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Flashbacks are common among people who use hallucinogenic drugs, and while drug-related flashbacks have a reputation for being disturbing or just the result of a “bad trip,” not everyone who experiences flashbacks finds them troubling.

But sometimes, these flashbacks can be intense, unpleasant, and frequent, even if the person experiencing them is currently abstaining from drug use.

Flashbacks that continue to occur after the original drug effects have worn off are a medically recognized phenomenon, which is documented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) as hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD).

Symptoms

A drug-related flashback is the sensation of re-experiencing the effects of a drug after the true effects of the drug have worn off. Most often, this type of flashback is associated with the re-experiencing of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug such as LSD (“acid”) or magic mushrooms.

Flashbacks typically happen in the days or weeks following ingestion of the drug but can happen months or even years after the drug use has been discontinued.

Symptoms of hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) include:

• An image of an object despite it not being there anymore (palinopsia)
• False perceptions of movement out of the corner of the eye (peripheral vision)
• Flashes of color
• Hallucinations (especially of geometric forms)
• Halos or trailing after-effects of images
• Inanimate objects appearing alive (for example, walls that appear to be “breathing” or growing)
• Intensified color
• Objects appearing larger than they are (macropsia)
• Objects appearing smaller than they are (micropsia)
• Trails of images of moving objects
• Visual snow or air that looks sparkly, grainy, or textured

Occasionally, people or situations may seem bizarre or ridiculous, or the person experiencing the flashback may feel dissociated. When this happens in a social situation requiring self-control, it can be embarrassing or scary for the person experiencing it.

Diagnosis

Often diagnosed in people with a history of substance use, HPPD can occur even after the one-time use of triggering drugs, which include LSD, phencyclidine (PCP), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and cannabis (marijuana).

The following co-occurring mental illnesses are also common in people with HPPD but not required to make a diagnosis:

If you or someone you care about is experiencing intense and frequent flashbacks, you should visit your healthcare provider. It’s important to be honest about your current and past drug use, as well as any history of mental illness.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, to be diagnosed with HPPD a person must:

• Experience the same effects of the hallucinogen after cessation of hallucinogen use
• Experience significant distress or impairment (in social, work-related, or other areas of life) because of the symptoms
• Be generally aware that they are experiencing a drug-induced effect while sober

Causes

Flashbacks can come on unpredictably or in response to a trigger, such as tiredness, anxiety, or stress. Triggered flashbacks can be especially difficult as the person may already be feeling vulnerable due to the trigger, which can make the out-of-control feeling of the flashback all the more confusing and upsetting.

The experience of a flashback can also be self-induced by the person thinking about the experience of tripping on a hallucinogenic drug.

While we don’t know a lot about what causes HPPD, we do know what doesn’t cause them, including the following:

• Another condition such as schizophrenia or brain damage
• Current hallucinogen intoxication
• LSD stored in the body and re-released

The only certain cause of HPPD is previous hallucinogen use, and it is most frequently caused by LSD. You cannot have HPPD if you’ve never used a hallucinogenic drug.

Types

There are two types of HPPD:

• Type 1: People experience random, brief flashbacks
• Type 2: People experience ongoing vision changes that may come and go

Treatment

Flashbacks usually subside on their own after the drug use has been discontinued, over the course of a few months, and most experts agree about the importance of abstaining from drug use for recovery.

Therapy

A mental health professional can help to treat the anxiety that can accompany flashbacks, giving the person more of a sense of self-control.

If the person has no insight into the drug-induced nature of their symptoms or if these experiences persist or cause significant distress, however, they should seek a psychiatric assessment to determine if there is another mental health issue involved, such as psychosis.

Medication

Anti-seizure and epilepsy medicines like Klonopin (clonazepam) and Lamictal (lamotrigine) have been used in the treatment of HPPD, however, there is no recognized medical treatment for flashbacks.

Other drugs that have been studied in the treatment of HPPD include:

• Benzodiazepines to minimize feelings of anxiety.
• Antidepressant medications (to manage co-occurring HPPD with anxiety and depressive disorders)
• Low doses of atypical antipsychotics such as Abilify (aripiprazole)

Coping

Having a flashback can be distressing, but calming or self-soothing activities like deep breathing, grounding techniques, and mindfulness can ease the psychological discomfort and help you to stay in the moment. It’s also important to learn your triggers so you can do your best to avoid them and better manage them when they do occur.

For example, if stress is a trigger for you, work on practicing stress management. If fatigue is a trigger, take steps to get adequate sleep and rest when you need to.

Whether you turn to a loved one or a mental health professional, know that you don’t have to deal with HPPD and drug-related flashbacks alone. Getting help and seeking support is a great first step toward overcoming the disturbing and frequent visual disturbances of HPPD.

Trauma bonding is the attachment an abused person feels for their abuser, specifically in a relationship with a cyclical pattern of abuse.

Contrary to the widely popularized use of the term, trauma bonding does not mean the two people are bonding over shared trauma.

A true trauma bond is created due to a cycle of abuse and positive reinforcement. After each circumstance of abuse, the abuser professes love, regret, and otherwise tries to make the relationship feel safe and needed for the abused person.

Ivy Kwong LMFT, a therapist who specializes in healing trauma explains, “A trauma bond develops in relationships where there is a power imbalance and a cycle of reward and punishment. The abuser is in a position of power over the person being abused and alternates between hurting and soothing them.”

Trauma bonding is one reason that leaving an abusive situation can feel confusing and overwhelming. It involves positive and/or loving feelings for an abuser, making the abused person feel attached to and dependent on the abuser.

Signs and Symptoms

Because not all abusive situations result in trauma bonding, you may be unsure if this term applies to you.

So, what are signs of trauma bonding? They include the following:

• An abuse victim covers up or makes excuses to others for an abuser’s behavior
• An abuse victim lies to friends or family about the abuse
• A victim doesn’t feel comfortable with or able to leave the abusive situation
• An abuse victim thinks the abuse is their fault
• The abuse follows a cycle (i.e., the abuser tries to make up for an abusive incident)
• The abuser promises they’ll change but they never do
• The abuser controls the victim (i.e., manipulation or gaslighting)
• The abuser isolates the victim from friends and family
• The abuser gets friends and family on their side
• The victim continues to trust the abuser

Stages

You may have heard of the seven stages of trauma bonding. Though each trauma bond is unique, they often involve a version of the common patterns listed below.

Love Bombing

Love bombing is when a person overwhelms you with grand displays of affection. They might send you extravagant bouquets every day for a week, or tell you that they love you early on in the relationship.

Psychologists note that narcissists and sociopaths may engage in love bombing to gain the other person’s trust.

Gaining Trust

An abuser may perform specific actions in order to be considered trustworthy. If you doubt their trustworthiness, they may become offended that you would doubt them in the first place.

Criticizing the Victim

An abuser often criticizes the victim to the point where the victim even blames themself. In many cases, the victim comes to believe they deserve the criticism—even when they’ve done nothing wrong.

Manipulating the Victim

Abusers defend their own behavior by manipulating their victims. When a victim tries to speak out against unfair treatment, the abuser might gaslight them by saying, “You’re imagining it,” or “You’re exaggerating.” They may even convince the victim that the abuse is normal and there’s nothing wrong with it.

Resignation

Often known as the fawn response to trauma, after repeated incidents of abuse, a victim often resigns to going along with the abusive behavior. They acquiesce to what the abuser wants. The fawn response is often referred to as people-pleasing. However, it’s also a coping mechanism for survival.

Psychological Distress

A victim experiences severe psychological distress as a result of abuse; unfortunately, during this stage, they may also experience emotional numbness, feeling as though they’ve lost who they are, withdrawing from people and activities, and even suicidal ideation.

The Cycle Repeats

Unfortunately, the cycle of abuse is characterized by its repetition. After an abusive incident, an abuser often begins the stages of trauma bonding all over again by love bombing the victim and regaining their trust.

The victim may make excuses for the abuser’s behavior. Things may seem like they’re returning to “normal,” until another incident of abuse occurs.

What Causes It?

Trauma bonding can occur in any situation of abuse, no matter how long or short an amount of time it lasts.

That said, it is most likely to happen in a situation where the abuser makes a point of expressing love to the person they are abusing, and where they act as if the abuse will not happen again after each time it does. It’s that combination of abuse and positive reinforcement that creates the trauma bond or the feeling by the abused that the abuser isn’t all bad.

There are many types of abusive situations in which trauma bonding can occur, and emotional attachments are common in abusive situations.

Trauma bonds are nothing to be ashamed of, as they result from our brains looking for survival methods. Also referred to as paradoxical attachment, this phenomenon can occur due to a wide variety of situations. Here are the most common ones:

It may be difficult to understand how someone in such a terrible situation like one of the above could have feelings of love, dependence, or concern for the person or people abusing them. While you may not understand it if you’ve never been in a situation yourself that involved cyclical abuse, it’s pretty straightforward.

The bond forms out of the basic human need for attachment as a means of survival. From there, an abuse victim may become dependent on their abuser. Add in a cycle in which an abuser promises never to repeat the abuse and gains the victim’s trust repeatedly, and you have a complex emotional situation that affects even people who seem very emotionally strong.

Risk Factors for Trauma Bonding

The following may make someone more susceptible to trauma bonding in abusive relationships:

• Attachment insecurity
• Childhood maltreatment
• Exposure to abusive relationships growing up
• Lack of social support
• Low self-esteem

Impact

The largest and worst impact of trauma bonding is that the positive feelings developed for an abuser can lead a person to stay in an abusive situation. That can lead to continued abuse at best, and death at worst.

Once separated from the abuser, someone who has trauma bonded to theirs may experience everything from continued trauma to low self-esteem. One study noted that the impact on self-esteem continued even six months after the separation from the abuser.

Additionally, the after-effects of trauma bonding can include depression and anxiety. Experiencing trauma bonding may also increase the likelihood of an intergenerational cycle of abuse.

“The person being abused may feel conflicting feelings like shame, love, self-blame, terror, relief, anxiety, gratitude, and fear towards the perpetrator. They often feel responsible for the feelings of the person who is hurting them and may try to continually please or appease the abuser,” says Kwong. This makes it even more difficult to break the bond.

How to Break The Bond

If you have experienced an abusive situation that led to trauma bonding, your priority now is likely to get past the trauma bond so that you can see the situation for what it was and move past it.

If you are out of the situation already, you might not need to do the first step, or you may have done it. Beyond that, all of the remaining steps can be helpful and useful for anyone who has been on the abused side of a trauma-bonded relationship.

“The first step in healing from trauma bonding is naming it. By acknowledging it exists and being open to breaking the cycle, you are taking a brave step forward toward your healing and freedom,” says Kwong.

Plan for Safety

If you are currently in an abusive situation, you should leave it when you have created a safety plan. This involves having somewhere safe to go with support. You don’t need to figure it out all on your own. There are many support hotlines available that can help you and that offer 24/7 counseling over the phone or the internet. The National Domestic Violence Support Hotline and Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline are two examples.

Therapy

Therapy is an incredible tool for helping people move past trauma. It can not only help you move through the complex and difficult emotions you’re experiencing after leaving an abusive situation, but it can also enable you to make different choices in the future.

It can also help you see warning signs of abuse so that you don’t end up in an abusive situation again. There are many different types of therapy, with trauma therapy always being a top choice for people who have experienced trauma such as abuse.

Positive Self-Talk and Care

One significant impact of abusive situations is that they can lower your self-esteem. Being made to be dependent on an abuser, being spoken down to by one, and simply the act of being abused wreaks havoc on a person’s self-esteem. Speaking kindly to yourself and doing your best to believe that the abusive situation wasn’t your fault are helpful tools to break your bond from your abuser(s).

Additionally, making a point to be kind to yourself through acts of self-care can also facilitate your healing. Putting yourself in situations where your actions are the reason you feel good can reinforce the idea that you don’t need someone else to make you feel OK. You have autonomy, and the more you remind yourself of that through loving acts, the easier it will be to feel and believe.

Support and Peer Groups

Therapy is a much-needed tool for recovery, but your experience of trauma bonding might be one where therapy alone isn’t enough. In these situations, communing with others who have also gone through something similar can be very helpful. It can help you feel less alone and make you feel less shame for having been abused.

If you don’t feel up to a support group, consider sharing what you went through with the people you are close to and whom you trust deeply. There isn’t anything to be ashamed of, and the more you hear that, the easier it may be to believe.

Trauma bonding is a human emotional response, not a character flaw, and it can occur within abusive cycles to anyone. Disclosing your experience may provide you with a sense of relief once you see how empathetic those around you are about it.

History of Trauma Bonding

The term trauma bonding was coined by Patrick Carnes, PhD, CAS in 1997. Carnes is a specialist in addiction therapy and the founder of the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP). He shared the theory of trauma bonding in a presentation called “Trauma Bonds, Why People Bond To Those That Hurt Them.“

Carnes defined trauma bonding as “dysfunctional attachments that occur in the presence of danger, shame, or exploitation” and considered it one of nine possible reactions to a traumatic situation.

He surmised that trauma bonding occurs due to the way our brains handle trauma and that these ways are based on the manners in which we must adapt when we need to survive. He found the two most important aspects of trauma, how people respond to its severity, and how long it continues.

This concept continues to hold today, with therapy nowadays often focusing on how victims can break trauma bonds and not feel shame or guilt over how they reacted to a potentially life-threatening situation.

Keep in Mind

If you have been in an abusive situation of any sort, you may have experienced trauma bonding. This is nothing to be ashamed of or feel guilt towards. It’s a natural response to trauma, and there is help available for you.

Speaking about your trauma bond with a mental health professional, a support group, and even trusted loved ones can help you realize that you are not to blame for your attachment towards your abuser, and that you can heal from it.

Loss of sexual desire and difficulties performing during intimate encounters can be symptoms of depression, but they can also be side effects of many medications used to treat depression. For example, antidepressant medications such as Lexapro (escitalopram), Prozac (fluoxetine), Paxil (paroxetine), and Zoloft (sertraline) can have sexual side effects.

While antidepressants are often integral to managing depression, sexuality is an important piece of a healthy life for many people. Experiencing sexual side effects from antidepressants can be frustrating and disheartening, but there are ways to address them. 

Talking openly with a partner, doctor, or mental health care provider about sex may feel daunting, but it’s the first step to finding solutions. Here’s what you need to know about how depression and its treatment can affect your sex life, as well as some potential ways to address these challenges. 

While antidepressant medications do have side effects, including a risk for sexual side effects, it is important to remember that the benefits usually outweigh the risks. Side effects also often decrease with time as your body adjusts to your medication.

Sexual Side Effects of Antidepressants

Depression and antidepressant medications can cause symptoms such as low libido, vaginal dryness, and erectile dysfunction. People may also find it more difficult to have an orgasm, or may not have orgasms at all.  

Research indicates these sexual side effects are quite common. In fact, studies suggest that between 50% to 70% of people taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) experience some form of sexual dysfunction.

Sexual dysfunction related to depression may be even more prevalent than the statistics show. People may feel embarrassed and reluctant to report sexual problems to their doctor or psychiatrist. Even when they do share these side effects, a connection between the changes in their sex life and depression or medication may not be made.  

Communication will be very important—not just with your partner, but with your health care team. For example, if you are considering a different medication, want to change your dose, or add a supplement, always talk to your doctor and/or psychiatrist before making changes. 

Coping With Antidepressant Sexual Side Effects

While these approaches can be a helpful place to start, they may not work for everyone. You may need to try more than one before you find something that effectively addresses your symptoms. 

Ask About a Lower Dose

With your doctor’s guidance, you may be able to take a lower dose of your antidepressant. Some people find this change is enough to reduce the sexual side effects while still effectively treating their depression. 

Have Sex Before You Take Your Pill

The timing of when you take your antidepressant may make a difference in your sex drive as well. Waiting until after you’ve had sex to take medications like Zoloft (sertraline) or tricyclic antidepressants may help reduce the sexual side effects, as you’re engaging in intimacy when the levels of the drugs in your body are lowest. 

Deciding when to take your medication will depend on many factors, such as your daily routine or other side effects you experience (such as nausea, which may be reduced if you take your pill with food, or trouble sleeping).

When you’re deciding when to take your pill, make sure to factor your pattern of sexual activity into your scheduling. If you are most likely to have sex in the evening, it may help if you take your pill in the morning. 

Ask Your Doctor About Switching to a Different Antidepressant

Certain types of antidepressant medications may be less likely to have sexual side effects. Trintellix is a depression medication that has been shown to involve fewer sexual side effects, for example. And Wellbutrin (bupropion), a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI), works in a different way than selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil.

In some cases, your doctor may want you to continue taking the medication you were originally prescribed for depression but add a second, like Wellbutrin as well. They may also recommend drugs that are specifically designed to treat sexual dysfunction.

Research has shown that in addition to antidepressants, people who experience erectile dysfunction can benefit from medications such as Viagra (sildenafil) or Cialis (tadalafil) that are targeted to treat the disorder.

Consider a “Medication Holiday”

If your doctor would prefer to stay on the same dose of your medication, you may be able to talk to them about taking periodic breaks or “drug holidays.” Some people find that scheduling a day or two off from taking certain antidepressants, such as Zoloft and Paxil, allows them to get relief from the side effects without interrupting the therapeutic benefits. 

However, this strategy may not work with every antidepressant. Prozac, for example, has a much longer half-life than most antidepressants, which means the level of the drug remains consistent in your body for an extended period of time after you stop taking it. 

The drug’s long half-life can be beneficial when you’re trying to stop or switch antidepressants (as it makes withdrawal symptoms less likely). But, it also makes taking a “holiday” from the medication more difficult.  

Try Other Ways to Deal With Sexual Side Effects

If you’ve tried making adjustments to your antidepressant or switching meds but the sexual side effects persist, you may want to shift your focus to other approaches. 

Methods for addressing the sexual side effects of antidepressants can also help if the symptoms you’re experiencing are being caused by depression. You may find these strategies even help you better manage your depression overall. 

Alternatives may be worth trying include:

You can also encourage your partner to get in on some of these lifestyle changes. You might try exercising together to gear up for sex or incorporate new types of stimulation into your routine.  

Consider Other Causes

If you’ve tried to address your sexual symptoms with multiple methods and aren’t seeing any improvement, it may be that there’s another cause. 

Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) is a common, but not frequently discussed, sexual health condition. People with HSDD (now split into two disorders in the DSM-5: female sexual interest/arousal disorder and male hypoactive sexual desire disorder) experience no drive for sexual or intimate experiences. A person with HSDD does not pursue sexual closeness and many do not think or fantasize about sex.

Low libido or lack of interest in sex is not always experienced as a problem; in fact, it can be a valid sexual identity for some people (asexuality). However, this is not the case for people with HSDD. People with the condition are distressed by their lack of desire, which they often report has a profoundly negative impact on their relationships. 

Sexual dysfunction can also be caused by certain behaviors. If you use alcohol or other substances. You may experience sexual side effects as a result of substance use or withdrawal.

Age-related changes, chronic illness or pain, and life stressors (such as having a new baby or starting a new job) can also impact your sex life. These factors may make it more challenging to cope with sexual side effects caused by depression or medications.

Talking With Your Partner 

Communication is an important part of a healthy relationship. When you and your partner are dealing with sexual difficulties, it’s even more important that you can talk to each other. 

Discussing these topics may be emotionally intense and will require both of you to find (or make) time for the conversation, but it’s important that you do. Maintaining open dialogue is part of keeping your relationship strong.

Every couple has their own way of communicating and each person in the relationship has a different style of expressing how they feel. Your individual emotional and sexual needs (as well as those of your partner) are unique, but you may find these general guidelines can help you both communicate more effectively. 

Don’t Stay Silent

Research has found that couples who talk more openly about sex also report greater sexual satisfaction. However, evidence also found that half of women reported that while they wanted to talk about it with their partner, they did not out of fear of hurting their partner’s feelings, embarrassment, and wanting to avoid going into detail.

You might be hesitant to acknowledge the difficulties, but you won’t be able to work toward a solution until they are out in the open and up for discussion. Talking with your doctor or therapist first can help you figure out how to best approach the conversation with your partner when you’re ready. 

Avoid Blame

Whether you are experiencing the symptoms of sexual dysfunction yourself or you are the partner of someone who is, do your best to keep blame out of the conversation. Avoid placing blame on the other person, but also resist the urge to blame yourself. 

Be Honest

It can be difficult to express disappointment and frustration in a relationship, but these feelings can be even more sensitive when they’re about sex. You might think that keeping these emotions from your partner is saving their feelings, but ignoring your own emotional needs or playing them down isn’t healthy for you or your relationship.

Work Together

Depression can make someone feel very alone. When you love someone who is depressed you may feel isolated from them. If you and your partner are trying to work through sexual difficulties in your relationship that stem from depression, approach the problem-solving from a team perspective.

Ask for Help

If you are struggling to communicate, you and your partner may benefit from relationship counseling. Having a trusted therapist create a safe space to openly share feelings and work on problems can make all the difference to couples who have had a hard time figuring it out on their own.

A therapist can also act as a moderator and make sure each person gets a chance to share feelings and offer ideas. A therapist’s own knowledge and experience can also make them an invaluable resource for possible solutions. 

Emotionally intelligent people have a number of habits and behaviors that contribute to their ability to manage their own emotions and understand the feelings of others. Adopting some of these traits in your own life can help you get more out of your interactions with others and foster stronger interpersonal relationships.

Do you know anyone who is keenly attuned to their own feelings, capable of expressing emotions in an appropriate way, as well as empathetic and understanding of how others are feeling? That person is probably a very emotionally intelligent individual.

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

The philosopher Aristotle described what it means to be emotionally intelligent hundreds of years before the term became popular. He said:

“Anyone can become angry—that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not easy.”

The quote perfectly sums up a concept that has become a hot topic in psychology, education, and business: emotional intelligence. People sometimes refer to emotional intelligence as EQ (emotional quotient).

The first item, perceiving emotions, is considered the most basic or the first level of emotional intelligence. The skills progress to the last item, managing emotions, which is regarded as the highest level of emotional intelligence. This involves the ability to manage your emotions and the emotions of others.

Characteristics of low emotional intelligence include insensitivity, poor coping skills, emotional outbursts, and self-centeredness. If you want to build your own skills, it’s important to learn more about some of the key traits of emotionally intelligent people:

1. Self-Awareness

Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman identifies self-awareness as one of the key components of emotional intelligence. Self-awareness involves the ability to recognize moods, emotions, and feelings.

Part of self-awareness also involves being aware of how your emotions and moods influence other people. This ability to monitor your own emotional states is a basic requirement for emotional intelligence.

2. Empathy

Empathy is another of Goleman’s major elements of emotional intelligence. This involves the ability to understand the emotions of other people.

In order to interact with other people in multiple life domains, such as at work or at school, you need to be able to know what they are feeling. If a co-worker is upset or frustrated, knowing what they are feeling can give you a much better idea of how to respond.

3. Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is central to emotional intelligence. Understanding your emotions is great but not particularly useful if you cannot make use of this knowledge.

Emotionally intelligent people think before they act on their feelings. They are in tune with how they feel, but they do not let their emotions rule their lives.

4. Motivation

Emotionally intelligent people are motivated to achieve their goals. They are capable of managing their behaviors and feelings in order to achieve long-term success.

They might be nervous about making a change in their lives, but they know that managing this fear is important. By taking a leap and making the change, they know that they might make their lives better and come one step closer to attaining their goals.

5. Social Skills

Emotionally intelligent people tend to have strong social skills. This is likely because they are so attuned to their own feelings as well as those of others.

6. Expressiveness

Sometimes people are empaths and in tune with their emotions, but struggle to actually share these feelings with others. Emotionally intelligent people not only understand feelings, they know how to express them appropriately.

What exactly do we mean by appropriately? Imagine, for example, that you just had a particularly awful day at work. You are tired, frustrated, and angry about how things went at an important meeting.

A more appropriate emotional reaction would be discussing your frustrations with your spouse, releasing some tension by going for a jog, and coming up with a plan to make the next day better than the one before.

7. Perceptiveness

Imagine that you find yourself getting frustrated and angry with a co-worker. As you assess your feelings, analyze what you’re really upset about. Are you mad about your co-worker’s actions, or does your anger stem from underlying frustrations and pressure from a boss who has heaped too much work and responsibility on your shoulders?

At first, this might seem like an easy task, but the reality is that our emotional lives can be both complicated and messy. Locating the exact source of your feelings can be particularly tricky when you are dealing with powerful emotions such as love and anger.

How to Become More Emotionally Intelligent

Contrary to popular belief, you can learn emotional intelligence. Children and adults alike can learn to strengthen EQ.

To start, try reflecting on your level of self-awareness. For instance, are you aware of your emotions? Do you understand how your emotions impact your beliefs and your behaviors? Do you notice how your behaviors impact others around you?

Mindfulness

Mindfulness techniques can help you become more present with your thoughts and emotions. For instance, instead of yelling at someone when you’re upset, you might use a deep breathing technique to buy yourself some time, rethink your strategy, and react with more understanding.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is linked with improving emotional intelligence as well. CBT is a form of therapy in which people learn emotional regulation. A therapist will teach you healthy coping mechanisms to handle difficult emotions and improve your relationships.

Social and Emotional Learning Programs

Social and emotional learning programs (SEL) are implemented in some schools to teach kids how to be emotionally competent. There are also SEL programs for adults. SEL helps people develop their sense of identity, strengthen communication skills, use empathy, and achieve personal goals.

Emotional Intelligence Tests

There are online tests available that will determine a level of emotional intelligence based on your answers to various questions. The tests are usually multiple-choice; they ask what your reactions would be in hypothetical situations.

For instance, do you respond to an argument by confronting the other person, shutting down, or apologizing? When you make an important decision, do you procrastinate, let someone else decide, or go with your gut? These are examples of the types of questions you’ll find on EQ tests.

Remember, though, there are more factors that go into determining your EQ than an online test could compute. However, a test could get you thinking about which of your emotional skills are strongest and which areas you may wish to improve.

Try Our Free EQ Test

Our fast and free EQ test can help you determine whether or not your responses to certain situations in life indicate a high level of emotional intelligence:

This EQ test was reviewed by Steven Gans, MD.

Racing thoughts involve fast-moving, repetitive, and overwhelming thought patterns. They often involve multiple topics, move quickly from one idea to the next, and seem to come out of nowhere.

Everyone occasionally experiences situations that cause their mind to race. Imagine that feeling amped up several notches and persisting without relief, and you’ll have an idea of what it’s like to experience racing thoughts. This symptom often signals a hypomanic or manic episode in people living with bipolar disorder, although there are other possible causes.

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Signs of Racing Thoughts

Racing thoughts are more than just thinking fast. Instead, they are a rapid succession of thoughts that cannot be quieted and continue without any sign of restraint. Even when you try to control them, they just keep coming, one after another, with little ability to slow them down.

They can progressively take over a person’s functional consciousness and gallop out of control to a point where daily life can be affected. This symptom can become so severe that it interferes with the ability to sleep.

This outward manifestation of racing thoughts is called flight of ideas. Thus, racing thoughts and flight of ideas are two sides of the same coin. 

Racing thoughts might revolve around rhythms, almost like a broken record without sound. They might include a bar of music, a snippet of a conversation, a sentence in a book, or dialogue from a movie that repeats in one’s mind. Importantly, racing thoughts do not involve hearing voices, a symptom associated with schizophrenia and other types of psychotic disorders.

What Racing Thoughts Feel Like

Racing thoughts are often one of the first symptoms to develop when someone with bipolar disorder is entering a hypomanic or manic episode. It can be—but is not always—a debilitating experience.

Concentration can become increasingly difficult, and the inability to quiet the relentless onslaught of thoughts can prove unnerving and disruptive. It is not unusual to hear of people who need to play word games for an hour or two just to settle their thoughts enough to sleep.

Racing thoughts and flight of ideas in the context of a hypomanic or manic episode are accompanied by other signs and symptoms that might include:

Pre-Diagnosis

People who experience hypomania—as opposed to full-blown mania—are typically able to maintain their daily functioning and, as such, often go undiagnosed until their first depressive episode occurs. So, racing thoughts and flight of ideas may predate a person being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, typically type II.

Additionally, racing thoughts and flight of ideas that occur without the requisite number of accompanying symptoms to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of hypomania or mania may identify a person at risk for eventually developing bipolar disorder. This is sometimes referred to as a subthreshold bipolar disorder.

What Causes of Racing Thoughts?

Bipolar disorder is one potential cause, but racing thoughts and flight of ideas can occur with conditions including major depression and anxiety disorders. That’s why talking to a doctor or mental health professional about what you are experiencing is so important. They can evaluate your symptoms and help determine the cause.

Common causes of racing thoughts include:

Talk with your doctor if you experience racing thoughts, especially if they interfere with your ability to work, sleep, concentrate, or interact with others. Once the cause of your symptoms is identified, you can receive appropriate treatment.

Treatment for Racing Thoughts

The treatment for racing thoughts depends on the underlying condition causing them. In many cases, recommended treatments may include therapy and medications.

Therapy

For racing thoughts that occur in bipolar disorder, therapy can help people learn to identify changes in mood and behavior. By learning how to identify things that might trigger manic or hypomanic episodes, people can better manage their condition.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that helps people understand and manage their thoughts. In CBT, people learn to identify their thoughts and develop new strategies to change or regulate them. 

Other types of therapy that may help treat bipolar disorder include dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and family therapy.

Medications

 Medications may also be helpful. The specific type of medication that your doctor prescribes will depend on your diagnosis but may include:

• Anti-anxiety medications
• Antidepressants
• Antipsychotics
• Mood stabilizers

If your racing thoughts are related to bipolar disorder, antipsychotics, such as Abilify (aripiprazole), Risperdal (risperidone, and Seroquel (quetiapine), or mood stabilizers, like Depakote (divalproex sodium) and Tegretol (carbamazepine), may be prescribed.

How to Cope With Racing Thoughts

In addition to seeking help from a mental health professional, there are also strategies you can use on your own to help manage racing thoughts. Some steps you can take include:

• Practice deep breathing: Deep breathing can help induce a relaxation response and calm feelings of stress and anxiety.
• Utilize mindfulness: Racing thoughts are often centered on worries about the future. Practicing mindfulness by focusing on the present moment can help calm these worrying thoughts.
• Distract yourself: When your mind is racing, try to distract yourself with something else. For example, you might try cooking a new recipe, listening to music, painting a picture or watching a movie.
• Get active: Exercise has many mental health benefits, including combatting feelings of anxiety and depression.

You might need to experiment with several strategies to determine what works best. Talk to a doctor or mental health professional if you still struggle to manage your thoughts after trying some self-help techniques.

Do you ever feel like you struggle to learn things one way but have an easier time if you try a different approach? Like, you’ve listened to lectures and read the textbook, but things only start to make sense once you get some actual, hands-on experience. According to some experts, using your preferred learning style is the key.

Not everyone’s brain is wired the same, and that’s why some people may find different strategies work better for them. The idea behind VARK learning styles is that there are four main types of learners: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic.

The idea that students learn best when teaching methods and school activities match their learning styles, strengths, and preferences grew in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. However, there isn’t much research supporting the use of such styles. Most evidence indicates that personal learning preferences have little to no influence on learning outcomes.

VARK Learning Styles

There are many different ways of categorizing learning styles, but Neil Fleming’s VARK model is one of the most popular. Fleming introduced an inventory in 1987 that was designed to help students and others learn more about their individual learning preferences.

According to the VARK model, learners are identified by whether they have a preference for:

• Visual learning (pictures, movies, diagrams)
• Auditory learning (music, discussion, lectures)
• Reading and writing (making lists, reading textbooks, taking notes)
• Kinesthetic learning (movement, experiments, hands-on activities)

Knowing your preferred style can give you some insight into the learning strategies that might appeal most to you, but that doesn’t mean that learning that way is actually superior to learning things in other ways.

What Type of Learner Are You?

In order to identify which type of learner people are, Fleming developed a self-report inventory that posed a series of situations. Respondents select the answers that best match their preferred approach to learning.

Visual Learners

Visual learners learn best by seeing. That means that graphic displays such as charts, diagrams, illustrations, handouts, and videos appeal to people with a visual learning style.

Do you think you might be a visual learner? Then consider the following questions:

• Are art, beauty, and aesthetics important to you?
• Does visualizing information in your mind help you remember it better?
• Do you have to see information in order to remember it?
• Do you pay close attention to body language?

If you can answer yes to most of these questions, chances are good that you have a visual learning style. You may find it helpful to incorporate things like pictures and graphs when you are learning new information.

Aural Learners

Aural (aka auditory) learners learn best by hearing information. They enjoy listening to lectures and are good at remembering things they are told.

Are you an auditory learner? Consider the following questions:

• Do you create songs to help remember information?
• Does reading out loud help you remember information better?
• Do you prefer to listen to class lectures rather than reading from the textbook?
• Would you prefer to listen to a recording of your class lectures or a podcast rather than going over your class notes?

Reading and Writing Learners

Reading and writing learners prefer to take in information that is displayed as words and text. Could you be a reading and writing learner? Read through the following questions and think about whether they might apply to you.

• Do you enjoy making lists, reading definitions, and creating presentations?
• Do you find reading your textbook to be a great way to learn new information?
• Do you take a lot of notes during class and while reading textbooks?
• Do you prefer it when teachers make use of overheads and handouts?

If you answered yes to these questions, you likely have a strong preference for reading and writing as your learning style.

Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic (or tactile) learners learn best by touching and doing. Hands-on experience is important for kinesthetic learners.

Not sure if you’re a kinesthetic learner? Answer these questions to find out:

• Are you good at applied activities such as painting, cooking, mechanics, sports, and woodworking?
• Do you enjoy performing tasks that involve directly manipulating objects and materials?
• Do you have to actually practice doing something in order to learn it?
• Is it difficult for you to sit still for long periods of time?

If you responded yes to these questions, then you are most likely a kinesthetic learner. Taking classes that give you practical, hands-on experience may be helpful when you want to acquire a new skill.

Criticisms of the VARK Learning Styles

The validity of the VARK model as well as other learning style theories has been questioned and criticized extensively. While the idea behind the VARK model is that knowing your style can make learning easier and more effective, some critics have suggested that labeling students as having one specific learning style can hinder learning.

The VARK model remains fairly popular among both students and educators despite these criticisms. Students may feel drawn to a particular learning style. Others may find that their learning preferences lie somewhere in the middle, such as finding both visual and auditory learning equally appealing.

Why It Matters

Some people might find that understanding their own learning preferences can be helpful for various reasons. If you know that visual learning appeals to you most, using visual study strategies in conjunction with other learning methods might help you find studying more enjoyable or motivating.

For example, you might rely on your reading and writing preferences when you are dealing with a class that requires a great deal of book reading and note-taking, such as a history of psychology course. During an art class, you might depend more on your visual and kinesthetic preferences as you take in pictorial information and learn new techniques.