It’s pretty common to feel guilty over needing help when you’re coping with challenges, emotional distress, or health concerns.

Instead of feeling guilty when you struggle, cultivate gratitude by:

• thanking loved ones for their kindness;
• making your appreciation clear...

Before you can successfully navigate guilt, you need to recognize where it comes from.

Some common causes of guilt include:

• surviving trauma or disaster;
• conflict between personal values and choices you’ve made;
• mental or physical health concerns;
• th...

A sincere apology can help you begin repairing damage after a wrongdoing. To make an effective apology, you’ll want to:

• acknowledge your role
• show remorse
• avoid making excuses
• ask for forgiveness

The most heartfelt apology means nothing if you...

You can’t rewrite events by replaying scenarios with different outcomes, but you can always consider what you’ve learned:

• What led to the mistake? Explore triggers that prompted your action and any feelings that tipped you over the edge.
• What would you do differently now?

As an emotion, guilt has a lot of power. Guilt helps you acknowledge your actions and fuels your motivation to improve your behavior. It might also lead you to fixate on what you could have done differently.

Though guilt can sometimes promote positive growth, it can linger...

Severe or persistent guilt doesn’t always lift easily.

Over time, guilt can affect relationships and add stress to daily life. It can also play a part in sleep difficulty and mental health conditions. Or it can lead to coping methods, like substance use.

A therapis...