2016 was a great year for our blog. In fact, it was a great year because it was our first real year, having only launched in August 2015. We’ve built up our blog, approaching a new theme each month (scroll down to see our month-by-month list of blog posts).
But…drumroll please… we’re here to present our Top 10 Blog Posts of 2016. All thriller, no filler; here are the ones that mattered the most in 2016.*
1. Thinking Styles that Sabotage your Mental Health (free printable list)
Find that you keep falling into the same thinking traps again and again? Sometimes our Thinking Styles work against us, and lead us to catastrophise, personalise, and jump to conclusions. Whether it’s Anger, Anxiety and depression, or Low Self Esteem you will find Thinking Styles that keep cropping up again and again.
2. 7 Tips for Living with Social Anxiety (free printable list)
Posts about Social Anxiety generate a lot of interest, and this post was no different. While we blogged about How to survive Christmas Parties when you’re Socially Anxious last year, this year we looked more generally at 7 Tips for Living with Social Anxiety.
3. Sleep + Psychology: How Sleep Affects the Mind and how Mind affects Sleep
Our post on Sleep + Psychology was far from yawn-inducing (oh yes, we went there...). Sure, we all know that we should get the right amount of sleep, but do we know the science behind it? And what can we do to get a better night of sleep?
4. What’s the difference between Sadness and Depression?
One of the things we’re often asked – both in our clinical psychology work and socially – is What is the difference between Sadness and Depression? Subtler signs of depression can often be missed because people have a set ideas about what depression ‘looks like’.
5. Low self-esteem: The role of social comparison
Keeping up with the Joneses, FOMO, Facebook, Instagram…sometimes a bit of envy creeps into our lives. After all, looking to others as a yardstick is rife but what is social comparison and how does it damage our self-esteem?
6. What to do in case of a panic attack (free printable list)
Panic attacks are one of the most common reasons for people seeking assistance here at The Skill Collective. Here, we look at what to do during a panic attack and how to work towards prevent them down the track.
7. Psychological risk factors for Anxiety + Depression (free printable worksheet)
This was a hugely popular post, not surprisingly given how common mental health issues are in the population. In this post we outlined those Psychological Risk Factors for Anxiety and Depression – negative thinking styles, a desire for control, self-esteem difficulties, and low distress tolerance.
8. We need to talk about: Attitudes + Men’s Health
November is a month when we like to focus on Men’s Health, partly because Movember is one of the coolest ways of championing a cause. One of the big issues (the elephant in the room, really) is Attitudes towards Men’s Health and how these hamper our men from looking after their health and wellbeing.
9. Low self-esteem: How perfectionism sets us back
It may seem counterintuitive, but perfectionism and low self-esteem are often linked, so how do you know if perfectionism is damaging your self-esteem? Learn more about the relationship between the two, and some useful strategies to help you break the cycle.
10. PERMA: The ingredients for resilience + wellbeing
Finally, resilience and wellbeing have been HOT topics over several years now. There are many reasons why you don’t need to have mental health issues to see a psychologist, and wellbeing and resilience are areas that are testament to this, helping people not only to excel by building on their strengths but also building a psychological buffer against times of stress. An important model in the areas of resilience and wellbeing is the PERMA model, developed by Martin Seligman, and here we outline the key elements of the PERMA model.
*Of course our other blog posts are pretty good too, so be sure to check them out! To refresh, here's a quick month-by-month breakdown of the topics that we blogged about in 2016.
- January: Healthy Mindset (Thinking Styles, Anxiety + Depression, and Anger)
- February: Low self-esteem (Perfectionism, Social Comparison, Eating disorders, and Thoughts + Thinking Styles)
- March: University student life (Must-have resource list, Study techniques, Staying Healthy, and Communication + Social Skills)
- April: Anxiety Disorders (Panic attacks, Social Anxiety, and What a mental health diagnosis means)
- May: Depressive Disorders (Difference between sadness + depression, Bipolar disorder, Treatments for depression and bipolar disorder)
- June: Psychology (Psychologists aren't just about mental illness, Acceptance, Mindfulness)
- July: Healthy lifestyle (Exercise, Sleep)
- August: Positive Psychology, wellbeing, and resilience (PERMA, Happiness, VIA Character Strengths)
- September + October: Our Annual Spring Clean Your Life series (Declutter, Mental health + wellbeing, Relationships, Physical health, Productivity + Performance)
- November: Men's Health (Why men's health matters, Attitudes + men's health, Resources for men)
We hope to see you in 2017, when we'll kick off the year with a January feature on food, diets, and eating disorders.
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