Therapy and Counseling Articles

Many people have done the tough work of recovery from sexual abuse, whether with help in therapy or on one’s own. It challenges us to the core, but it also frees us, and gives life and possibility where we once felt that we might never get through it. For some, getting into a relationship, or ...

Everyone wants to find the love of his or her life. People search high and low just to find the right partner. Sometimes, being in love is tricky. The person you love may not return your feelings. It is sometimes devastating to know that the person does not reciprocate your feelings. A lot of people may give up on finding their one true love. They often lose hope as the years go by. Don’t be discouraged and always keep your chin up. There are plenty of people out there that

I've been asked this question enough times that I decided to expand on the topic in this article. Therapists will likely have slightly different interpretations of what it is - and how to go about doing the therapy work itself. My definition of "family of origin work" in it's simplest form is, ...

Mental health is the most valuable thing we possess. It does not matter how rich we are financially if we are in turmoil and suffering emotionally. Hence millions of people every day consult a therapist or a psychic for support, guidance, information and help. The two things - therapy and psychic matters are quite closely intertwined because even a client who does not believe in or have any interest in psychic matters is still wanting to hang on every word that their profess

Everyone has normal ups and downs in how they feel. Sometimes an episode of feeling down or sad turns into Depression and persists for some time. And sometimes depression is a result of a medical condition. Whether you bounce back quickly from feeling depressed or whether you suffer from chronic or recurrent episodes of Major Depression, use the following suggestions to help yourself feel better.

Yes, you can teach yourself to play an instrument. There are, though, a number of points to be considered. If you lack self-discipline, and need a mommy-like figure to be telling you to practice, then this method is not for you. Figuring out what, how, and when to learn certain things is not ...

It's never about the other person....there's no one doing it to us....every things an inside job. No matter what we are experiencing, no matter how it appears to be someone else’s fault, someone else’s personality defect, someone else’s manipulation or lie, it isn’t. Everything in our lives sources from the content in our own multi-leveled mind and can only be changed by changing the consciousness that created it.

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 ...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.

Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D., LMFT San Jose Counseling and Psychotherapyrn(408) 264-3082 Among complimentary and alte ative therapies for mental health, nutrition is by far the most popular and the most frequently studied. Food, dietary supplements and herbs interact biochemically with our physiology to create powerful effects on our mental health.

Stress management is a coping technique to deal with the stresses of daily life. Most stress management methods intend to equip a person with effective coping mechanisms to deal with stress. For many people they are unable to deal with stress and ignore it, bottle it up, or don’t deal with it at all. Unfortunately, in most cases this doesn’t eliminate the stress, rather it makes it worse. Learning ways to cope with stress effectively will lead to a happier, and healthier

Psychoanalytic theory, invented by Sigmund Freud and later expanded upon by Jung, Erikson, and others, places a heavy emphasis on the workings of the unconscious mind. Unhealthy individuals are not aware of their own unconscious processes, and as a result may suffer from irrational pleasure-seeking or guilt. Successful psychoanalytic marriage counseling involves bringing an understanding of the unconscious mind and its defense mechanisms into the conscious minds of both spous

Why Do We Need Time-Outs? When your heart rate gets above about 100 beats per minute we as humans loose the capacity to think rationally with some exceptions: Athletes, soldiers, doctors, police, firefighters and the like are trained to handle situations where they have to function in high stress situations, but they train and train and train some more so that they are programmed to perform their functions even under extreme stress – everyone will switch to fight or flight depending on the level of stress and even trained professionals trained for crisis on the job can have it happen in s

Many people have asked about the various animals that appear on my website, wondering if they have special meaning. Yes, I chose each animal specifically to represent the sentiment of each web page. If you haven't seen my website here is the link; www.of2minds,.com I often refer to these as my ...

A Day in a Life of Treading Water Introductionnn This is a case study of a 23-year old Canadian Caucasian woman who has been diagnosed as suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder, and is under the care of a psychiatrist for medication (Effexor and Loxapine) and talking therapy. Before ...

The issue of dual relationships recently came up in an Advanced EMDR Workshop where I was talking about working with couples:r

A friend knew I was working on a book about Energy Medicine and gave me a copy of The Healing Code: 6 Minutes to Heal the Source of Your Health, Success, or Relationship Issue. I have to admit, I was skeptical with all the hype surrounding the book. The health program known as The Healing Codes is so monumentally popular worldwide that when the book came out it sold out on Amazon is just a few hours!

We all have Spirit Guides and/or Guardian Angels that are available to assist us in our daily lives. Spirit Guides and Guardian Angels are considered synonymous by some and different by others. Those who see them as different believe that Spirit Guides have been in body before and have had experiences similar to what we are expected to go through. On the other hand, Guardian Angels have never had a physical body. Deceased loved ones can also act as our guides for a period of time.

n n Counseling Services nnThe American Counseling Association (ACA) is a non-profit, professional organization that is dedicated to the counseling profession. ACA is the world's largest association exclusively representing professional counselors.n n History nnACA was founded in 1952 as the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA). It was a merger of the National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA), the National Association of Guidance and Counselor Trainers (NAG

Did you ever experience losing almost everything that mattered to you? How did you cope with it? Depression often happens to people when situations like this happen. So-called friends disappear or avoid you and you are left pretty much alone and on your own. Sometimes even some family members may hesitate to get involved as well. You lose your popularity and you suddenly discover who stands by you at your darkest moments.

I have been asked how I am able to intuit accurate, specific information, consistently. Please know that I have worked for years to hone my intuition. It takes determination, time,and practice, to acquire any new set of skills, including intuitive ones, to make them second nature. Decide what ...

I have talked about getting people to listen, time outs and the rules of engagement. Today I am going to give you ten signs that the person you are talking to is flooded or overwhelmed and if they don’t calm down there may be trouble. They are at least not listening to you. Some of these you know but some may be new and give you an invaluable key to keeping your conversations productive. Remember you can not have a productive conversation with someone who is overwhelmed.

An emotionally sensitive child needs to be seen and heard. It is the feeling of being alone and abandoned that creates in a child a heightened sensitivity to often painful emotions such as sadness and fear. The world feels like a very scary and lonely place for a child who is not secure in feeling attached to people who love and care for them. These children need empathic listening and communication that assures them that they are loved and that their feelings are valid. It can be very difficult for a parent to see a child in an emotionally sensitive state.

Excerpted from Soul Talk: Rescripting Karmic Contracts, 2008, Adele Tartaglia In this article I shall describe new processing techniques to handle regression memories that trigger past life traumas in reference to child therapy. Using these processes Increases the rate of Spontaneous Healing 100%. Regression is easier for a child because they live in an imaginary world and a session can be framed as a game. Furthermore they aren’t programmed yet to believe their souls only have one inca ate life.

Excerpted from Transform Your Life Instantly: Mental Erasers Make Your Mind Work for You Instead of Against You, 2005, Adele Tartaglia Science has told us that expectations based on memories are strong contributing elements in creating the future events of our lives. If we choose to be right instead of choosing to learn something from an event by distrusting that there is always a purpose our minds created something, that there is only balance and order in the universe, we are attracting more of the same by perpetuating the endless cycle of repetitive life patterns.

Wheelchair dancing or adaptive dancing as it is also called is growing rapidly in popularity and has been in existence for more than twenty years. There are many different forms. Sometimes it's a matter of two people doing their own spontaneous "thing". If the man is a wheelchair user his ...

It’s always nerve wracking trying to come up with an affordable, appropriate, interesting first date idea. You don’t want to come across as too eager, too cheap, or too dull. You don’t want to be unoriginal and do the same old “dinner and a movie” thing. You also don’t want to over commit ...

Recently, a beautiful woman, begged me to save her marriage. She is not alone in seeking help for this situation. Half of all marriages end in divorce. The following coping strategies may be helpful to you or an acquaintance experiencing similar circumstances. Unfortunately, no one can save a ...

Your Psychologist will offer you weekly (50 minute). Your treatment will begin with a period of assessment which will last between 1-3 sessions. Here you will be able to discuss in detail the problems that have led you to seek therapy. Your Psychologist will also ask you more general questions about your family, work and home life in order to build a complete picture of you and how and why your problems have developed and persisted.

Many couples face a point in their relationship when the feelings of boredom and monotony begin to set in. The couple begins to feel like they’ve lost the spice and spontaneity that once came so easily. Now they have to work for that same excitement which tends to make things seem tedious and stale. This dilemma particularly takes place in the bedroom. Sex has turned into the same thing day in and day out.

Psychosomatic symptom is a term used to describe a physical symptom in the body that arises from a purely psychological or emotional cause. Some common psychosomatic symptoms include headaches, sleep problems, extreme fatigue, stomach problems as well as a variety of unexplained pains in the body. Weight gain, weight loss and an inability to lose weight can also be psychologically related for a variety of reasons as well.

The first phase of CBT Counselling is determining what it is that you want to achieve. This not only increases your chances of a successful outcome but will motivate you to continue working toward this and help you to measure your progress along the way. 1. The Miracle questionr

As a life coach, a questio I'm often being asked is "How do you distinguish your intuition from your mind? Is it possible your intuition can mislead you or be harmful to you with what it tells you?" My answer to this question is this: Your intuition, or gut feelings are there to protect you, ...

About 39 years ago a movie called “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” was released in the theaters. It stared Barbra Streisand as Daisy Gamble and Yves Montand as the psychiatrist Dr. Marc Chabot. Daisy had come to Dr. Chabot to be hypnotized to stop smoking. During the course of the treatment, Daisy spontaneously regresses back to Lady Melinda Winifred Waine Tentrees, a seductive 19th century coquette. Dr. Chabot becomes fascinated by this 19th century character and continued to explore the past life. The dean of the university with which Dr.

What happens when we decide to be partners and build family with someone, and after a few months or years the rosy glow of our idealism wears off and it seems to become so much more difficult than we imagined? Why do we find ourselves arguing, feeling jealous, greedy, and uncooperative? It seems if the other person would just do it our way, and stop being so unreasonable, things would work out great!r

In the second article of a four-part series, you'll see the progression of bipolar II through the story of Wendy, a teenager who grappled with the disorder. We'll also discuss the major symptoms of bipolar II -- depression and hypomania.

I don’t subscribe to the notion that “marriages should be easy.” What I do believe is that marriages are hard work and they require time, attention and nurturing to continue to flourish. If you consider how much people change over the years, think about how a relationship would inevitably ...

The approach and actual anniversary day of the death of someone loved and lost, brings to the surface an unsettling sea of emotions. As a therapist and life coach who provides bereavement and grief counseling, and someone who has experienced death at an early age, understanding grieving and loss is a subject near and dear to my heart. I had a recurring dream as a child that thieves broke into our apartment, snatched my mother, and threw her out of my bedroom window while I watched stunned, and paralyzed with fear.

Eddie was first diagnosed with major depression at the age of 15. The roots of his depression were multiple. He grew up with two parents who neglected him emotionally. His mother only spoke Spanish, while Eddie only spoke English. This created a huge communication gap between the two of them. Eddie’s father was also away most of the time for work. Additionally, Eddie’s parents were legally married, but barely spoke to each other. Eddie was left to raise himself in a home that was very isolative.

Hope springs ete al, and there’s nowhere that’s more true than a couple taking the leap of faith into a second marriage. To all those who dare to hope that their second marriage (or third, or fourth) will be better than the last, I say congratulations and good luck! It takes a lot of courage to ...

In Memoriam: Alice Miller (continued - see Part I for introduction) Alice Miller. For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. 1983.

Adult anxiety has many faces, manifestations and levels. The anxiety disorder I’ve had the most contact with in my experience as a therapist is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and from here on when I speak of “anxiety” I will be referring to this. I work from a family of origin perspective, ...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be defined as recurrent episodes of anxiety and panic in reaction to a past experience that was overwhelming at both sensory and emotional levels. The individual was unable to process and assimilate the experience, and the emotional trauma becomes repressed, only to reoccur in the future. The basic direction of psychotherapy for PTSD is to help the client re-process these emotions into a form that can be re-assimilate; essentially completing the process that was left undone. However, the methods for doing this are problematic for two main reasons.

Make You Mind Work for You…. Instead of Against You Excerpted from Make Your Mind Work for You Instead of Against You (c) 2005, Adele Tartaglia. Making Your Mind Work for You... Instead of Against You is about using the Law of Attraction in a positive way, instead of a negative way. Removing the seventy-five percent negative programming from your subconscious mind is the easiest, most immediate and permanent way to achieve long term constructive change in your life. Now it can be done in minutes instead of years of talk therapy which further imprints and traumatizes you.

Marking Life’s Transitions Ceremonies acknowledging life’s transitions are a blessing—a celebration or gathering telling us that we are leaving something old and starting something new. When we are meaningfully engaged in ceremony, everything around us diminishes, and our life energy is ...

After recently studying cranial sacral work, I had this insight into the symbolism of the Mayan God Kukulkan, the mystical feathered serpent, and how that is reflected in our actual physiology. Since ancient times the serpent has been a potent symbol for primal life force energy or chi. The snake, dragon, winged and feathered serpent have appeared in a multitude of cultures and were understood as sacred before they were equated with evil. They were associated with ete al life, wealth, intelligence, sexuality, fire, light and power. But what is the deeper meaning?r

Suggestibility is a term that can be used to describe how much you are influenced by something or someone. However, another explanation was developed by psychotherapist and hypnosis expert, John Kappas, PhD, who believed your suggestibility is also about how you receive and process information as well as communicate. This may seem unimportant, but actually it's helpful for most people to be aware of how they process information and communicate as it allows one to be more successful in relationships, work situations and any interaction with people.

Although one might not label it is as such, I suspect most people have had a telepathic experience in their life. You think of someone and they call or email minutes later, or start humming a song, turn on the radio, select a station and hear the same song playing. There are many examples of mind to mind communication, and the power of sending and receiving thought, in Amazing Stories about Instincts and Intuitions, my blog site. What is interesting to note, is that the majority of these events occurred during wakened hours.

In the final part of this series, we continue with Wendy's story and discuss the positive coping skills that can help people with bipolar II lead successful lives. We have come a long way in terms of treatment for bipolar conditions, and many people benefit from a combination of therapy and medication. Nevertheless, more research is needed in determining how people can manage this challenging illness. Here are several important skills that can help teenagers, and adults, with bipolar disorder:

THE DOs AND DON’Ts OF HANDLING TANTRUMS • DO keep your cool. Kids are very good at sensing your feelings. The more frustrated you feel, the more frustrated your child will become. Take control of the situation, and your child will feel more safe and secure. • DO be empathic. Try and have some understanding of the difficulty of not being able to do or have something. Everyone has had such moments. • Do NOT punish.