Couples counseling isn’t always a last-ditch effort to save a marriage or prevent a breakup. Happy couples find regular therapy sessions help them maintain and enhance their healthy relationships. Together, they learn how to work through disagreements and other relationship issues, improve their emotional and physical intimacy, and understand one another on a deeper level.

No matter how amicable your breakup, divorce can be one of the most challenging and stressful experiences you’ll ever endure. Like any significant life event, divorce disrupts virtually all aspects of your life.

For individuals with social anxiety, the social fears of rejection, judgment, or doing something embarrassing or wrong is so extreme that it feels like mortal danger and the stuff of nightmares. For people with social anxiety disorder, fear can be a response to almost any kind of social setting or instance.

Social media accounts aren’t a substitute for physical, social interaction. Spending too much time online can distract you from real-life social support and relationships. Sometimes it’s necessary to unplug yourself from your hyper-connected world of email, texts, and social media accounts to reset yourself and get your life back on track.

Also known by the oxymoron “festive stress,” the increased stress levels people feel during the last month of the year seem to increase with each passing year. This phenomenon has piqued the interest of mental health professionals, who have studied the stages, causes, and coping mechanisms for holiday stress.

Traumatic events like the death of a close family member, mental illness in the family, or the pain of your parents’ divorce can significantly impact your mental health going forward — so can the types of relationships you formed with your parents and friends.

Close relationships require intimacy and trust. Whether you’re facing a minor disagreement or a larger problem, remember that you and your partner are ultimately working together to achieve the same goals. We’ve got some strategies for you to improve communication between you and your partner.

When first learning of your partner’s or friend’s HIV positive status, it may be difficult to know what to say. Here are some ideas of where to start the conversation.