Therapy and Counseling Articles

Find Places of Healing. Discover people, things, and places that nourish your soul, bring you back to center, help you heal. Life is not an endurance contest. Not anymore. We are not in a race to see how long we can go without, how much we can go without, how much pain we can stay in. Although ...

Passionate Support Animals(ESAs) like the healthiest dog breeds are colleagues that are received or gotten back particularly for the enthusiastic and mental improvement of their human partners. Creatures have been demonstrated to have a quieting and constructive outcome on those encompassing them and investing energy with creatures whether livestock or pet creatures can have a restorative impact. ESAs resemble service creatures yet with their emphasis on individuals with enth

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about what men could learn from heroes in the romance novels their wives love so much. Read the article, “Living Your Own Love Story” here. Well, what can women learn from the main female characters in these stories? In her book, Writing the Great American Romance Novel, Catherine Lanigan discusses several characteristics that are imperative for the female heroine to have in any romance story.

THINKIATRY & SELF-THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION Posted on Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 6:21 pmr THINKIATRY & SELF-THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW VIDEO – THANKS! Webster’s Dictionary defines depression as depressing or being depressed; a hollow or low place; low spirits; dejection. We all have our own personal perception and definition. Most of us are afraid to publicly admit any level of depression because of society’s general view that people suffering from depression are mentally unstable, unpredictable, unreliable, and mentally ill.

There is a very common branch of psychological disorders that tends to affect quite a lot of people in the modern world called anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are common and they’re associated with certain factors that cause the patients to be unnecessarily anxious , and the counter-reaction to these factors in the patient’s behaviors. These counter reactions can make the people suffering from anxiety disorders experience severe emotional and financial troubles, whic

I distinctly recall when Nathan began seeing me for counseling. He was a skinny, sensitive kid with a big heart. At age 13, he struggled in the midst of a tumultuous custody battle that left emotional scars. My job was to prop him up - to give him hope that things would change for the better - and they did. Nathan came back to see me three years after he had "graduated" from therapy. He brought his new guitar and treated me to few melodies in the privacy of my own office. He was serenading me - it was a gift for being there for him.

Why is it that we avoid doing the very things that we know will be good for us? It is simply a lack of discipline or is there some kind of pay-off for not sticking to our goals? My guess is that it is a combination of both. In order to make progress and stop all the excuses, we need to truly recognize that we are responsible for ourselves. No one else can lose the weight for us, learn that course work, make new friends - if we don't do it for ourselves it just won't happen.r

Preparing meals for your family can take a "bite" out of your monthly budget. The cost of food is rising, and with restaurant prices rising even faster, cooking nutritious meals for your family at home really makes sense. But, what if you don't have much money left over each week for your ...

If you’ve been on this planet for more than a few years, you have probably wanted something with all your heart, mind, and soul, right? Did you get it? Why not? According to the Law of Attraction, we get what we hold in our subconscious or what we put all our emotions into, whether that is based in joy or fear. The Law of Attraction makes us responsible for whatever is in our lives. That’s quite a burden—and it lends itself to self-criticism at best. This article has been previously published by Elephant journal. You can view it here:r

Many of us are very good at trying to lose weight. We make resolutions, join gyms, exercise, follow a diet, resist sweets, research all the weigh loss tips we can find…We'll experience some weight loss, and even lose a few pounds in those first few weeks. And the next week, we'll experience stress and gain back those pounds--plus a few more. We were sure we knew how to lose weight, but we didn't succeed.

Anxiety and worry are twins. They both refer to one’s personal anticipation of a negative outcome. They are based on thoughts and beliefs related to events past, present and future. They are rooted in past experiences of perceived failure or lack of mastery, which continue to cause emotional and physical distress in everyday living and future expectations.

“Of all the earthly music, that which reaches farthest into heaven is the beauty of a truly loving heart.” Henry Ward Beeche Cindy came into to see me because she was being so critical with her husband Bob, who she loved very much. She said: "Some of the things that he does just ...

Taking care of both mental and physical health is imperative during times of stress. Spa treatments can help aid in the relaxation process. This can benefit concentration, focus, heart rate and skin. While massages and facials tend to be staples at many spa facilities, hair removal and even medical treatment can be offered. In this post, we will uncover the different types of spa treatments that can benefit you! What Is A Spa? Firstly, let's start with defining what a “spa”

It seems that the Mindfulness conversation is everywhere. Why now, I wonder? After all, Jon Kabat Zinn PhD., a microbiologist, started his research in 1979. He initiated a weekly practice with patients from the Massachusetts Medical Center, which he called Stress Reduction. He quickly discovered how powerful and effective mindfulness practice is. Yet it seems to have taken almost 30 years to become well known.

"Promotional stress balls to create their own brand adds fun and creativity of marketing events. Promotional stress relievers are back at the medical product designed to strengthen the muscles of hands and fingers. At the same time, the repetitive action offers some relief from stress. Toys are made of a strong company foam regains its original shape after compression by squeezing. Promotional stress toys are different shapes, designs and sizes. It can be custom-shaped stress

I wanted to write this particular blog for two reasons. One is as a memory of my loving mum who died almost 6 years ago. And the second is to share my process of grieving, what I've learned from it and how it's helped my inner growth with hope that my story may also help others who are going through a similar process.

Jessica, age 11, was brought to therapy by both her parents. Jessica was very sporadic. She had questions about all of the games and toys in the therapy room. She jumped from one corner of the room to the other in order to see each toy up close. Jessica’s parents informed me that Jessica’s older sister was hit by a car and was hospitalized for nearly dying. Jessica witnessed her sister flying through the air and tumbling down the hill in front of her house.

On the off chance that you have a silly and mental sickness and considering having an emotional support creature then you are not alone. Various individuals are doing likewise to adapt to their mental conditions. This article expects to convey data on getting an ESA letter from online sources. Emotional support creatures present love, support, and help to individuals who experience psychological maladjustment, for example, stress, uneasiness, and other clinical mental sicknes

Here you come with your signature limp and stifled grimace of pain. Your stark look of disappointment suggests that ice, anti-inflammatory drugs and electro stimulation therapy have collectively done little to alleviate your demoralizing leg pains. Your doctor, the reluctant physician, knows what’s coming next and how he would like to respond. However, fidelity to his Hippocratic Oath will not permit a surrender to the impulse to run and hide unde eath his desk.

Within the period of three months, I lost three loved ones. Two of them died three days apart. Although I knew the end was eminent as I processed each situation, my knowledge and anticipation did not soothe me - it only served to bring me closer to the inevitability of my own mortality. Some say that God will never burden us with more that we can endure - those words seem like idle chatter - it was all too much to bear. I braced myself for the predictability and shock of my pain and sought to manage its effects. There has been no single road that has brought me solace.

These two concepts go hand in hand with each other. You cannot truly and fully love yourself if you do not accept yourself fully, and you cannot accept yourself fully if you do not love yourself. It is a little bit like with the chicken and the egg, no one can really answer what comes first and it does not even matter which one comes first. What actually matters is that you cannot have one without the other and what is even more important is that in order to be a healthy, thriving, fulfilled, loving and loveable individual you have to both accept and love yourself as you are.

If you are like most people, you sometimes don’t feel as good as you would like. You might wake up feeling depressed or blue. Or perhaps you might notice that you are feeling worried. You may be able to identify the feelings and know what triggered them, or they may be more vague, like a general sense of unease. You may feel time pressure or a general feeling of being stressed.

It’s tough to parent a pre-teen or teenager. Life can turn into an alphabet soup of controversy and conflict – MTV, SATs, STDs, JLo… GLBT? When sexual orientation and gender identity enters the picture, even many “open-minded” parents are thrown for a loop. Parents may start to wonder whether ...

To retire is to stop something you are doing, thus leaving space to start something new—sometimes simply a time of rejuvenation and rest. For some of us, retirement from our professional or work life is a distinct life marker. Other times, it is a seamlessly flowing transition from one ...

Written by Melissa Howard No one wants to experience suicide or suicidal ideation. Often, suicide is a last resort to end suffering. Unfortunately, there is a painful relationship between suicide and substance abuse. If someone in your life suffers from addiction, here is what you need to know about the correlation between suicide and substance abuse. The Correlation

When a woman has been hurt deeply she sometimes develops a strong, tough, or negative attitude about relationships and trust in general. If she stays single for a long time, she may tend to believe that she can only rely on herself to the exclusion of all others. She can go so far overboard protecting her feelings that she denies a natural feminine instinct to ‘need a man’. She decides that she can take care of herself completely, while rejecting her need for support, male companionship, and even love.

We human beings are social creatures who are high wired for connection with other human beings. Connection with what is alive, in other words what is real, true and genuine in others with that what is real, true and genuine in us is one of our deepest basic needs and it is universal which means we all have it. What differs for all of us is not the need, but how we choose to meet that need. So what differs is a strategy that we apply to meet our need for connection (or any other need for that matter) and there are many strategies to meet that shared need for connection we all have.

Treatments in the field of psychotherapy are many and different, and depending on the result you want to accomplish, combined with the means you’d be most comfortable with, there are many options that you can choose in order to improve your mental status. One of the very popular types of therapy is known as client centered psychotherapy. What makes it different from all of the rest ? That is a good question , since it’s hard for most people to spot the unique and defining

“I used to have dogs,” Mary tells me slowly, “before I got sick.” She is propped in bed on a pile of pillows, staring intently at my therapy dog, Wendel. Bob, her son, had called the agency where Wendel and I do hospice volunteering. “My mom’s health has gone downhill, is there someone with a pet who could visit her?” According to Bob, Mary had been diagnosed with terminal cancer several months ago. Although Mary had full-time caretakers, her two dogs had been given away as

Look at us all bustling and moving about. So much craziness that seems random. Although, I do not believe that it is random.rnI do, however, believe that in the craziness there is a clear point, as if to say the eye of the storm. One point that is not moving, that is still. If you stand in that place, between the moving about and the perceived randomness, there is a peace.rnA distance from it all, that you can experience as your own.rnImagine for me a merry go round, the kind

As this is an initial article for this venue I struggle deciding the subject to address and what is important to the readers. My struggle is similar to those my new clients share with me when they initiated their search for mental health care. Their dilemma, like mine, is “Where do I begin?” and “What is important to share?” and is similar to anyone search for help in the maze of mental health care. “Am I normal or am I really crazy?” and “who and where do I turn to for help?

Your emotional health plays a large role in your ability to deal with life problems and stress. You can establish good emotional health by first identifying what it is you are feeling. This may sound like a no-brainer, but many people have difficulty honing in on exactly what they are feeling at a particular moment. Other people find themselves able to identify what it is they are feeling, yet are unable to manage their feeling to the extent they don’t feel overcome, or flooded, by their emotions.

“The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle. “ --Anais Ni What would you do if you were not afraid? What risks would you take in your life? What would it look like ...

Dana kept getting hooked in a relationship that was going nowhere. He came for counseling because he understood the self-defeating nature of his association with Kim. What he didn’t comprehend was how to break a convoluted connection that had a tight grip on his life. Dana confided that Kim would steal his prescription medication, exploit him for money, “guilt” him for not caretaking for her kids, and abusively berate and belittle him.

THINKIATRY & CHANGING YOUR EMOTIONAL LIFE Posted on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 9:49 am IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO VIEW AND LISTEN TO THIS BLOG ON YOU TUBE – PLEASE CLICK OR PASTE THIS LINK IN YOUR BROWSER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOlCE69xEOM I want to begin this message expressing my humble thanks and gratitude for the hundreds of kind comments and support for my work received over the past few weeks from Thinkiatry’s Blog, You Tube, Twitter, Facebook, and Search Engines.

If you have tried everything but still wondering how to get rid of your depressive thoughts, mood, behaviour, attitude, then here is some help for you. As a remedy for mental relief from depression or help for depression, try music therapy. This will stimulate your brain cells, elevate your mood and ease out your nerves. Let us first understand what actually depression is? Depression is a condition of mind in which you suffer from unpredictable shift in the functioning of neu

You and your body are one. You cannot survive without your body. However, most of American’s do not have a positive relationship with their body. It is hard to have a positive relationship with our bodies for many reasons; the media is certainly one of reason. However, because many of us do not take good care of our bodies in ways that benefit us, our bodies often hurt or feel too heavy or sluggish. In order for our bodies to feel good, we must learn to feel good about our bodies.

Worry zaps precious energy and motivates us to act against our best interests. When worry takes hold, our mental filter becomes clouded. Our mental filter allows our brains, when properly activated, to focus on relevant life-sustaining tasks and growth-seeking opportunities. When clouded, our mental filter negates what’s truly relevant and important for healthy growth and development.r

Lessons in love are hiding in almost every moment and situation of our life. The question is whether we are ready to take an opportunity to live that moment fully and whether we are going to stay open to receiving a lesson in love that this moment and situation have the potential to teach us.

We’re all grownups here, right? How hard can it be to be a functional adult? Then why do we struggle so? Depression and anxiety disorders are epidemic in our society. Stress-related health problems threaten the quality and span of our lives. Alcoholism and drug addiction touch many of our lives ...

Billy Joel had it wrong when he sang, “Don’t go changing to try to please me.” It’s nice to be loved for being just the way you are, but not everything we do works forever. Beliefs are influenced by life events. Behavior should evolve as well, especially when we join our lives with someone ...

My name is Susan Farber and I am a licensed Marriage Family Therapist in private practice. I specialize in helping clients manage, reduce, and eliminate chronic pain using a mind/body approach to treatment. I look at how denied emotions, tension, and stress contribute to the development and ...

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines perfectionism as “the setting of unrealistically demanding goals accompanied by a disposition to regard failure to achieve them as unacceptable and a sign of personal worthlessness.

So much of the media stigmatizes mental health issues. Yet, media coverage in general has a direct impact on all our lives and even controls, subliminally, how we think. But in the field of mental health, it is clear that poor quality, essentially unbalanced, press coverage of mental health issues fuels stigma and actively reduces a sufferer’s quality of life. nnSo, what can we do about it?nnFirst we need to gauge its effects on mental health sufferers themselves. The menta

Having an emotional support dog as your pet buddy can be satisfying and simultaneously fun. Having a partner dog implies assuming liability for its wellbeing and prosperity. You should deal with your dog's eating regimen, exercise, tidiness, and general wellbeing. On the off chance that you are a bustling individual, you may believe that with your activity and different exercises you won't have the opportunity and vitality to have a partner dog. This applies likewise for indi

Emotional Detox in 4 Steps What a funny word! “Detox” has so many negative connotations. In this instance, it means letting go or releasing the unnecessary emotions we gather through the year. Through the year we accumulate emotions. This is a wonderful thing, as long as we also release them in a timely manner. We experience loss, tragedy, joy, excitement, anticipation, comfort, love, and on and on. Once we experience these emotions, we often hold on to them, as if they will never return to us. This causes a block in our soul – a sense of being overwhelmed.

Some individuals with vertigo assert that home-based or natural therapies can boost the turning and dizzy sensations they believe.rnThese remedies are frequently used together with regular medical care.rnYou only ought to attempt home remedies in case your doctor provides you with the go-ahead. Some are secure, for those who have specific medical problems, but others may cause more damage than good. Repositioning Exercises You Can Do at HomernSome strategies which are utilize

To view this blog post on You Tube, please click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfokzzl5m04 On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the average level of happiness in our world today, among your friends and relatives, and you personally? Everyone can agree that we all want to be happier and more content, but how do we do it? Where do we go to find out? How do we learn the knowledge, skills and steps required?

Treating depression early and effectively can prevent it from becoming more severe and lasting longer. The type of depression a person is suffering with will determine the best choice for treatment. Major Depression and Dysthymia can be treated with both psychotherapy and medication. Most ...