All posts tagged: Mentally

3 Things Mentally Strong People Do to Stop Worrying

3 Things Mentally Strong People Do to Stop Worrying

Published by Jenni Sidey

Worry is one of the most common reasons people walk into my therapy office. It’s usually not a specific worry — it’s more of a constant worry about almost everything. And it often gets in the way of enjoying the moment, getting things done, and feeling good. Most of them have already tried the obvious things, like telling themselves to stop. But that doesn’t work because worry isn’t a problem you solve by trying harder to avoid it. You can’t prevent worries from popping into your head. But you can control what you do next. As I explain in my new book, The Mental Strength Playbook, there are many strategies you can use to reduce worrisome thoughts and regain your mental bandwidth. Here are three of my favorite strategies that help people stay mentally strong when their brains want to worry all the time: 1. Schedule Time to Worry This sounds counterintuitive when all you want to do is stop worrying. But research shows it’s an effective way to contain worrying to a short window …

Allow Euthanasia for the Mentally Ill or They Will Commit Suicide

Allow Euthanasia for the Mentally Ill or They Will Commit Suicide

Published by Jenni Sidey

Wesley J. Smith April 10, 2026 2 Ethics The result will be more mentally ill Canadians dying by suicide. Wesley J. Smith April 10, 2026 2 Ethics This republished article first appeared in the National Review. A Canadian activist has argued that the mentally ill must have access to euthanasia to prevent their committing suicide. From the National Post story: A leading MAID advocate argued to parliamentarians last month that Canada must legalize assisted suicide for the mentally ill, lest those same patients commit suicide. The statement was made at a March 24 parliamentary committee debating the legalization of MAID for Canadians whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness.” Jocelyn Downie, a leading MAID activist since 2004, warned that if the federal government keeps excluding mentally ill Canadians from accessing assisted suicide, the result will be more mentally ill Canadians dying by suicide. The idea here is that a “suicide” will be potentially messier and/or perhaps less successful than a doctor or nurse administering a lethal jab. Or that a person will take his own life …

10 Signs You’re Mentally Exhausted By People Who Can’t Think For Themselves Anymore

10 Signs You’re Mentally Exhausted By People Who Can’t Think For Themselves Anymore

Published by Jenni Sidey

Sometimes the most draining kind of exhaustion doesn’t come from working too hard. It comes from constantly being around people who repeat the same opinions, avoid questioning anything, or expect you to just go along with whatever everyone else is doing. If you’ve started feeling mentally exhausted by people who can’t think for themselves anymore, it can show up in distinct ways: shorter patience, less interest in conversations, and a growing urge to step back from certain social situations altogether. These signs can help you recognize when that kind of mental fatigue is building in your everyday life. Here are 10 signs you’re mentally exhausted by people who can’t think for themselves anymore: 1. Small talk starts to feel unusually draining SeventyFour | Shutterstock When small talk feels exhausting, it’s usually the first, most obvious sign you’re mentally depleted by people who can’t seem to think for themselves anymore. You don’t mind casual conversation sometimes, but repeating the same surface-level exchanges over and over begins to feel tiring instead of uniting.  Learning how to communicate …

What it means if you feel mentally ‘off’ when everything seems to be going fine: ‘We often don’t notice the impact’

What it means if you feel mentally ‘off’ when everything seems to be going fine: ‘We often don’t notice the impact’

Published by Daniella Wilson

You’re feeling a bit off – a lingering sense of emptiness or unease that you can’t quite put your finger on, but it’s there, weighing you down.  As author and psychiatrist Anabel Gonzalez explains, the cause is often found in the things that didn’t happen – the absences, the emotional gaps and the things you missed out on in the past. These quiet, hidden wounds can be the root of a constant sense of dissatisfaction in our relationships and our lives. Because of this, it’s essential to do the “inner work” to find that missing piece of the puzzle and truly understand ourselves. “In my clinical experience, I’ve seen how being ignored or abandoned can often be harder to heal than direct harm,” says the expert. “We often don’t even notice the impact, precisely because it’s about what was missing.” We often focus on the things that have happened to us – the mark left by every event on our personal journey – but we don’t usually stop to think about the things that didn’t happen, …

The Most Mentally Taxing Kind of Friendship

The Most Mentally Taxing Kind of Friendship

Published by Jenni Sidey

Not all painful friendships are explosive or dramatic. They do not necessarily involve betrayal, cruelty, or overt neglect. Instead, some friendships fade into a low-grade sense of emptiness. You might still be in touch with a friend, and you might still share a history with them. Nothing is technically wrong with the friendship, and yet you walk away from your interactions feeling unseen, oddly lonely, or emotionally tired. If you’ve experienced such strange moments with a friend in your life, you might share a one-sided bond with them. You can’t really categorize this relationship as abusive or toxic, at least not in the popular sense. A one-sided friendship, however, is still imbalanced in ways that erode emotional nourishment from a bond. Research shows that these kinds of relationships are common, difficult to name, and uniquely draining because they violate our expectations of mutual connection without triggering clear alarm bells. What Makes a Friendship One-Sided? Friendships are primarily sustained by reciprocity. They don’t require a perfect balance of effort at all times. But they can’t really …

Harvard Business Review Study Finds ‘AI Brain Fry’ Is Leaving Workers Mentally Fatigued

Harvard Business Review Study Finds ‘AI Brain Fry’ Is Leaving Workers Mentally Fatigued

Published by skeptic

Workers who excessively use AI agents and tools at work are at increased risk of mental fatigue, according to a recent Harvard Business Review study. In certain industries, more than 25% of hired professionals report increased mental strain due to their role in AI oversight — though these professionals also generally experienced less burnout than peers who aren’t using AI. This phenomenon — which the researchers refer to as “AI brain fry” — is described as a “‘buzzing’ feeling or a mental fog” that caused study participants to develop headaches and difficulty focusing and making decisions. Individuals pointed to being overwhelmed by large amounts of information and to frequent task switching as the reasons for these feelings. Studied individuals experienced more brain fry when they utilized AI agents to manage a workload beyond their own cognitive capacity. When participants used AI to replace mundane, repetitive tasks, managing the growing number of tools led to increased mental fatigue.  Crucially, the study found that fewer individuals who used these AI agents reported workplace burnout. The researchers predict …

Euthanasia of the Mentally Ill Increasing in the Netherlands

Euthanasia of the Mentally Ill Increasing in the Netherlands

Published by Jenni Sidey

This republished article first appeared in The National Review’s The Corner As the West lunges toward propagating a right to be made dead, the deleterious societal impacts of being legally “MAIDed” (killed by “medical assistance in dying”) are becoming increasingly clear. A recent professional analysis published in the Psychiatric Times illustrates the lethal influence on mentally ill suicidal people — including youth — in the Netherlands. From “Psychiatric Euthanasia in the Netherlands: Young People, Procedural Medicine, and the Limits of Psychiatry” (citations omitted): Requests for euthanasia on psychiatric grounds have risen sharply, with a disproportionate increase among young adults and, more recently, minors. The Dutch model, once presented internationally as careful and balanced, is now attracting attention for a different reason: growing uncertainty about whether psychiatry has crossed a boundary it cannot coherently justify. This increase has had a deleterious impact on suicidal youth: The numerical trend among youth underscores why concern has intensified. For many years, psychiatric euthanasia in the Netherlands was virtually nonexistent. Between 2002 and 2010, only 1 or 2 cases per year were reported …

Mentally Ill Woman Accessed Assisted Suicide in Oregon

Mentally Ill Woman Accessed Assisted Suicide in Oregon

Published by Jenni Sidey

This republished article first appeared in the National Review Most of the media are in the tank (remember Brittany Maynard?) for the assisted suicide/euthanasia agenda and, as a consequence, are primarily interested in reporting on stories of “good deaths.” That criticism does not apply to The Atlantic, which recently published a scathing exposé of the cruelties inherent in Canada’s euthanasia regime. Now, staff writer Elizabeth Bruenig has published an important piece detailing how a mentally ill 31-year-old woman named Eileen Mihich was able to access poison drugs by writing herself a fraudulent prescription for death, which was filled unquestioningly by a willing pharmacy. Eileen apparently had no discernible diseases but …complained about severe abdominal pain. From, “It Was Too Easy for Her to Kill Herself“: Mihich had told her family that she was debilitated by a mysterious abdominal pain and was interested in a medically assisted death. But her suicide still shocked her two closest relatives: her cousin Sarah (who asked to be referred to by her first name, to protect her privacy) and aunt Veronica Torina…Nearly a year on, they are still trying …

If You’re Mentally Exhausted, Try Closing Your ‘Open Loops’

If You’re Mentally Exhausted, Try Closing Your ‘Open Loops’

Published by Sam Flores

There are many reasons folks are feeling drained these days – poor sleep, health issues, financial stress, job-related burnout and exposure to so many distressing events in the news, among others. But there’s one smaller, more insidious factor that may be weighing you down more than you realise: all of your “open loops”. If you’re not familiar with the term, open loops refer to a type of mental clutter made up of various unfinished tasks and other loose ends. Think: phone calls you haven’t returned, emails or texts you haven’t replied to, appointments you’ve been putting off, conversations you’ve been avoiding, packages you need to send back, subscriptions you need to cancel or other pending items on your to-do list. All of these open loops occupy space in your brain, nagging at you and draining you of your energy. This may be explained by something called the Zeigarnik Effect, named after psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, which says that humans have a tendency to remember uncompleted tasks much better than completed ones. This makes sense as it …

People Who Are Mentally Sharp Tend To Get Annoyed By These 11 Social Situations

People Who Are Mentally Sharp Tend To Get Annoyed By These 11 Social Situations

Published by Jenni Sidey

Even though we often overlap personality traits with intelligence in general conversation, a study from Psychology and Aging suggests that there’s truly only one trait that’s associated with people who have sharper minds. If you’re open-minded, chances are you have better verbal fluency, memory, and critical thinking skills — your curious personality is fueling practices and attitudes that simultaneously flex your mental cognition muscles. Of course, habits like reading different genres and asking thoughtful questions are common for intelligent people, but sometimes the things they avoid are more telling of their minds. For example, people who are mentally sharp tend to get annoyed by certain social situations. They find entitled people’s behaviors and superficial small talk not only annoying, but also draining — void of the curiosity and open-mindedness that fuels their own routines. People who are mentally sharp tend to get annoyed by these 11 social situations 1. Surface-level small talk Chay_Tee | Shutterstock Intelligent, sharp people are often less fulfilled by frequent, casual social interactions because they crave depth, according to a study from the …