

Scopolamine, also known as burundanga or bunga bunga, is a tropane alkaloid drug that overrides the will of whoever ingests it, so the person who consumes it becomes completely submissive to the orders of others; moreover, it also causes sleepiness and memory loss. These dangerous properties have made...

Smoking is a lethal addiction, the harmful effects of which have continued to be proven through real-life experiences and various scientific studies. Now we can say that smoking kills as it can lead to chronic diseases of the respiratory and vascular system, and can also cause cancer. As well as this,...

You might have come across some personality tests that divided people into extroverts and introverts. An extrovert person generally enjoys spending time with people while an introvert usually prefers to spend more time away from social environments. An ambivert person is argued to be a combination of both types....

A bad trip, or a psychedelic crisis as it's sometimes known, is a disturbing experience that is associated with the use of LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs like magic mushrooms. There is no way of knowing if somebody is going to have a bad trip before taking LSD, but the feelings of a bad trip can range from...

Stuttering can be a very frustrating and sometimes embarrassing problem for those who have trouble with it. Unfortunately there is no quick fix for a stutter, and it is a speech impediment that has to be tackled overtime, although many young people do tend to grow out of their stutter as they get older....

To understand how endorphins affect the body, the first thing to know is the precise meaning of a word that is commonly overused. The word 'Endorphin' comes from the sum of two words: endogenous, meaning it's caused by the body, and morphine, which refers to a substance that acts on receptors to exert a powerful...

Adderall is a stimulant drug prescribed in the cases of Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder (ADHD) and often narcolepsy. It is made of a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, which are considered to have a profound effect on the brain chemicals that interact with nerves responsible...

Do you struggle to fall asleep even when you're dog-tired? Or wake up in the middle of the night and can't to get back to sleep for hours? If you struggle to get a full, uninterrupted night of rest each night, you may be suffering from insomnia. Insomnia is a condition that makes it hard or nearly impossible...

The term otherkin is used to describe a person who doesn't identify as being human, but feels spiritually that they are another creature or animal. For some people who are not otherkin, this can be difficult to understand, however it is a very real feeling for those who do. Whether you feel that you...

Giving up smoking is a goal that many people try for various reasons, some are driven by a health condition that could worsen with tobacco, others because they want a positive change in their life and there are those who even do it for economy as this vice is not cheap. Either way, quitting smoking...

There are many people who are very sensitive. This highly sensitive people were believed to be people that would make a drama out of everything. However, it has now been scientifically proven that certain individuals have higher emotional development than average. In other words, the nervous system of said...

Do you have problems with your bad temper? Do you feel that your anger and temper play tricks on you? First of all, you must accept that you have a foul temper. It is a very normal state or mood in human beings and it'd be really strange if you would never have these outbursts or fits of anger. The problem...

Do you want to try a natural alternative so you can give up smoking? Cinnamon sticks are your salvation! This spice is one of the most suitable for reducing your anxiety for a cigarette because of its similar shape and it provides a specific flavor that will eliminate the urge to smoke. It is not a perfect...

One of the most difficult mental illnesses to diagnose is Bipolar disorder because it can be confused with states of mind such as excitement or depression. However, it is important to learn how to detect the disorder to treat it as soon as possible, so that the patient can enjoy a stable life without...

One of the most misunderstood personality disorders is narcissism. This mental condition causes the person suffering from it to have an exaggerated sense of self, so they feel like they are the centre of the universe, are extremely self-involved and do not usually have empathy for other people. Egocentrism...

Opium is the liquid that is extracted from poppy plants. From this liquid, some medications and other drugs like heroin are produced. It is considered to be one of the most addictive substances that exists, given that your body develops a high degree of tolerance if you take it regularly. OneHowTo...

Although the world seems to be increasingly connected, it is easy to feel completely excluded. If you feel that way, do not worry because you're not the only person who is going through this. To overcome this feeling and cope with loneliness, you must understand yourself, see what the reasons are and make...

Compulsive gambling or gambling addiction is a serious psychological problem that has terrible consequences for a compulsive gambler and those closest to them. This is compulsive and uncontrollable behaviour which compels someone to play and bet impulsively, without getting any pleasure from this activity....

Arachnophobia means an uncomfortable and intense fear of spiders. As with any phobia, people with this problem reach the point of limiting their daily lives according to it. They usually avoid any place where they may find spiders, thus determining the place where they live, where they go on holiday and...

Ear acupuncture is a technique developed in the 50s, used to activate points in the ear to reduce ailments such as muscle pain, weight loss, menstrual disorders or to treat depression and anxiety. Anxiety is a disorder that makes you worry excessively over the main features of your everyday life, whether...

When a person has low self-esteem they are usually insecure, uncertain of their abilities and feel unable to make decisions for fear of making mistakes. It is difficult to help a person with this kind of emotional problem, because they usually need the approval of others, they have a distorted image of...