Kate Motaung

Trauma doesn’t stay contained to one person. PTSD and relationships are often intertwined because of the effects of post-traumatic stress. This ripples out and touches the people closest to you. Partners, friends, and family members often navigate the unfamiliar territory of emotional distance and protective walls within these relationships. The person they love has built barriers that feel impossible to cross because of trauma. This isn’t about understanding what PTSD is. The challenge involves recognizing how the trauma will reshape

No one plans on getting divorced when they say, “I do.” But life happens. Previous family-of-origin cultural norms and communication styles can tend to stand at the forefront of unresolved issues. Circumstances change, and people can grow apart, with unresolved resentment and unforgiveness. When people begin to only exist in their marriage, interactions and healthy communication will become difficult, and sometimes divorce may become unavoidable. While divorce can be a trauma for the adults going through it, it can

We cannot take emotions lightly, yet they are hard to define. How do you explain to someone what love feels like? Or grief? Or sadness? Feelings can overtake us and even cause physical ailments. Have you ever been so worried about something that it made you sick to your stomach or gave you an excruciating headache? Some people seek solace and comfort in food. It can start innocently enough: Choosing to celebrate accomplishments with dinners out or soothing a

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, substance abuse among adolescents has been at lower levels than before the pandemic. It’s not entirely certain what has contributed to this, but the National Institute on Drug Abuse has indicated that the reported use of alcohol, nicotine vaping, and cannabis in the twelve months before the survey found levels of use have “generally declined from or held steady” compared with previous years. This is undoubtedly good news, with the survey indicating,

OCD is often used as an adjective to describe someone who is excessively neat or particular about the cleanliness of their home. However, the truth is that the things that people refer to when they describe someone as OCD are just the tip of the iceberg. Coping with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is far more complex than many realize. Not many people know that there are six types of OCD, each with its unique behaviors and beliefs. It’s important to clear

You’ve probably experienced it. Maybe you were on the receiving end. A friend stops by, and before you can even get past the niceties, they dump a month’s worth of their tears and fears at your feet. Or maybe it was you. Something built up inside of you all day, all week, maybe all month, and the moment someone asked, “How are you?” it all spilled out of your mouth in one unfiltered, jarringly authentic rush. That’s what has

Sometimes we experience a specific kind of tiredness that sleep doesn’t fix. We try to lie down at the end of the day in hopes of waking up the next morning feeling refreshed. But we’re disappointed when we wake up feeling just as depleted as we were when we closed our eyes. Mental exhaustion and chronic fatigue are more complicated than we think. Chronic fatigue or mental exhaustion is not just a temporary condition, and a good night’s rest

There are many reasons you might seek long-distance relationship tips. Perhaps you’re dating someone you met online, and they live in another city or state. Your spouse may have taken a job in another state, but you’re still working to sell the house where you’ve been living for the last 10 years. It could be that a friend of yours is dating someone she met overseas while studying, and she’s asking you for advice. Or you might be a military

The first year of marriage is an exciting time. You have been through the dating phase and engagement, and finally, after weeks or months (or years), you are finally husband and wife. But the first year of marriage can also be challenging as you learn to navigate the realities of married life and adapt to your new normal. Why the First Year of Marriage is Eye-Opening The first year of marriage is eye-opening and quite the adjustment for most couples.

One of the mistakes people make is to attempt to live unaffected by the depression of their spouse. As married individuals, this can never be right. The Bible is clear in Mark 10:8 (NLT), that “…the two are united into one. Since they are no longer two but one….” This scripture is giving a principle, not simply an intelligent understanding. When individuals are joined together, they share what is seen and unseen. A partner will feel the presence of

Do you ever feel like you are wading through a thick sludge, but happiness gets farther away with each step? Do you feel like this tired balloon, where it feels impossible to lift off the ground, even though you want to fly? Yet you likely keep a smile on your face for the world. Depression – it’s a word we are all familiar with. In popular culture today, we use the word depression in a variety of ways. We

Depression is not just an adult concern. Children can struggle with it often when they are too young to understand or express what they are feeling. It may sometimes be tricky to detect it because symptoms of depression in children tend to manifest differently than they do in adults. Children, for instance, may act irritable or grumpy, more so than sad, as an adult would. Identifying Symptoms of Depression in Children Because children often express their depression differently than