The Better Mental Health Show

Drinking alcohol has been associated with serious physical and mental health risks, so any news showing drinking to be on the decline would be warranted. As we move into this era of wellness and mental health awareness, people are becoming less likely to go out with their friends to have a drink and a whole new spectrum of products are popping up to support this new "sober curious" culture. Are we...

Burnouts used to be something completely different when I was growing out, but nowadays, being a burnout is steadily in the rise, and on today's show we talk about what is going on. Being a "burnout" is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. And while we all think we experience this at some point, the World Health Organization h...

Grudges will kill you and I wish I was joking. Research has shown that people who hold grudges are more likely to suffer from an adverse cardiovascular event and are at more risk for heart disease. And in addition to this lovely fact, on the way to this accelerated death because of the grudge you hold, your mental health is in ruins dealing with the ongoing onslaught of up and downs the grudge bri...

Over the past few weeks I have listened to your questions and in Episode 30 I discuss one of the most frequently asked...How do I know when my kid is having a problem?   Join me as I discuss an article that lists the 14 questions to ask our kids... many of these can apply to adults as well.  Enjoy! In this episode we discuss the following article

A high school in Ohio just announced it will be removing the valedictorian and salutatorian awards from graduations as part of their overall effort to improve student wellness. Rather then use these labels, the school is moving to a more broader based award system, similar to colleges, that award multiple students, rather than 2, based off their GPA. This announcement received some strong reaction...

It is OK to not be OK...and that is what we discuss on Episode 28. Our title is taken from a recent campaign by Burger King to push this same narrative during Mental Health Awareness month offering new boxed meals available in a wide range of feelings. As they put it, sometimes, we're not happy, and deserve a meal that's not "happy". Join me as we discuss ways to be more comfortable being uncomfor...

Did you know that kids are more likely to come back home to live in their parents home then previously before? In fact, 31% of young adults from 18-38 are living on their own compared to 62% back in the 1960s? Why are more young adults "boomeranging" home, and what is the effect on their mental health. On today's show we discuss a new article to be published in the journal of Society and Mental He...

Episode 25 is part two of our conversation about the rise of suicide and how we should approach this topic with our kids. On today's show "Talk About It" we discuss how to bring up the topic of suicide with younger children and what those conversations should look like depending on their age. Using an article from an interview of parenting expert Dr. Deborah Gilboa, we will go over the various str...

With more reports coming out showing suicide on the rise, these next two episodes will be dedicated to this topic, in particular relating to how we get kids to 1) talk about how they feel before it gets to suicide or suicidal thoughts and 2) how to talk to young people directly about suicide. On part 1 today we begin with the concept that just like the body, the mind too get sick, and sometimes so...

Pollution of our environment, in particular our air, has been on the rise over the past decade and its negative effects on our physical health well documented.  Recently, more evidence has come out suggesting pollution may negatively affect mental health by increasing depressive and psychotic episodes.   This new work ties into reports published over the past two years suggesting living in a city...

Being strong encompasses two facets, mental strength and physical strength. The beauty of this arrangement is that each one can help and increase the other. So for example, those that are more physically fit tend to be less depressed, more happy and confident, and less prone to depression and anxiety. There is a ton of research out there supporting this, and has gone as far to conclude in some ins...

Marijuana use for therapeutic purposes has been an intense area of research for decades now. Recently, this theory has extended to mental disease, with the focus on Cannabidiol (CBD), as the holy grail for relieving anxiety and depression. The beauty of CBD is that it can elicit an effect on our brain, without causing the "high" you get after smoking marijuana. That high comes from THC, not CBD, a...

The FDA recently approved a new drug to treat severe depression using a derivative of the street drug Ketamine. What makes this drug so interesting and appealing is that its form of delivery is via a nasal spray like common allergy meds. This announcement received a lot of national press, and a bunch of people reached to ask what this was all about, and how it can help with depression. On today's...

Have you seen this viral topic circulating on social media and the news lately called the Momo Challenge? Apparently Momo is a devilish figure that appears spliced into children's shows on YouTube that encourages kids to harm themselves and in some instances commit suicide. Obviously, very serious, scary stuff. But, after some research, this challenge has been shown to be nothing more than a hoax,...

If you or a loved one hurts themselves physically in some way, you know exactly what the response should be. Since we were kids, adults have taught us to call 911 or the police when there is an accident or a serious emergency. But when the people around us are struggling with mental illness, do you know how to recognize the signs, and better yet, do you know what to do to get them the help they ne...

The growing sentiment in the USA is that the mental health issues are on the rise amongst children and that many of these children are not currently getting the help they need. To bolster this claim with some real hard data, a new study recently published highlighted some alarming statistics on the rate at which children are suffering from mental health disease, how many of them are getting help,...

When our computers or phones freeze up or get stuck in a loop, sometimes a "Reset" is all it needs to get things back on track. The same logic applies for our brains. Sometimes, especially in children, the brain can get stuck in a loop, and if this loop is instructing a bad behavior or poor focus, the brain will keep going and going...so what can we do? We can perform a brain reset. Join me on tod...

Critical thought is what separates humans from the other animal species. Our ability to stop, think, plan, and then make a decision is what separates us and truly makes us special. Nowadays, humans are thinking less and less thanks to technology that can think for them. When we need to know something we don't ask questions, we ask Google. When we go online and read an article about something, we d...

Classrooms have begun to look more like a Best Buy story than a school nowadays. With TVs, and Chromebooks, and tablets everywhere, why are schools pushing so much technology at younger and younger grade levels? And how is it hurting or helping kids? Did you know that technology activates some of the same centers in the brain as drugs do? So every time we watch TV, or use our phone, our brain is c...

All kids know that when they have a cut or a bruise they can go to the nurse for a band aid located in a first aid kit. But what about when they are feeling down, sad, anxious, or depressed? Is there a first aid kid to handle this? Is there an emotional toolbox available to them help through their struggle? All humans should have their own emotional toolbox and we should she be teaching children f...

Pet's have been apart of the family unit for roughly 11,000 years with obvious and known accounts of how pets can increase happiness and the disposition of all family members. In addition to these accounts, research has been performed asking if owning a pet can have a positive affect on children's mental health and overall being, and today on Episode 12 we discuss some of these results. Among the...

Disciplining children is one of the most researched and sought out topics by parents looking for better ways to teach right from wrong. Over the course of time, parents are now less inclined to use physical punishment on their children, but yelling has remained a routine method of discipline in the household today. Recently the American Academy of Pediatrics released a new policy outlining the dan...

Every year should be better than the next. Often we hear of people making New Year's resolutions that revolve around physical improvement or betterment. This year I propose all of us make mental health a primary focus and make some small goals to live every day with our mental health in mind. On today's show I discuss an article that discusses different ways we can do this, and brings in suggestio...

Remember the time when we counted down the days until Christmas arrived? Remember when the holiday season was a stress free, joyous time of smiling and celebrating with those we love? What happened to that feeling as we got older? How did the holiday season become so stressful and such a source of negative energy and mental anguish? On today's episode, right before Christmas, I discuss this exact...

On today's show we talk about a topic that I think is really important to a healthy mindset and something that should really be taught and reinforced while kids are young....bravery.   In today's world of parenting we have become so protective of our children, we never ever want them to feel any sort of discomfort or displeasure.  But as we know and have discussed, that is setting kids up to fail...