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Many people suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and are not even aware of it. Any bad experience can cause negative emotions or unwanted remembrances. PTSD symptoms often persist for a long time if treatment is not received. There are many different approaches to assisting those with PTSD from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to medications.

Parents who lose a child suffer from severe pain, anxiety, and intense guilt about their child's death. In most cases, parents aren't directly responsible for their child's death. However, their guilt can drive a wedge between them that can destroy a relationship. Couples counseling can help grieving parents learn how to stay together.

Doing something creative can also help combat depression. You can write a poem or short story that expresses how you feel. Paint something or sculpt something. Take photos of things that move you. Make a short film. Anything creative, from cooking a good meal to starting a blog can help you to express your feelings and feel lighter. Plus making something always gives you a feeling of achievement as well.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of mental health therapy that helps individuals intentionally use their thoughts to guide their feelings and behaviors. This approach focuses on helping individuals first become aware of unproductive thoughts, and then change those thoughts to ones that positively influence their behaviors and emotions.

What narrative therapy aims to do is help the person with PTSD take ownership of what happened to them. With a trusted therapist as their guide, they learn to make a space for their story, how to piece together the details so that they aren't suddenly hit with these strong emotions when they're triggered. Over a series of sessions they take the bare bones of what occurred and add in emotions and reactions and what it caused.

By seeing a therapist, a person who suffers from PTSD-like symptoms can learn new coping strategies, begin to comprehend what has happened, and compartmentalize the pieces of the event and how they can fit into the life they are already leading. Mental health counselors are trained to use therapeutic counseling techniques designed to fit a person's specific needs.

Welcome back to the second half of our two-part series on how counseling can help you through the hardest time in your life. Last time, we covered how difficult it can be to deal with laving home or when your loved ones make painful decisions that you'd like to change. This time, we're wrapping up with the stresses of a new job and how it can help to talk to someone you can trust.

One of the major signs of mature adulthood is knowing when to ask a professional. When the breaker box is sparking, your sore throat doesn't get better, or the satellite dish detaches in a storm are all great examples of when it's time to seek professional help. The same rule applies to emotional turmoil and unusually stressful situations. When you get in over your head and start to worry about making the right decisions, often the smartest thing to do is seek a little professional counseling.

Welcome back to the second half of this two-part series on dealing with loss as an adult. Last time we covered how children are supported when handling loss but the burden of self control and responsibility is heavy on an adult who feels the same way after a personal tragedy. We talked about how different people express their grief in different ways and how it's okay to do so in order to heal. The second half is about helping yourself to recover through physical recuperation, time, and counseling.

As children, expressing sadness and mixed emotions in the face of loss is expected. It's okay to cry on the first day of kindergarten when your parent walks away, and it's okay to be upset for days when your first pet dies. Parents help their children through difficult separations like moving to a new house, attending sleep-away summer camp, and dealing with divorce. But what about as adults?