Dr. Antonia Pieracci and other local psychologists spoke with 5280.com about how to survive and thrive during the winter months in Colorado this year. Staying connected, exercise, and getting outside all made the list!

Whatever the loss and whether it’s sudden or expected, we have come to understand that the classic stages of grief are not linear. People grieve in different ways and there is no one “order” to it. Some people experience only one or some of these stages and often people vacillate between different stages.

People think that the opposite of depression is happiness. However, according to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, the opposite of depression is psychological flexibility.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-is-radical-acceptance-how-it-helps-pandemic_l_5eda9f83c5b640424ef71891

Some games can be addictive and may interfere with rather than enhance our lives and well-being. It can be difficult to differentiate which games may be helpful and which may be harmful.

Staying mindful during anxiety-provoking times is incredibly difficult. Using mindfulness skills can help.

As I sit here and write this article about silver linings, please don’t mistake me for being glib or for not caring. My husband is working directly with COVID patients in the ICU at this moment. My father is in a nursing facility where several residents have died of COVID.

Part of dealing with rising fear is to focus on resiliency. In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, we like to say that the opposite of depression isn’t happiness, it’s psychological flexibility. Resiliency is the capacity to be psychologically and emotionally flexible in the face of stress.

Use your values to help generate and stick to goals in the new year.

Wise Mind is a term from Dialectical Behavior Therapy, an evidence-based psychotherapy developed my Marsha Linehan, to help people regulate their emotions.

Using evidence-based psychotherapies such as CBT and ACT helped me cope with my first earthquake.