Kate Motaung

If you take a walk in a park, soak in your surroundings in a coffee shop, or look around you as you sit in the vibrant heart of your city, you may have the privilege of witnessing the magic of great relationships. It’s amazing when you see two people whose eyes are alive with joy in each other, oozing genuine affection for each other as they share stories or sit in an easy silence with each other. When a [...]

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the diagnosis used in the mental health field to describe someone who shows symptoms or behaviors for a month or longer, after having experienced or witnessed a potentially traumatic event or series of potentially traumatic events. In PTSD counseling, a traumatic event is defined as one that threatens death, serious injury, or sexual violation. Symptoms are grouped around four different categories: intrusion symptoms, avoidance symptoms, negative changes in mood or cognitive behavior, and alterations [...]

There are several enduring stereotypes about teenagers, such as angst, rebelliousness, and anger that either seeps out or explodes depending on the situation. That anger, whether it takes the form of door slamming, eye-rolling, or a deep well of sarcasm, is a thing of legend, often finding its way into movies and shows. Such anger can become overwhelming, for the teen as well as their parents. Making Sense of Teen Anger Why do teens get so affected by anger? [...]

Imagine waking up to a world where your reality feels like a mirage, where the truth is foggy and distorted by someone else’s perceptions. This is the haunting reality of gaslighting. Gaslighting in relationships can leave you feeling disoriented, questioning even your reality, and undermining your self-worth. Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which one person tries to make another person doubt their perception of reality, memories, or feelings. The term originates from the play, “Gas Light,” [...]

Anger is an emotion that occurs in just about every situation you can think of. Whether you’re at the grocery store, sitting at a restaurant to have dinner with your date, visiting a sick loved one in the hospital, at the school drop-off zone, or at the park walking your dog, anger isn’t far away. It can sometimes seem as though it is a living thing waiting to escape from its cage if we’re not vigilant. Our life experiences [...]

Codependency is a concern that affects relationships of all sorts, whether romantic relationships, parent-child relationships, siblings, friends, or colleagues. Codependency distorts relationships by introducing unhealthy patterns of behavior, often leading to the deterioration of both the codependent relationship and the overall well-being of the individuals in the relationship. Identifying codependent behaviors in your relationships can help you begin to find healing from unhealthy relationship dynamics. Breaking Down Codependency Our relationships are typically a network of interdependent connections that allow [...]

“Just breathe, yes that’s it; slowly in and out.” If you’re someone who struggles with anxiety, chances are you’ve heard this advice more times than you can count. Well-meaning friends, family, or even strangers often suggest that breathing is the magic solution to calming down in the middle of a panic attack or stressful situation. But let’s be real, when you’re in the thick of anxiety, the idea of just breathing often seems way too simple, if not downright [...]

Anxiety is something we all have to deal with occasionally, but for some, it is a constant experience. Anxiety can be complex, irrational, and sometimes undetectable. However, the people who must deal with anxiety daily will feel the effects of it, whether they know where it comes from or not. Highly anxious people tend to develop similar habits over time. These might serve as indicators or red flags for the presence of anxiety in their lives. Common Habits of [...]

Many people experience anxiety without knowing where it comes from. While anxiety can be linked to external events or part of a disorder, more often than not, anxiety is connected to the way we see the world and the beliefs we carry. It is possible to gain control over certain types of anxiety. It might require that we face past experiences and rewire our limiting beliefs that are connected to unresolved trauma. In this article, we’ll consider some trauma-informed [...]

When you think about relationships, do those thoughts come with warm and welcoming feelings, or are you left feeling on edge? People don’t experience relationships the same way, and how you interact with others and form relationships is influenced by your earliest interactions with others. Depending on what those interactions were like then, you may have trouble forming healthy relationships with people now. How a person relates to others and forms connections is called an attachment style. An anxious-avoidant [...]

Have you ever had an experience so visceral that to this day it feels like that moment never quite left you? It could be the first time you saw the ocean, the time you fell from a tree, a time when you saw a project come together and felt alive, or perhaps when you experienced a tragic loss. Our bodies and our minds remember the things that happen to us; they leave a mark on us, even if it’s [...]

For some, getting married is a key life goal that marks the passage into full-on adulting. It’s a huge decision because you’re committing to do life with one person, and making extravagant promises before your friends and family about what you will and will not do in your life together. A lot of time and energy, not to mention expense, is spent preparing for the wedding day, but how much time do couples spend preparing for their marriage? Premarital [...]