*updated on 9/5/2023

It’s pretty obvious to anyone with a pulse over the age of 12 that there is a major difference between infatuation and love. 

Still, the words “I love you” seem to get thrown around a lot. For instance, certain popular rom-com movies show relationships developing in less than two hours! In that context, “I love you” doesn’t exactly carry the same weight as a couple who says it to each other after 50 years of marriage. 

...

Written by: Shawn van der Linden, IDDM Master Mentor & CatholicPsych International Programs Consultant

Let's embark on a fascinating journey, weaving together the threads of psychology and spirituality. Our focus? Unearthing the influence of the "inner spiritualizer" and understanding the impact it can have in our daily lives.

With the God Image (Imago Dei) within us - a divine essence that should cultivate love and unity etched into our beings - Christians are often...

God designed our humanity in such a way that even from the very first moment of our existence, we are dependent upon other people to survive.

As humans made in the image of a trinitarian God who is a communion of persons, we aren’t meant to go through life alone. We’re made for communion - with God and with others. Or to put it simply, we are made out of relationship and for relationship. 

However (as I’m sure you’ve noticed) we live in a fallen world. And that...

From a presentation given by IDDM Mentor, Ryan Nash.

My first job fresh out of graduate school was as a mental health counselor in a prison.

My days were spent listening to the inmates talk about their intense levels of trauma, both in regards to the crimes they had committed but also the equal or worse crimes and traumas they had suffered themselves.

Not only was the prison understaffed, but there was also an awful amount of paperwork that went along with the job. To make matters worse, the...

On the CatholicPsych Facebook page, I once shared a post that ended up getting more shares, comments, and reactions than any thing I've ever posted. (Even now, years later, I still periodically receive notification of a new comment on that particular post!)

I shared this particular post because I’m a huge proponent of integration: the belief that our psychological and emotional lives are deeply united with, and deeply affecting, our spiritual lives, and vice versa. 

So...

Guest blog post by Lindsey Peppers, continued from Part One... 

To make a long story short, this stumbling block got me off track...and then COVID hit and of course, things got even crazier. My anxiety and pain hit its climax. I knew I needed to get back on track with some of the mind-body principles I had learned.

One day soon after making this resolution, I stumbled upon the book The Mindful Catholic and listened to the audio version all the way through. (I’m now taking the...

Guest blogger Lindsey Peppers shares her journey to finding hope and healing through Catholic Mindfulness. (This is part 1 of a 2-part series.) 

It was an otherwise unremarkable weekday in the fall of 2016 when I sat across from my neurologist, completely dumbfounded at the sample boxes of triptans (migraine medication) that were stacked in front of me. He had told me that while it “wasn’t smart” to take more triptans than my insurance covered due to the risk of rebound...

This month has been designated as Mental Health Awareness month.  During May, I’ve decided to shine a light on various common mental health issues in the upcoming Being Human podcast episodes.

But as we're focusing on bringing awareness to mental health, I think it's also a great time to introduce more of the amazing professionals who serve as CatholicPsych Institute clinicians and IDDM mentors in order to highlight those who are available to...

~Written by guest blogger Sean Faulkner, CatholicPsych Institute psychotherapist. 

 There is little more hurtful than to not feel seen, known, or understood. Humans were made for connection, relationship, community, and love, so much so that when we are misunderstood, ignored, dismissed or dominated, the pain of those wounds go really deep. For one’s voice to be stifled or muted is an offense against one’s dignity, and thus a grave injustice. In contrast, the...