Whether you are a first-time freshman or a well-seasoned senior, nothing quite
strikes fear into the heart of students as Finals Week. Between balancing the
studying requirements for each exam or adding your finishing touches to several
term papers; Finals Week is the season of stress. So, what is one to do? How
can you simultaneously be asked to enjoy the holiday season and
prepare for the final push of your class? Here are some last minute tips that
can help you get over the hump!
Following the death of your loved one, you may experience what is known as the
Five Stages of Grief. The Five Stages of Grief is used to help describe
the process someone goes through while grieving their loved one’s death. While
the Five Stages of Grief is a helpful model to resonate with, it does not represent
how someone should grieve. Everyone grieves differently. Grief is not
a linear process. While everyone’s journey of grief is different, resonating
with the five stages of grief may help you make some sense of the way you
feel.
As fall semester kicks into full swing, you may find yourself overloaded with stress
from adjusting to your new course schedule, acclimating to college life, or picking
up new extracurricular activities. Sometimes, people who experience stress
and other mental health symptoms also experience suicidal ideation.
How are those New Year’s Resolutions holding up this time of the year? Are you
having trouble keeping your goals on track? How often do you feel guilty or upset
with yourself that you are not meeting your goals? Do you need help narrowing
and refining your goals to meet you where you are at today, in this moment, and
not back in January of this year?
The transition to college is difficult under the best of circumstances, which is
why the orientation process here at WVU for incoming students is designed to make
the transition from high school to college as smooth as possible. But what
about the student who aren’t coming directly from high school? Or the students
who started college and are coming back after time off to finish their degree or
get a second degree? These students, among others, make up a population called
non-traditional students.
Eating
disorders are psychological disorders associated with irregular eating habits
and extreme distress about body weight and/or shape. They are impacted by
biological, psychological, and social factors in our everyday lives and can
have serious health consequences.
The most common
types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and
binge-eating disorder. Individuals with anorexia nervosa typically engage in
self-starvation and demonstrate significant weight loss. Individuals with
bulimia nervosa typically experience episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory
behaviors (such as purging or excessive exercise) to counteract episodes of
binge eating. Individuals with binge eating disorder typically experience
recurrent episodes of binge eating in which they feel out of control and
without regular use of compensatory behaviors.
Do you ever catch yourself talking negatively about
yourself? Judging your behaviors? Responding harshly to the moods, behaviors, or
thoughts you have? Thinking about something in the past and wishing you had
done something differently? Or, maybe, focusing on the future and trying to
make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes that made you feel as terribly
as you feel in these moments?