Sleep Hygiene
True or False: Sleeping in significantly later on weekends can make it harder for some people to fall asleep Sunday night.
True, Large shifts in sleep and wake times can disrupt the body's internal clock, sometimes making it harder to feel sleepy at the expected bedtime.
What does ADLs stand for?
Activities of Daily Living.
It refers to the basic, fundamental tasks people do every day to care for themselves and maintain personal independence.
What is a window of tolerance?
It is the ideal emotional and nervous system zone that allows you to function well, think clearly, and manage everyday stress.
When you stay inside this window, you can process feelings, handle pressures, and stay connected to yourself and others.
A relational rupture is best described as:
Answer: A moment when connection or trust is disrupted.
Multiple Choice: What is trichotillomania?
A. Fear of being touched
B. Repetitive hair pulling
C. Fear of heights
D. Compulsive nail biting
Answer: B — Repetitive hair pulling
Trichotillomania is classified as an obsessive-compulsive and related disorder.
Multiple Choice: Which habit is most likely to support a consistent sleep schedule?
A. Sleeping whenever you feel tired
B. Keeping your wake-up time relatively consistent
C. Taking long naps every afternoon
D. Staying up later so you're more tired the next night
Answer: B, A consistent wake time helps regulate the body's sleep-wake rhythm and can make nighttime sleep more predictable.
What are examples of ADLs?
Possible answers: bathing, eating, medication compliance, dressing, continence, mobility, etc.
What does it mean to be "out of your window?"
True or False: Conflict can improve relationships when handled effectively.
Answer: TRUE
Conflict is a normal part of relationships. Healthy relationships aren't necessarily conflict-free; they involve learning how to address conflict and reconnect afterward.
Why Conflict Can Be Healthy
Multiple Choice: What is prosopagnosia?
A. Difficulty recognizing faces
B. Fear of talking to people
C. Difficulty recognizing your own emotions
D. Fear of mirrors
Answer: A — Difficulty recognizing faces
Someone with prosopagnosia may recognize that they're looking at a face but have difficulty identifying whose face it is—even if it's someone they know.
Multiple Choice: Why can caffeine consumed later in the day interfere with sleep?
A. It immediately causes nightmares
B. It can increase alertness and delay sleepiness
C. It always causes people to wake up early
D. It prevents REM sleep completely
Answer: B
Caffeine blocks adenosine, a brain chemical involved in sleepiness. Because caffeine can remain in the body for hours, afternoon or evening use may affect some people's sleep.
True or False: Completing ADLs can sometimes improve mood and functioning even when you don't initially feel motivated to do them. (Bonus: what is this therapeutic tool called?)
Answer: TRUE
This connects to behavioral activation: sometimes action comes before motivation. Also reffered to as opposite action, deliberately acting against your emotional urge to turn down the intensity of an unhelpful or unjustified emotion. Completing one manageable task can create a sense of accomplishment and help build momentum.
Scenario: A teen becomes extremely angry during an argument and notices their heart racing and voice getting louder. What is happening?
They're likely moving toward hyperarousal and may benefit from regulating before continuing.
Recognizing physical signs of activation is an important early-warning skill. The earlier someone notices escalation, the more opportunity they have to pause and use regulation strategies.
Scenario: A teen apologizes but immediately says, “BUT you were being annoying, so you deserved it.” Will this fully repair the rupture?
No, The apology is paired with blame and justification.
Effective repair generally includes acknowledgment + accountability + empathy + changed behavior. An apology becomes more meaningful when the person demonstrates what they will do differently next time.
True or False: Avoiding something that makes you anxious can make the anxiety feel better immediately but sometimes make the fear stronger over time.
Answer: TRUE
Avoidance can provide short-term relief, which can reinforce the avoidance behavior. This is one reason exposure-based treatments gradually help people approach feared situations rather than continually avoiding them.
Scenario: A teen says, “I'm exhausted, but when I get into bed, my brain suddenly becomes super active.” Which strategy could be helpful?
Creating a consistent wind-down routine and reduce stimulating activities before bed.
Being physically tired doesn't always mean the nervous system is ready for sleep. A predictable wind-down routine can help signal to the brain that it's time to shift toward rest.
A teen has five chores and immediately feels overwhelmed. What can they do?
Give some examples, from your teammates or your own experiences, of sitations, factors, etc. that may lead to someone being "outside of their window?"
Possible responses: conflict, vulnerability facts, built up stress, etc.
Scenario: Someone says, “I understand that I was upset, but yelling at you wasn't okay.” What repair skill are they demonstrating?
Answer:Accountability.
Being able to explain why we behaved a certain way is different from using that explanation as an excuse. We can understand our behavior while still taking responsibility for it.
True or False: In 2023, fewer than 1 in 10 U.S. high school students reported that their mental health was not good most of the time or always.
Answer: FALSE — it was about 1 in 3 (29%).
The CDC reported that 29% of U.S. high school students said their mental health was not good most of the time or always during the previous 30 days.
Scenario: A teen sleeps 5 hours on school nights and tries to “catch up” by sleeping until 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Is this healthy?
No, it is an inconsistent sleep/wake schedule.
Sleeping more on weekends can feel restorative, but very large schedule changes can make the transition back to school-night sleep more difficult. Consistency is generally more helpful than repeatedly shifting the schedule.
Scenario: A teen refuses to shower, clean their room, or complete chores because they say, “I don't feel like it.” What concept could be applied?
Answer: Behavioral activation/acting opposite to avoidance.
Avoidance can provide short-term relief but may make tasks feel even harder later. Taking one small action despite low motivation can interrupt that cycle.Motivation isn't always something we have to wait for. Taking a small action can sometimes increase motivation rather than requiring motivation to come first.
Scenario: A client says, “When I'm really overwhelmed, I either explode or completely shut down.” How could this be explained using the window-of-tolerance model?
Both can occur when someone moves outside their window—exploding can reflect hyperarousal, while shutting down can reflect hypoarousal.
People don't always respond to stress in the same way. Some become highly activated while others become quiet, numb, or disconnected. Some fluctuate between the two depending on the situation.
Multiple Choice: Which response demonstrates taking responsibility? (bonus if you can say why the other options are wrong)
A. “I'm sorry you got upset, but you were the one who started the argument.”
B. “I only said it because you were annoying me.”
C. “I shouldn't have said that, and I understand why it hurt you.”
D. “I guess I'm just a terrible person. I can't do anything right.”
Answer: C
Accountability means recognizing your behavior and its impact without blaming the other person or attacking yourself. Taking responsibility doesn't mean saying you're a bad person—it means recognizing a behavior that you can work to change.
True or False: The human brain is fully developed by the time someone turns 18.
Answer: FALSE!
Brain development continues into the mid-to-late 20s, with areas involved in planning, decision-making, and impulse control among the later areas to mature. This is one reason adolescence is an important period for learning emotional regulation and decision-making skills.