Therapy and Counseling Articles

"Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world." You have heard this before. It makes sense. Yet, do we really understand the magnitude of its truth? The very idea that your beliefs thoughts, and feelings (your inner world) directly influences your outer world experiences, especially if your experiences haven’t necessarily been good, can be a little disconcerting.

There was a point when I noticed that everyone in my life seemed to talk a lot while I listened. I wasn’t a talker. I was pretty young; maybe my early 20s and I didn’t know things other people knew…like women talk more than men in general. Men think differently about sex than women. There are chick flicks. I could go on………. You could say that I didn’t know much of anything about the world! I was really naïve. However, I began to watch people. I thought that maybe something was wrong with me and I needed to talk more to be normal.

I have experienced a shattering of my old world - a crash that broke my cover personality, the part of me that tried so hard to earn my worthiness through doing, pretending over dysfunction and often covering it with pride. This false face hid a strange emptiness, a voiceless hollow, a place of fearful aloneness and ferocious self-righteousness. I realized that I lived within a deep divide, in two different worlds, one of love and one of fear. What became clear was that I cou

When I was a teenager, there was only one place to meet up with friends: the mall, of course! We'd catch up on gossip, walk around, have lunch, and absently make some purchases as we went. It was an enjoyable time, but my closet kept getting fuller. I'd purge the things, and it would fill up again. Not exactly compatible with a lower-waste lifestyle.

I remember the first time I experienced a "vulnerability hangover." I remember the exact date, to be exact. It was January 1, 2013. I had been blogging for nearly 2 years, sharing our adventures in sailing and minimalism. I had quit Facebook and started corresponding with friends via e-mail. These interactions were a huge part of my journey, and each of these friends pushed me to break away from the script given to us by society and realize the life that I actually wanted to live.

There are really three things standing in the way of having the life you desire. They are three big things, but once you learn how to work these three things in your favor, there is no dream you can’t achieve. Let Go Of Fear All failure comes from fear. Really. Procrastination, inertia, worry ...

There's no escaping the fact that children take up time. In fact, they tend to take up so much time that there can be little left over to focus on yourself. Babies especially are incredibly demanding and their needs can become all-consuming. Even the most organised and efficient mums admit to days when they have fed their kids junk food or sat them in front of the TV just to get a minute's peace. Personally, I find when my baby finally falls asleep, I am so conce ed at how to make the most of this brief gift of time that I mostly end up getting nothing much done at all.

Couples who work well together are not just born to be together. More often than not they have struggled to create a relationship that works for both of them. Partners are not made for each other in Heaven, there is no Santa Clause and, sorry to say, sitting around waiting for a miracle to ...

Being a Personal Fitness Professional, I hear from many people who are suffering from various aches and pains, and unfortunately are misinformed. One thing I am constantly hearing from people is "I've got a bad back," or "just my old tennis elbow acting up". This frustrates me because these ...

The past few weeks, we have been examining the benefits of decluttering and simple living. The studies make it clear that living a less cluttered life is beneficial not only for your mental health, but also for your family. The problem is that so many of us have so much clutter. Where can you even begin? Today I am challenging you to start establishing some good habits that will eventually lead to a calmer, less cluttered home. Choose any one of these decluttering mini-missions to help you get started:r

Many people often confuse psychiatrists and psychotherapists when searching for a mental health professional. Contrary to popular belief, we are not one and the same. In layman’s terms, a psychotherapist is a person who treats mental disorders by psychological rather than medical means. On the other hand, a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who takes additional training and residency in psychiatry.

Sensuality, like sexuality, involves all of our senses. The more sensuous we are, the nhealthier we are in our sexuality. Healthy sexuality requires all of our senses to be fully engaged, including our heart—giving nsacredness to the act of lovemaking. To be sexually engaged from the ...

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Stress and anxiety often go hand in hand, especially in our stressful, fast-paced culture. Sometimes it feels like everything -- jobs, home, relationships, money - is compounding to cause greater amounts of stress. When stress becomes a problem our fears and worries are heightened to the point where the body starts to react. Stress increases heart rate and respiration, makes us feel anxious, nervous, and fearful, and it can cause conditions that are detrimental to us, both m

If someone gave your child a drum for Christmas would you be pleased? I suspect not but the giver may know a thing or two that you don't. Drumming with your offspring can bring about new levels of communication between you and take you both on an exciting jou ey of exploration and discovery. ...

Stress can cause havoc in our lives if we don’t take steps to manage the symptoms. Increased levels of stress and worry can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, along with your behaviors. Each person can experience stress-related symptoms in a different and unique way. It often targets the weakest part of your physiology and character. For example, if you’re prone to acne break-outs, then stressful situations/days can cause a flare-up. If you’re known to be grumpy, stress will only make the matter worse.

The purpose of this article is to dismantle persistent and popular misconceptions and purposely engineered myths about psychology, psychologists, counselors, and self-help industry current activities performed by its most loud and often well known institutions and representatives. Since no psychologist, energy healer or coach has ever presented this info anywhere in the internet, in a magazine or in a book out of fear that it may compromise their present and future practice,

I will begin with a small story: There were two monks walking along, in silence, on their way to a monastery. As they approached a stream, there was a woman standing there unable to cross. One of the monks picked her up and carried her across the stream, setting her down on the other side to ...

The idea of seeking therapy or counselling may be intimidating. Having reservations or feeling uneasy is completely normal, especially when opening up to someone new. Clearing up some common misconceptions surrounding the area of counselling and therapy may help put your mind at ease and feel more comfortable. Counselling is Only for ‘Major’ Issues or ‘Crazy’ Peopler

Relationships in a Recession – Part 1 Don’t let your relationship slide into recessio In this series of articles, I am addressing the effect that the growing recession is likely to have on a couple’s relationship, what stance to take and what action to take to prevent the slide. In this first ...

These are my dog children. They are adopted. That is why they don't look anything like me. They have been a part of my family for just over two years now. We think they were breeders because Freda (top) was pregnant and eight years old when the pound found her. Fritz had such bad teeth the pound ...

This month, I have been writing about the benefits of living a simple lifestyle. I have shown you have decluttering helps to reduce anxiety and to prevent the mind from becoming overwhelmed. Yet my posts have focused on adults living a simpler lifestyle. We often think that living minimalistically is only appropriate for adults, and possibly only single adults. Children need lots of toys to learn and grow, right? They need toys, and they need a schedule full of enrichment activities.

Being a Personal Fitness Professional, I hear from many people who are suffering from various aches and pains, and unfortunately are misinformed. One thing I am constantly hearing from people is "I've got a bad back," or "just my old tennis elbow acting up". This frustrates me because these ...

Your EAP, or Employee Assistance Program, is designed to help you out when you need it the most. If you or any of your family members have any personal problems like addiction or psychological issues that must be dealt with, then the EAP is available in order to help you work through them. You can also use your EAP for help in dealing with stress, traumatic events or anything that impacts your emotional, physical or mental health.

A client-focused counseling practice can provide a variety of benefits to you. Look for one who treats other healthcare professionals and has an outstanding reputation. Such a therapist will provide advice on all aspects of mental health and psychiatric care. Importantly, a client-focused therapist or counselor often provides a far better level of care and information than other mental health professionals. He or she will often provide same day, weekend and evening appointm

"Funerals or memorial services are the final, formal celebration of a person’s life. They are universal rituals of love that incorporate a final good-bye." --Suzanne Kyra At funerals and memorial services, I have appreciated how the deceased and the deceased loved ones have been honored and ...

"We don't stop playing because we grow old: we grow old because we stop playing" George Be ard Shaw Have you played lately? Really played? One of the things that I encourage all of my clients to do is to "play more". One of the symptoms of the disconnection from our Authentic Self is that we don't play. Many people stop playing when they are a young child--because they had to "grow up fast" to deal with the challenging issues going on in their home.

Modern popular dance the world over now centers solidly on sexual attraction. Even the slow numbers which thirty years ago were used to try and induce an element of romance are gone. Everything about popular dance is earthier and more direct. This, however, is only one aspect of dance and ...

I woke up quite early this morning. Strictly speaking I do not know whether I woke up or whether I was really woken up by a dream. It was one of those very real dreams, the one you want to go back to and complete it. In it I was with my best male friend, whom I really was in love with. I was just telling him what an important part of my life he had been, and how much I had cared, and I'd just been about to say ''I love you'' to him when a group of other friends arrived and I woke up.

The chances are that you have done quite a bit of research to learn the way to handle depression if you or someone else you know is going through it. The good news is that there are many ways to combat depression. One course of treatment may not necessarily work for every single depressed person. NueroStar Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is one such treatment that may help relieve depression. NeuroStar TMS is a non-medicated way of battling depression by going right t

Want to change how you feel right now? Ask yourself, "what can I do great today?" Think about it. What's the one great thing that you did today?

Stress is a relatively new psychological and biological term to describe the failure of an organism to respond appropriately to a threat. Previous to this description stress was used in mechanics to mean a strain. Both definitions are accurate to describe how stress affects a human being. Stress can be an awful strain, exhausting, panic, anxious, depressing, nerve-wracking feeling caused by something or someone within our environment. There is no doubt that in today’s day i

Medical Tourism Costa Rica or Medical Holidays in Costa Rica is on an upwards move. Costa Rica is home to very skilled doctors and surgeons that provide high quality medical care at a small fraction of the pricetag matched against the U. S.. Every year heaps of patients visit the country to get medical, surgical, dental and cosmetic surgeries. With growing medical therapy costs and reduced medical/insurance coverage, going to Costa Rica to have perfect medical care is a viabl

Picking a therapist will certainly not be an easy task, especially if it’s your first time picking one. You have many options , and few people that will be capable of adequately treating your problem. There are certain things that can help you and make your life easier if your current dilemma is what type of psychotherapist to choose. Remember – it’s vital that you choose wisely , since this is the person you’ll share most of the deep and personal details of your life

Millions of people are reported to be involved in a car accident every year in the United States, which result in death and leaving many people injured. In 2009, there were a high rate of car accidents in the United States which left 31,000 people dead and nearly two million injured. For people injured in a car accident, it is vital to know the appropriate measures to take afterward to protect themselves from any additional injury. Here are some tips to follow after a car acc

In this article, I'd like to share an extremely important idea from the world of cognitive therapy. It is an idea that I use in most of my psychotherapy sessions. To illustrate it, let me begin with a model called the ABC's.nnThe ABC model is a framework that was developed by a psychologist named Albert Ellis. Although I have written about the model before, let me give a brief overview.nn The ABCs nnIn the ABC model, the A represents any Adversity that we encounter. The A is

nnI found this work in the way that all my journeying has developed since I started getting out of my own way. My wise and wonderful teacher in Process Acupressure, Aminah Raheem, mentioned her experience of a Systemic Family Constellation group in which she had participated in Europe. Aminah is exquisitely tuned into energy and so I found what she described quite compelling. In the group she described, constellations were set up by a participant (“client”) by sel

In my work with couples as a Marriage and Family Therapist, I’ve concluded that there are certain aspects that determine the strength of a couple’s relationship foundation - that is, the relationship’s ability to stand strong in the face of the things that life throws out, be it normal daily ...

In last a few days I've thought a lot about this phrase ''season of giving.'' We often refer to this time of year around Christmas and New Year as the season of giving. And while so much meaning is contained in the word giving we often reduce it to mean exchange of presents. Of course nothing is wrong with giving a present to another person, on the contrary it could be such an act of joy and pleasure for both giver and the receiver.

I have no formal qualifications; I have a Master Degree in Clothing Design from some unremembered polytechnic down south. My mother and many others often told me that I have a way with people so I ended up being a councillor for troubled people rather than a clothier which I was trained to be. So much for the educational establishment! Good job and plenty of money for sitting in a chair and asking "what do you think the problem is", whilst I send endless text messages to my f

n nThis book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Therapy and Counseling. Therapy and Counseling allow for the treatment, discussion, and consulting of anything from physical to mental to emotional problems. D'Arcy Vanderpool is the Official Guide to Therapy and Counseling .nn Anxiety & Phobia Workbook , by Edmund J. Bourne, is a valuable resource for people interested in Therapy and Counseling , and it is available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble .n n Bo

Self-esteem is something we discuss very often, but without knowing the proper definition for it. Indeed, we do not need a very strict definition, but one that is both simple and right would define self-esteem as being a person’s basic and fundamental sense of worth. It’s the thoughts and feelings the person has about himself and his idea of worthiness – whether he is as capable as the others around him, whether he is as good as them, both professionally and morally, an

Marriage and commitment ceremonies are the precious container for a couple’s vows to each other. Commitment anchors our love into the everyday of our existence. It is the boundary around an endless horizon that holds the tender promise for tomorrow. Commitment to an intimate relationship ...

MANAGE YOUR FOOD CRAVINGS & LOSE WEIGHT! By Patrice Wolters licensed psychologist Cravings! We all get them—that desire for some fudge ice cream, holiday fruitcake, cookies, pizza, potato chips—you name it, you claim it, along with extra pounds that add up over time. Being at your “feel good weight” is associated with confidence, success in work and relationships, and new adventure. Yet many people have difficulty losing weight and keeping it off because it’s simply not easy to feel hungry.

Boundaries are invisible walls or lines that exist between ourselves and those around us. They are lines that state "It's not okay for you to cross here". Boundaries exist on the road for us so that we don't crash into each other all the time and so that we can be respectful of our neighboring automobile or bicycle. Without these boundaries I thinks it's pretty safe to say that our roads would be an absolute mess! Ok, so maybe they already are a mess because lets face it- people don't always obey the rules!

Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom.” –The Minimalists

Friends ask, “Is what I’m going through a good enough reason to look for a therapist?” Potential clients call me and say, “I’m not even sure if my issue is something people go to counseling for.” These and similar questions are all too common. And - spoiler alert - most often by the time people ask this question or give me a call they are already past the threshold of when I would suggest seeing a therapist. So yes, if you are at the point of wondering whether it

THINKIATRY & CONSEQUENCES FOR THINKING THE WAY WE DO! Posted on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 at 5:39 pmr TO VIEW THE VIDEO OF THIS POST ON YOU TUBE – Please click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBczJrw2idU Thinkiatry’s Principles and Process will challenge and change the habitual, dysfunctional thinking we have experienced throughout history and our own lives each day.

"We need each other to Fly!" "I can do it on my own". Is that a phrase that runs through your mind? This very phrase can be keeping you very stuck in your life. n When we are attempting to make positive changes in our life--desiring to move into our full potential--we can get stuck in ...

The Link Between Food and Mood The adage "you are what you eat" may be one of the most profound truths of our existence. So it should come as no small wonder that you experience a palpable sense of euphoria when you devour a decadent dessert or sample a slice of authentic New York from your favorite Brooklyn pizza spot. The truth is that the foods we eat have an incredibly tremendous effect on our overall well being - and in particular on our mental health. We could even go so far as to say that food = mood.