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The Gut Feeling

21/6/2022

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The gut feeling Is your gut following you or are you following your gut?

signs
When was the last time you had this gut feeling about something? Did you listen to it or did you dismiss it? My guess is that quite a few people know what it is like to have a gut feeling but then decide to "rationalise it away" with logic. Given what we know about how our brain developed differently from other species - it may seem like the "logical" thing to do, right?


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Why it's so hard to practice self-compassion

15/6/2022

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Self

​​I deserve to be loved
This is hard for me
I am competent
I am enough
I forgive me
I did great​

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Perfectionism and the Inner Critic: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

4/6/2022

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Perfectionism and the Inner Critic: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

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Have you ever heard that annoying, little voice inside you telling you that you are not good enough? Have you ever finished your workday but decided to keep working because your results did not yet meet your high expectations? These are two examples of that voice inside us that push us hard and can lead us to the brink of exhaustion. It is the result of the combination of our inner critic and our perfectionistic tendencies. But, how are these two seemingly different concepts related to each other? Today we will find out. 


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On Healthy Anger: Why Do We Suppress This Normal Emotion?

27/5/2022

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On Healthy Anger: Why Do We Suppress This Normal Emotion?

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Our society has a complex relationship with anger. On the one hand, we frown upon it and equate it to violent outbursts and harmful behaviors. On the other hand, it is an entirely normal emotion that we all feel at some time or another.

​So, why is it that most of us have decided that this supremely common emotion should be suppressed and locked inside our minds? Why are we afraid of expressing anger and processing it as we do with any other emotion? Today we will delve into the world of anger and discover how suppressing it can be harmful to our mental health and relationships. We will also discuss how to begin your journey towards accepting anger and expressing it in a healthy and productive way.


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What Does It Mean To Be Triggered? + 6 Self-Soothing Activities

28/4/2022

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What Does It Mean To Be Triggered? + 6 Self-Soothing Activities

Emotional triggers
In day-to-day conversations, and especially on social media, you may have encountered people saying how they “got triggered” by seeing, reading, or hearing something. However, what is exactly the meaning of that phrase?

In everyday use, “getting triggered” is usually used to describe feelings of discomfort, annoyance, or disagreement with content the person has come across. However, psychologically speaking, the phrase has a deeper and more complex meaning.




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What is Learned Helplessness and How Can We Overcome It?

10/4/2022

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What is Learned Helplessness and How Can We Overcome It?

Man
There once was a young boy who loved the circus. At the circus, he was particularly fascinated by the elephants. At the end of the elephant show, he went to where the animals were kept and saw all animals in cages. All except one. The elephant. 
Despite being the largest animal at the circus, the elephant was tied to a stump with a comparatively small rope. The little boy wondered to himself why the elephant would not just break free and run away. It clearly could with very little effort!


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What is Toxic Shame and How Can We Heal From It

9/4/2022

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What is Toxic Shame and How Can We Heal From It

Shame & Guilt
In life, all of us have done some things wrong. And made many mistakes. Too many to count. Some may have happened in moments of recklessness and impulsivity. Others may have happened even after careful planning. No matter how your mistakes happened, you probably ended up feeling many different emotions, including emotions like guilt and shame.


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Why Do We Procrastinate? The Real Reasons + How To Stop

7/4/2022

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Why Do We Procrastinate? The Real Reasons + How To Stop

Procrastination
Have you ever started working on an important project and suddenly found yourself cleaning the house?

​Just like in a “trance”, you magically stop working on your work project and puff! you are preparing your clothes for your dinner party, but it is only 10.00 in the morning. While you are “focusing” on cleaning the house, preparing your clothes and scrolling on Instagram, you just realised it is already the end of the day and you can’t start working on a new thing because it is important and “needs time”. 

Sounds familiar?


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Why are We Afraid to Fail? The Role of Trauma in Fear of Failure

1/4/2022

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Why are We Afraid to Fail? The Role of Trauma in Fear of Failure

fear-of-failure-trauma
What is so problematic about being afraid of failure? Fear of failure is not an issue simply because experiencing fear feels bad. In reality, there is nothing wrong with experiencing fear. It can be beneficial to feel scared at times. We have survived through millennia because of fear and our fight-or-flight response. The real issue with fear of failure is that it makes us give up. It can cause us to overthink before making any decision or taking any action. It makes us question everything and leads us to procrastinate any step we should take. This is why it is important to understand what causes our fear of failure and how experiencing trauma can shape how we think about losing.

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How Do I Know I Need Therapy? 8 Signs It's Time

24/3/2022

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How Do I Know I Need Therapy? 8 Signs It's Time

Therapy
“You’d better see a therapist” 
Often used as an insult or a joke, this phrase is used far too often with a negative connotation. BUT thinking you need therapy is nothing to be ashamed of. Therapy is a safe, collaborative and comforting space aimed at supporting and encouraging growth.


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Sleep Hygiene: 10 Tips & Techniques For Improving Your Sleep

23/2/2022

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Sleep hygiene
A night of bad sleep can be one of the most annoying things in life. Tossing and turning. Wondering about how many hours we will be able to sleep this night. Worrying about the day to come. All these are frustrating and overly common experiences that millions of people struggle with every night.

​In this article, we introduce some helpful techniques and tips grounded on science that will help you improve your sleep and achieve a healthy night’s rest.


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Burnout Brain: Does Burnout Cause Memory Loss?

14/2/2022

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Burnout brain memory
Are you experiencing burnout and find yourself often forgetting small and big things? For example, you walk to the kitchen and then stop and wonder “what did I want to do here?” Or, do you sometimes forget what you did the day before, with who you were, or what did you talk about? If this resonates with you, here you can learn how does burnout impact your brain and memory.


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Burnout Recovery: How Long It Takes To Overcome Burnout?

10/2/2022

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Burnout recovery
​Burnout recovery is not always a linear process. It takes time and commitment to overcome burnout symptoms and we need to patiently grant our body and mind the sufficient time to heal. When we are struggling with burnout, we might wonder how long does it take to recover, and how much time needs to pass before we return to our old, happy self. In this article we explain how long does it take to overcome burnout and three important factors to take into account. 


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The 5 Burnout Stages According To Psychologists

9/2/2022

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Burnout stages
Burnout is becoming an increasingly problematic illness in our fast-paced world. In order to learn how to identify, prevent, and manage burnout, we must first begin at the source. We must learn what triggers burnout and when exactly does it begin. Is it when you start losing sleep or when you feel stressed every day? In reality, burnout starts way earlier than that and the answer might surprise you.


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What Causes Perfectionism? The Role of Childhood Trauma

7/2/2022

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perfectionism causes
Perfectionism can be exhausting. Constantly trying to attain these greater-than-life expectations we have placed on ourselves can be quite tiring. And, yes, we are the ones that have placed these expectations on ourselves, most people around us do not expect as much from us.
However, these feelings and expectations stem from somewhere. Perhaps people in our past did expect as much from us. So, who expected so much from us? What is the root of perfectionism? And, if it is something that we learned, is it possible to unlearn it?


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Symptoms of Burnout: How To Recognise If I Have Burnout

4/2/2022

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burnout symptoms
Throughout our lives, we play multiple roles. We can be a parent, a friend, a professional, a sibling, a sports person, and so on. Balancing all these roles can be challenging. We are only human, and we have a limited amount of time every day. When we have too much in our plate and do not have the tools to appropriately balance all of our roles, we can end up experiencing burnout. But, how can we identify if we have burnout? What symptoms can help us recognise that we are burning-out?


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Why do I feel lonely? An Expert Psychologist Explains

11/1/2022

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Feeling lonely is not the same as being alone.
You can be among other people, your partner, your family and still feel lonely. You can be all by yourself and yet, not feel lonely at all. Contrariwise, you can feel in peace, connected, calm, joyful, satisfied with your life, you name it. So, what is loneliness then?



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What Causes Fear of Failure? A Psychologist Explains

7/1/2022

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Fear of failure can be one of the most self-sabotaging, crippling feelings we can experience.
But why does it have such a powerful impact on us that it can make us stop chasing our dreams, avoid starting new relationships and be hyper-vigilant all the time?
​How can we allow fear to exert such control over our lives and, most importantly, how can we overcome this fear?


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How to set boundaries at family gatherings: 6 Examples

22/12/2021

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Family dinners are fun. Right?
Hmm, not always and not for everyone. 
Most of us have been to family dinners, gatherings and celebrations, where (some specific) family members are more intrusive than others: they keep asking personal questions in front of everyone, they feel entitled to know our private secrets, they treat our life as theirs. You get the point here.


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What Is Guilt & Why It Can Be Good For You

3/11/2021

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Many clients say to me: “I need to stop feeling guilty” or “I just want this guilt to go away”. For me these are very interesting statements that require more exploration, and I hope by reading this you will get more of an understanding why.
​
Through my study and practice of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), I feel that I have developed my understanding of the nature of guilt and how it can be confused with shame. We may say that we are feeling guilt for something, when really what we are experiencing is shame. This is an important distinction to make, so, this blog starts with firstly understanding what shame is.


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The 4 Types of Trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn

4/10/2021

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Traumatic experiences leave a mark on us. We survive the experience but they leave their emotional imprint on us, they shape how we view the world and how we relate to it. But this does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. Coping mechanisms can be either healthy or unhealthy. Here we explain the psychology of trauma responses and how they can be either helpful or harmful. 


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Self-Sabotage: 5 Common Behaviors According To Psychology

21/9/2021

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How many times have you thought that you wish you had more time in your hands so that you can follow your dreams? Or, that you wish your life would be different and you could distribute your time better so you can follow your passion? 

If you have asked yourself these questions and you have noticed a pattern of regret and "stuckness" coming up interestingly often, there is a high chance that you might be standing in your own way. You might be sabotaging yourself subconsciously with some specific behaviors and actions.


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AntiLoneliness turns 5. Here are 5 awesome things AntiLoneliness did in 5 years.

11/8/2021

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It's been 5 years since I registered at the Chamber of Commerce with my private practice "AntiLoneliness", and today I am as excited as I was on my first day. 
Excited to be part of the Mental Health community, excited to help and support, excited to expand and to create. 

What have we done in 5 years? 
Hundreds, thousands of amazing things, but here are the top 5 we hold dear to our hearts: 


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How To Improve Your Social Media Habits: 5 Tips

5/8/2021

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Social media is a paradox. It can get us closer to others, but it can also leave us feeling inadequate and lonely. It can help us develop ourselves or lead us down the path of social media burnout. 

The good news is that we can choose how social media affects our wellbeing. Here we explore some concrete steps we can take to make social media our friend. 


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Social Media Burnout: 5 Negative Effects To Your Wellbeing

5/8/2021

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Social media is one of the latest technological advances that have most effectively changed our everyday lives. It has shaped our daily habits, our economic structures, and how we relate to one another.
​Our social media channels have become the first and last thing we do in our day. And despite the many benefits social media has granted us, there is a darker face to it. We are referring to the negative consequences that occur due to our excessive use of social media; social media burnout.  


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    Self-Development

    TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE.


    Know Yourself. 
    YOU are responsible for how you feel. The others behave in the way they want, but they have nothing to do with the way you perceive their behavior and consequently how you feel. 
    It's merely your decision. 

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Vassia Sarantopoulou
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