Conquering Fear

By MELINDA BECK

To help patients, therapists often counsel either changing behavior to address their fears or denying fears as irrational. Now, a third approach argues that accepting fears can loosen their grip.

The boss loves your work. Your spouse thinks you're sexy. The kids—and even the cat—shower you with affection. But then there's the Voice, the nagging presence in your head that tells you you're a homely, heartless person.

Even people who appear supremely fit, highly successful and hyper-organized are sometimes riddled with debilitating doubts, fears and self-criticisms.

"Most people are struggling with difficult thoughts and feelings. But the show we put on for others says 'I've got it handled,'" says Steven C. Hayes, a professor of psychology at University of Nevada-Reno. In reality, however, "there's a big difference between what's on the outside and what's on the inside."

Cognitive-behavioral therapy aims to help patients conquer their self doubts in two ways: Either by changing the behaviors that go along with it (I'm so fat—I need to get to the gym!) or by challenging the underlying thoughts, which are often distorted. (I'm 45-years old and I'm comparing myself to anorexic models. Get serious!)

Now, a third-wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy is catching on in psychology and self-help circles. It holds that simply observing your critical thoughts without judging them is a more effective way to tame them than pressuring yourself to change or denying their validity.

" 'Tame' is an interesting word," says Dr. Hayes, who pioneered one approach, called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. "How would you go about taming a wild horse? You wouldn't whip it back into a corner. You'd pat it on the nose and give it some carrots and eventually try to ride it."

This new psychology movement centers on mindfulness—the increasing popular emphasis on paying attention to the present moment. One of its key tenets is that urging people to stop thinking negative thoughts only tightens their grip—"like struggling with quicksand," Dr. Hayes says. But simply observing them like passing clouds can diffuse their emotional power, proponents say, and open up more options. ("Here's that old fat feeling again. You know, this happens every time I look at fashion magazines. I am sure judging myself harshly. Do I want to go to the gym? Or I could go to a movie. Or I could stop reading magazines.")

"Part of what mindfulness does is get to you to recognize that these critical thoughts are really stories you have created about yourself. They are not necessarily true, but they can have self-fulfilling consequences," says Zindel V. Segal, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto who devised Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to help depressed patients. "If you can get some distance from them, you can see that there are choices about how to respond."

Mindfulness also involves paying attention to your breathing and other physical sensations while observing your thoughts so you have a tapestry of information to consider, says Dr. Segal. In fact, neuro-imaging studies have shown that when people consider problems mindfully, they use additional brain circuits beyond those that simply involve problem-solving.

Although some critics initially dismissed mindfulness-based therapies as vacuous and New Age-y, dozens of randomized-controlled trials in the past decade have shown that they can be effective in managing depression, panic disorders, social phobias, sleep problems and even borderline personality disorder.

A study of 160 patients with major depression, led by Dr. Segal and published in the Archives of General Psychiatry last month, found that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was just as good at as antidepressants at warding off relapses of depression.

The National Institutes of Health is funding more than 50 research studies involving mindfulness treatments for psychological problems.

A growing number of therapists are also using mindfulness-based acceptance in their practices. Katherine Muller, associate director of the Center for Integrative Psychotherapy in Allentown, Pa., says she sometimes brings out a little plastic gnome to represent a patient's negative feelings. "The idea is, 'These feelings are going to come. What are you going to do about them?' " she says. "You don't have to react to them at all. Just allowing them to exist takes away their power."

She also finds that practicing mindfulness is more effective at easing her own fear of flying than being reminded about the safety statistics.

On one flight, she says, "all my cognitive skills were going right out the window." Then another psychologist suggested focusing on the tray table rather than fighting her fears. "It helped me center my head and get a grip," she says. "It gave me a chance to watch the movie and talk to the person next to me, rather than focus on how the plane might go down in a fiery ball."

Psychologist Dennis Tirch, director of the New York Center for Mindfulness, Acceptance and Compassion-Focused Therapies, uses this formula to help even people with profound developmental disabilities take control of their emotions: "Feel your soles of your feet. Feel yourself breathe. Label your emotions and make space for your thoughts."

Extending some compassion for yourself is also an important part of the new mindfulness therapies, Dr. Tirch says. "I can't tell you how many clients I have who are just beating themselves up about things" says Dr. Tirch. "Give yourself a break—not so you can curl up in bed and stay home, but so you can interact better with the world."

Kindness and accepting your thoughts nonjudgmentally doesn't mean having to settle for the status quo, proponents say. Rather than be paralyzed by negative thoughts, you can opt to change your situation—get to the gym or work harder—but with a clearer set of options based on what really matters.

Some critics note that such advice doesn't sound so different from standard cognitive-behavioral therapy or being kind to the "inner child" of earlier psychotherapy approaches. And some experts say that still more scientific data are needed to evaluate its effectiveness, particularly now that it's being applied to such a wide array of disorders.

It's also not clear yet who might benefit most from mindfully accepting their thoughts rather than reasoning with them. For example, Dr. Tirch thinks that it's still important to convince someone with severe agoraphobia that a piano won't fall on their head if they leave the house.

Yet Marsha Linehan, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, found that the acceptance therapy she developed in the 1990s enabled suicidal patients and those with borderline personality disorder to accept their feelings and get help while trying to challenge them would only have created more bad feelings.

"It's the nonjudgmental part that trips most people up," says Dr. Linehan. "Most of us think that if we are judgmental enough, things will change. But judgment makes it harder to change." She adds: "What happens in mindfulness over the long haul is that you finally accept that you've seen this soap opera before and you can turn off the TV."

THE SCIENCE BEHIND ALLIES

via SuperBetter

An Ally is a powerful social relationship. It's someone you trust, someone who makes you smile, and most importantly, someone you can see or talk to often—ideally at least once every two weeks.

Why it Matters
Hundreds of scientific studies over the past decade have shown that having at least two strong social relationships dramatically increases positive health outcomes and helps us succeed in our goals.

Every strong social relationship has four traits in common: positivity, honesty, support and closeness.

Positivity: You feel good when you see each other.
Honesty: You can talk to each other honestly about problems and challenges in your lives.
Support: You feel comfortable asking each other for help.
Closeness: You make time for each other. You see each other in person or talk on the phone at least once every two weeks.
Find those four traits and you've found yourself an ally.

How it Works
Allies make each other stronger in four key ways:

Stronger immune systems: Social support from at least two people is linked to better immune functioning—our wounds heal faster, we catch fewer colds, and we even fight diseases like cancer more effectively.
Lower stress levels: Positive social interaction reduces the levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) in our bodies.
Cardiovascular impact: Spending time with people we like lowers our blood pressure and decreases our heart rate.
Social resources: Allies help us gather the resources we need to achieve our goals.

And the best part is that it works both ways. Every time you connect with an Ally, you're making THEM stronger, too.

Pursuing Self-Improvement, at the Risk of Self-Acceptance

Interesting article I found using my Super Better app. Originally posted in the New York Times.

Pursuing Self-Improvement, at the Risk of Self-Acceptance
By ALINA TUGEND
Published: November 4, 2011

Self-improvement is a deeply embedded American trait, something other cultures find both admirable and amusing. The notion that we can constantly make ourselves better is, in theory, a great idea.

But when does it become too much?

“There’s a tendency to seek and seek and seek and never find,” said Kristen Moeller, creator of the Web site selfhelpjunkie.com. (The motto? “Stop Waiting. Start Living.”) “It becomes one more addiction.”

It’s not that trying to find ways to improve ourselves is a bad thing — not at all. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp,” the poet Robert Browning wrote. But when we’re constantly reaching rather than occasionally being satisfied with what we have in front of us, that’s a recipe for perpetual dissatisfaction.

“We grew up with the idea that we can do anything,” said Hollee Schwartz Temple, a professor of law at West Virginia University and co-author of “Good Enough Is the New Perfect” (Harlequin, 2011). “But we took that to mean that we have to do everything. And many women took it as you have to do everything perfectly.”

Ms. Temple and her co-author, Becky Beaupre Gillespie, a former journalist, surveyed about 1,000 mothers in their 30s and 40s nationwide and interviewed about 100 for their book. They found that the women broadly fell into two categories: “never enoughs” and “good enoughs.”

Never-enough women felt they had to be the best at everything and often agreed with the sentiment that “I need to be a superstar even if it kills me,” Ms. Temple said.

Those in the good-enough category were, as is self-evident, fine with not being the best as long as they felt they were doing pretty well. But more important than how these women described themselves was how they described their lives.

“The never-enoughs more often described their marriages as poor, or even a disaster,” Ms. Temple said. “The good-enoughs were more satisfied and happier in their marriages. And they were just as likely to advance in their careers as the never-enoughs.”

None of this may seem particularly new. You can’t have it all. Perfection is the enemy of the good. But the struggle to find the balance between stagnation and stress — sinking into a rut or racing on the hamster wheel — resonates even more now in these economically down times, when even your best efforts don’t seem to be reaping the rewards you expected.

“In our culture, there are so many different messages about being successful, and we try to implement all of them,” Ms. Gillespie said. “We need the courage to choose which definition of success we want.”

And the courage to realize that we may explore and seek, but there are often no answers — or not the ones we want, said Ms. Moeller, who wrote the book “Waiting for Jack” (Morgan James Publishing, 2010) about her attempts to get in contact with Jack Canfield, author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” (Heath Communications Inc., 1993). The book’s title and theme refer to her realization that she, like so many people, was waiting for someone to provide the answers instead of looking inside herself.

“It’s natural for a lot of people to search for something more,” Ms. Moeller said. “Or something happens and they want to make sense of it.”

But we can’t go around with the idea that “one day I’ll arrive; one day I’ll be whole,” she said. “It’s an illusion that one day I’ll be fixed.”

Such constant searching, she said, leads to a sense that you’re waiting to live your life rather than living it. Or you’ll feel that you’re always falling short, because rarely is the road to self-improvement easy or straightforward, and it’s certainly not the same for everyone.

On her blog, Ms. Moeller listed, somewhat tongue in cheek, the signs of a self-help junkie, including these:

¶ “You could own a small island in the Caribbean for the amount of money you have spent on seminars, retreats, coaches, workshops and books, and yet you are still not satisfied.”

¶ “After each course you take, you claim that you now know that you are perfect just as you are, but then you hear about this new course that really sounds perfect and you secretly think, maybe this one will be IT.”

Trying to figure out ways to make ourselves better is nothing new. Dale Carnegie’s seminal “How to Win Friends & Influence People,” was first published in 1936. The first 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous, began a year before that in 1935.

This striving for self-improvement and the belief that we can all achieve success if we just work hard enough and figure out the right path, has political, not just personal, ramifications.

David Brooks, a New York Times columnist, wrote in a 2003 Op-Ed page column that Americans “always had a sense that the great opportunities lie just over the horizon, in the next valley, with the next job or the next big thing,” adding, “None of us is really poor; we’re just pre-rich.”

That idea that we can all potentially occupy the executive suite is one of the reasons that Americans have been less ready than some other cultures to protest income inequality, said Daniel Letwin, an associate professor of history at Pennsylvania State University.

But Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots may indicate a sea change.

“Clearly, throughout U.S. history there’s been two competing streaks among Americans — acceptance of, even admiration for the wealthy, when people buy into notions of fluid mobility and equal opportunity, and indignation when the inequalities of wealth and power become too grotesque, when the prospects for ordinary people stall no matter how hard they’re trying, and the system seems rigged,” Professor Letwin said.

Occupy Wall Street can be seen both as a rebellion and as an acknowledgment that most of us won’t ever reach the pinnacles of power — and perhaps don’t even want to, Ms. Temple said.

The reality, she said, is “a lot of people are finding that ‘I don’t want to aspire to what I always thought I wanted to aspire to.’ ”

Of course, I still hope one day to grow the beautiful tomatoes and tasty zucchini and cook up lovely meals with my homegrown bounty. It’s not an impossible dream. But I’ll put aside the composting for now and leave the television where it is. After all, as we’ve learned, there’s no point in pushing this self-improvement thing too far.

Mini Rituals for Acceptance

Another great find via my Super Better app. I've used the "it's okay bowl"

1. THE IT’S OKAY BOWL: Get a bowl from the kitchen and make it the “It’s Okay” bowl. Write down the thing you wish would change on a piece of paper then place it in the bowl. Continue with as many items as you like.
2. FIND AN EPIC JAM: What’s your favorite song about acceptance or perseverance even when down on your luck? Play your song, imagining yourself the hero in the epic adventure of your life contending with obstacles.
3. GO OUTSIDE YOURSELF: Think of a friend who has an issue that they wish would change. Sometimes it’s easier for you accept a challenge that belongs to someone else. When our friends are going through tough times, we don’t tend to judge them as much as we judge ourselves. Accept your friend’s painful issues. That’s just how it is for them right now. You know it’s going to get better. Having this issue doesn’t make them a better or worse person than anyone else. Now beam that same acceptance at yourself and your own issue.

Optimism - Learned Optimism

OPTIMISM
First things first: when scientists talk about "optimism," they're not saying, "force yourself to be happy." Optimism doesn't mean you have to think everything is super-peachy, or that you can't be realistic (or even cynical!).

Rather, science focuses on "learned optimism," which means teaching yourself to recognize, evaluate, and challenge negative reactions and then build the habit of focusing on positive ones. Optimism is a practice that can help you become happier, but it doesn't force you to be Pollyanna.

The concept of learned optimism was pioneered by psychologist Martin Seligman. We can all build a talent for a more positive "explanatory style"—that is, we can learn to examine our reactions to challenges and setbacks, evaluate them realistically, and focus on more positive emotions, possibilities, and outcomes. Doing this actually helps you be more energized to face and overcome adversity.

"Explanatory style" is what scientists call how we talk to ourselves about the "whys" of a particular event we experience. In any situation, you can have an internal narrative that makes you feel negative (pessimism), or one that helps you feel positive (optimism). The research has defined three components to explanatory style:

Personal: You place yourself as the cause of an event and blame yourself for things happening that maybe, just maybe, you had no had control over. For example, "I missed the traffic light because I'm so slow!" rather than, "That traffic light turned red really quickly." The first is "internal," the second "external." Of course, it's still important to take responsibility for your own actions; just don't feel guilty or defeated about things you had no part in.
Pervasiveness: You can see an event as being universal ("I always do that") or specific ("I did that this one time"). When you give yourself a specific explanation for something happening, it's a lot easier to see how to fix it or prevent it. Seeing things as pervasive is also called catastrophizing—making a catastrophe out of everything. Once you do that, it's easy to give up and lose hope.
Permanence: You imagine that how it is right now is how it will always be—forever. This is the case of, "I didn't get that job, so I'll never work again," versus "I didn't get that job, but maybe the next one will work out." Recognizing that things can and do change is an important part of optimism.
Psychologist Carol Dweck found there was a strong link between the belief that one can change and how persistent one is in the face of adversity. That is, the more one believes one can learn and develop abilities through practice and effort, the more likely one is to face and overcome a challenge, whether it's learning calculus, speaking in front of strangers, or simply getting out of bed.

Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson further showed that the positive emotions resulting from learned optimism can enable a "broaden-and-build" process that can helps build resilience in the face of challenge, as well as improves social, mental, and physical abilities. In a state of optimism, we are better able to innovate and come up with new solutions. Negative emotions trigger survival-centric crisis reactions and narrow our focus, Fredrickson found.

Why It Matters
Studies show that learned optimism reduces stress and anxiety, boosts grades or productivity, and improves physical health, careers, and relationships. Possibly even more importantly, learned optimists exhibit increased resilience when faced with challenges and adversities, be they catastrophes or little frustrations we face every day.

Research has also shown that how we explain things to ourselves, even before we're aware we're doing it, can have a profound effect on our ability to move forward in life. Whether we're facing small tasks such as doing our taxes, or life situations such as depression, learning a new set of skills about how to talk to ourselves and training our reactions and perceptions of what might happen can be a powerful tool for motivation, performance, health, and success.

How It Works
In study after study, people who have learned how to recognize, interrupt, and challenge negative feelings and thoughts about a challenge have proved to be more persistent and powerful in facing down that challenge. How you feel and what you do when faced with a challenge isn't a direct result of the challenge itself, but come from what you believe about the challenge.

The basis of the practice of learned optimism is the "ABC model," developed by psychologist Albert Ellis: we encounter Adversity, we react with thoughts that "congeal" into Beliefs, and these beliefs have Consequences. Seligman added D and E to that model: Disputation of negative (and often unsupported) beliefs, and the Energization that results. Energization can take the form of you spending longer on a task, or doing more each day, or simply feeling better.

This can be tricky to learn. It requires us to intercept thoughts as they turn into emotions, which can be a very quick process. That moment when something happens and you feel a jolt of emotion—say, when a car cuts you off in traffic—that's the moment! Training yourself in the individual elements of the process can help you automatically practice a more positive explanatory style.

Adversity: The event. A car cuts you off in traffic when you're already running late or are otherwise stressed.

Belief: The thought that pops into your mind: "What a jerk! He did that intentionally to me! Now I'll be even more late. I can never win, can I?"

Consequence: The result of the negative thought. You're angry, your pulse goes up, your stress levels increase, and you might even be a worse driver for the next few minutes!

These three steps are vital to recognize in your everyday actions and interactions. Once you can do that, in the moment, using the next two steps can help you change the ultimate consequences of that adversity for the better.

Disputation: Question your interpretation of the event. Are there any facts you can point to—past experience, what's around you—that give alternate explanations of why the event occurred? How useful is it to focus on this event right now? Is it really important in the grand scheme of things?

Energization: This is the celebration of breaking the negative emotions and pessimistic explanatory style. You did it! You did something positive, and got yourself out of a negative state. Having a more positive state also opens you up to focus on doing something else.

How to Cope With Empty Nest Syndrome

Empty nest syndrome: Tips for coping

Worried about empty nest syndrome? Find out how an empty nest can affect parents, what you can do to prepare for the transition and how to cope.

By Mayo Clinic staff

If your last child is all grown up and about to leave home — or he or she has already moved out — you might be experiencing some mixed emotions. Understand why empty nest syndrome happens and what you can do about it.

What's empty nest syndrome and why do some parents experience it?

Empty nest syndrome isn't a clinical diagnosis. Instead, empty nest syndrome is a phenomenon in which parents experience feelings of sadness and loss when the last child leaves home.

Although you might actively encourage your children to become independent, the experience of letting go can be painful. You might find it difficult to suddenly have no children at home who need your care. You might miss being a part of your children's daily lives — as well as the constant companionship. You might also worry intensely about your children's safety and whether they'll be able to take care of themselves on their own. You might struggle with the transition if your last child leaves the nest a little earlier or later than you expected — or at a time different from when you did. If you have only one child or strongly identify with your role as parent, you might have a particularly difficult time adjusting to an empty nest.

What's the impact of empty nest syndrome?

In the past, research suggested that parents dealing with empty nest syndrome experienced a profound sense of loss that might make them vulnerable to depression, alcoholism, identity crisis and marital conflicts.

However, recent studies suggest that an empty nest can also provide parents with many benefits. When the last child leaves home, parents have a new opportunity to reconnect with each other, improve the quality of their marriage and rekindle interests for which they previously might not have had time.How can I cope with empty nest syndrome?

If you're experiencing feelings of loss due to empty nest syndrome, take action. For example:

Accept the timing. Avoid comparing your child's timetable to your own personal experience. Instead, focus on what you can do to help your child succeed when he or she does leave home.
Keep in touch. You can continue to be close to your children even when you live apart. Make an effort to maintain regular contact through visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats.
Seek support. If you're having a difficult time dealing with an empty nest, lean on loved ones and other close contacts for support. Share your feelings. If you feel depressed, consult your doctor or a mental health provider.

Stay positive. Thinking about the extra time and energy you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home might help you adapt to this major life change.

Can I prevent empty nest syndrome?

If your last child is about to leave home and you're worried about empty nest syndrome, plan ahead. Look for new opportunities in your personal and professional life. Keeping busy or taking on new challenges at work or at home can help ease the sense of loss that your child's departure might cause.

I'm Back...on Blogger

My experience with the other website was unsatisfactory. So over the next few days I will be importing entries from the other blog back on to my good old and true, blogger. I'm sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. We will be back in running in no time. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy a second reading of some of my current posts as they get published to this blog site. Thank you for your patience.

Sincerely,
Reactive Candy
Xoxo

Things We Do When We Think Nobody is Looking

This video has been shared with me a few times and every time it gives me goosebumps. So, ofcourse, I had to share with you. I hope it has the same effect on you that it had on me. Enjoy.

Back From The Darkness...Let There Be Light

I'm back! Did you miss me? I missed you. I've now been back to work for 3 months now, and I happy to report, all is going well.

The transition going back to work wasn't as difficult as I imagined it would be, but isn't that how it always is. Imagining things to be much worse than they may be. Doesn't matter how many times we have been in this position and its turn out better than expected, we can't help but let our programmed way of thinking go there.

As I'm still learning to deal with that programming, what I have learned to do is not let that consume me to the point of paralyzing anxiety. Depending on the situation it can be quite difficult. Lucky for me, going back to work wasn't one of those situations.

I'm very fortunate to have return to a very supportive and understanding workplace. We have both done our best to make the transition a success, so far so good!

I'm hoping to get back to my blogging and continue sharing my journey with all of you. I have made so many wonderful and inspiring connections through this blog and hope to continue to inspire everyone to share their mental health journey too. You aren't alone.

Shakespeare Fans Will Love This

Being the huge Shakespeare fan that I am, when I came across the following post I loved it and had to share it with you. Enjoy!

Connecting With My Inner Child - Therapy Drawings

Through therapy the realization that my depression lies mostly with the abused inner child in me. It is the child in that has been suffering. The child in me that feels the unbelievable pain. With an amazing therapist I have been able to get in touch with this child and help her heal from all that she is suffering from. One thing my therapist asked me to do is find an activity that I enjoyed doing as a young girl. I loved to colour & draw for most of my childhood, so I decided to go out and by an art pad and pencil crayons. When I was feeling pain, anxiety or any overwhelming emotion, I would try to pick up my pad & crayons. Here are some of my first drawings:

Ever picture I drew I never had an image in mind to work towards, I simply picked which ever colour striked me at the moment and started with that. I am by no means an artist, but it sure to make the little girl in me happy & calm. I even started drawing pictures with oil pastels. This is definitely something I will continue doing for a long time.

If I Should Die Before I Wake, The Pain Became Too Much To Take

As you can see, I have not posted an update regarding my mental health journey in a while. In the last few months it seems, with the help of my therapist, I have delved into, what I think, has been the darkest part of my journey.  I know I have said that before, but I was wrong.  The darkness surrounds me and I see no light at the end of the tunnel.

There have been some very hard and painful realizations that have come up through my therapy.  These realizations have me feeling so broken, unloved, unworthy and very unsure of who I am and where I belong in this world.  These realizations have opened a can of 40 years of pain, that I was not allowed to feel or recognize until now.  Realization of abuse my entire life, abandonment and my entire belief system of right and wrong is completely questionable now.

The pain is so unbearable at times, that thoughts of suicide enter my head.  The thoughts are more often than not lately. My days and nights are currently filled with darkness and I struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel on a daily basis.  I'm working through this will my therapist and he is aware of these thoughts.  Still very scary.  The pain becomes so unbearable that I just do not want to feel anymore, I just want it to stop.

With all of this going on, I just have not been up to doing anything that I use to enjoy doing, including writing my blog.  I just wanted to provide this quick update and let you know, I will be back as soon as the light prevails.  Will share more details of these horribly, dark part of my mental health journey.

Reactive Candy's 2012 Oscar Pool - GET IN NOW (no cost)

The Oscars are only a few days away. The Oscars take place this year on February 26th 2012. This is your chance to show off your movie knowledge. Join my first Oscar Pool, it is all for fun, points only, no purchase required. Bring it on, like donkey kong! :)

Click HERE and use the following code to join Reactive Candy's 2012 Oscar Pool: 1514-Djq3

'Reactive Candy' nominated for a Ninjamatics' 2012 Canadian Weblog Awards

Reactive Candy has been nominated for the Ninjamatics' 2012 Canadian Weblog Awards in the Disability and Health & Wellness categories.

The Ninjamatics' 2012 Canadian Weblog Awards are a juried competition with nominations that are open in 35 categories between February 1st and November 31st, 2012. The nominees shortlist will be announced on January 15, 2013, and the winners will be announced on January 31, 2013. A running blogroll of the nominees is kept throughout the year so that they can highlight Canada's blogging talent.

Reactive Candy's 2012 Juno Picks

 JUNO FAN CHOICE AWARD

Arcade Fire 

Avril Lavigne 

City and Colour 

Deadmau5

Drake 

Ginette Reno 

Hedley 

Justin Bieber 

Michael Bublé 

Nickelback 

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

City and Colour  - Fragile Bird

Hedley - InvincibleJohnny Reid - Let’s Go Higher

Nickelback -When We Stand Together

The Sheepdogs -I Don’t Know

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY HMV CANADA)

Adele -21

Coldplay -Mylo Xyloto

Lady Gaga -Born This Way

LMFAO- Party Rocking

Rihanna -Loud

ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY MUSIC CANADA)

Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullabye

Drake -Take Care

Justin Bieber -Under the Mistletoe

Michael Bublé -Christmas

Nickelback -Here And Now

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

City and Colour 

Deadmau5 

Drake 

Feist 

Michael Bublé 

GROUP OF THE YEAR

Arkells Arkells

Down With Webster 

Hedley

Nickelback 

Sam Roberts Band 

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY FACTOR AND RADIO STARMAKER FUND)

Alyssa Reid 

Dan Mangan 

Diamond Rings 

JRDN 

Lindi Ortega 

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY FACTOR AND RADIO STARMAKER FUND)

Braids 

Hey Rosetta! 

Mother Mother 

The Rural Alberta Advantage 

The Sheepdogs 

COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Doc Walker -16 & 1

High Valley -High Valley

Jason McCoy -Everything

Jimmy Rankin -Forget About the World

Terri Clark-Roots and Wings

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Cuff The Duke - Morning Comes

Feist - Metals

Jenn Grant -Honeymoon Punch

Jim Cuddy -Skyscraper Soul

Ron Sexsmith - Late Bloomer

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY LONG & MCQUADE)

Braids -Native Speaker

Dan Mangan -Oh Fortune

Destroyer -Kaputt

Fucked Up -David Comes To Life

Timber Timbre -Creep On Creepin’ On

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Avril Lavigne -Goodbye Lullaby

Down With Webster-Time To Win Vol. II

Hedley -Storms

Lights -Siberia

Marianas Trench -Ever After

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY RECORDING ARTISTS' COLLECTING SOCIETY - A DIVISION OF ACTRA)

Arkells -Michigan Left

Matthew Good - Lights of Endangered Species

Sam Roberts Band -Collider

Sloan -The Double Cross

The Sheepdogs - Learn & Burn

VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Diana Panton -To Brazil With Love

Fern Lindzon -Two Kites

Sonia Johnson -Le carré de nos amours

Sophie Milman -In The Moonlight

The Nylons -Skin Tight

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Classified -Handshakes and Middle Fingers

D-Sisive -Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye

Drake -Take Care

Kardinal Offishall -Anywhere (Ol’ Time Killin’ Part.2)

Swollen Members -Daggermouth

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Anjulie -Brand New Chick

Deadmau5 - Aural Psynapse

Duck Sauce Tycoon -Barbara Streisand

Martin Solveig & Dragonette -Hello

Mia Martina -Devotion

R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

JRDN -IAMJRDN

Jully Black -Set it Off ft. Kardinal Offishall

Karl Wolf -Ghetto Love ft. Kardinal Offishall

Melanie Fiona -Gone And Never Coming Back

Robin Thicke -Pretty Lil’ Heart ft. Lil Wayne

VIDEO OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY MUCHFACT, EXCLUSIVELY FUNDED BY BELL MEDIA)

The Stand - MOTHER MOTHER

Rows of Houses - DAN MANGAN

Stamp - THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE

Good Day At The Races -HOLLERADO

Rumbleseat - THE SADIES