When we imagine a depressed person, we might picture a stereotype. The depressed person is someone who struggles to get out of bed, who has a hard time keeping a daily routine, and who has withdrawn from their friends and family. However, there’s a lesser-known version of depression that doesn’t fit this conventional idea: high-functioning depression.

Those struggling with depression often see their relationships suffer due to isolation and a fear of getting help. If someone you love has been showing signs of depression or doesn’t seem like themselves, it’s natural to want to step in. While it’s important not to try to fix them yourselves, there are a few practical steps you can take to support your loved one in a healthy way as they battle their depression.

Many people go through depressive episodes in their lives. It’s not just feeling down or sad; it’s a pervasive sense of hopelessness, emptiness, and numbness that can make even the simplest tasks seem daunting. However, there are small steps you can take on your own that can lift your mood and take care of your mental health.

When your thoughts are spiraling due to anxiety, one way to head them off is just by distracting yourself. This will help you manage these big emotions in the moment. Distractions are usually used in combination with other coping mechanisms so you don’t become overly reliant on them.

Our society celebrates high achievers and high standards. It’s easy to fall into the trap of perfectionism to please others and ourselves. While we do think of perfectionism as a personality trait, it also comes with some telltale behaviors. Perfectionism isn’t always a good thing—over time, these behaviors and mentalities can harm your mental health.

Childhood is supposed to be a time that is carefree and fun. It’s a time of learning, growing physically and developmentally, and not having any worries overall. Unfortunately, this isn’t the experience that all children have. When you are a caregiver, teacher, or parent of a child who has gone through something traumatic, you want to help them in any way you can.

In today’s fast-paced world, the pressure to perform well at work might make you feel more stressed than normal. Whether you’ve got looming deadlines or a demanding boss, the workplace can sometimes get overwhelming. However, it’s important to remember that feeling anxious about work is manageable.

If you’re prone to anxiety, you know how overwhelming it can feel. While talking to a mental health professional is an important way of treating anxiety, it’s also good to have techniques you can use both in the moment and as lifestyle changes that can reduce your anxiety naturally.

If you’ve just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, you might feel like your world has been turned upside down. The prospect of getting on mood-stabilizing medication can make you wonder whether you’ll truly be yourself again.

If you’ve been through a relationship that traumatized you, the breakup might not mean the end of your pain. Moving on after relationship trauma, whether it’s from abuse, infidelity, or a toxic dynamic, might feel impossible at first. But by shifting the focus to healing, self-compassion, and self-discovery, you’ll be more prepared for healthier relationships in the future.

If someone you love has been struggling with anxiety, you might not know where to start. Watching someone experience the worst effects of anxiety, such as panic attacks, can be alarming. It’s important to approach someone with anxiety with empathy, understanding, and a willingness to learn.

Grief can cause intense emotional reactions that may catch you off guard. You might experience sudden outbursts of anger, overwhelming sadness, or numbness and detachment. These feelings can also feel disproportionate to the situation—bursting into tears at picking up the wrong coffee order or yelling at your partner for not making the bed properly.

Moving on after a breakup is hard for everyone. But if you’re suffering from relationship trauma due to abuse or infidelity, this process can be more difficult. Whether you were in an abusive relationship, had a toxic dynamic, or felt neglected or abandoned by your previous partner, starting over can feel like a monumental task.

Trauma can leave you feeling disconnected from yourself and the world. Even if it doesn’t feel like it today, healing from trauma is possible. If you’ve been suffering from the aftereffects of trauma, there is hope in the healing journey.

Purging behaviors are characteristics of two eating disorders, bulimia nervosa and purging disorder. This behavior can have devastating consequences on both physical and mental health. However, with the right support and treatment, recovery is possible.

When problems come up, we want to fix them. But sometimes, conflict resolution means taking things slow. Enter the art of listening. Allowing space for emotions to unfold instead of jumping to fix things quickly can have a profound effect on emotional connections.

Lying is a completely normal behavior for children. Even though it’s frustrating, as a parent, you need to understand what’s motivating these lies and how to address them. Since you want to raise your child with healthy and honest habits, there are steps you can take to understand your child and help mitigate lying in the process.

Postpartum anxiety, while less talked about than postpartum depression, is still a pervasive issue. It’s the feelings of anxiety, worry, and dread that can arise after having a baby. These worries can manifest as preoccupations and become as serious as recurring panic attacks.

It’s impossible to escape social media nowadays. So much of our lives have become entwined with it—we shop, talk to friends and family, and creatively express and promote ourselves online. However, researchers are now finding the many complex links between social media use and mental health issues, particularly eating disorders.

It’s easy to distract ourselves nowadays. Whenever we’re bored, we can just scroll on our phones or stream something new on television. Over time, this can make us feel flattened out—there are neither the highs of achieving something we love nor the lows that push us to try harder. This makes it hard to know what we truly enjoy doing.