“Pain in this life is not avoidable, but the pain we create avoiding pain is avoidable.” ~R.D. Laing Millions of people turn to addiction for escape only to find it a prison. One of the reasons an addiction is such an effective trap is that it’s constructed on contradiction. The lows chase the highs, the… Read more »
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Psychological First Aid can help support family and friends through a crisis. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus noted that the only constant is change. We currently live in an era of unprecedented personal, social, economic, and political change. While change can often be uplifting, it can also be distressing. Due to current events, or… Read more »
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On Sunday night, I tucked my son into bed, cleaned my house to an atypical point of tidiness, and baked two quiches, using the exact amount of ingredients I bought at the store. My precise dominance over these utterly mundane activities gave me a sense of calm, a soft illusion of control. It didn’t last…. Read more »
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The experience of trauma makes a profound mark on a person. It doesn’t matter whether the injury is grave and evident, like the bruising of a battered person, or hard to see, like the emotional neglect of someone detached and withdrawn. Whatever the cause, when a person feels threatened, helpless, and unable to escape, that… Read more »
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Imagine having to wash your hands five times in a row just to feel clean enough to go to bed or needing to check your oven a dozen times before you believe it’s really off. Picture trying to go about your life, while being inundated with unwanted images that make you question whether there’s something… Read more »
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Do you ever just wake up in a bad mood? Or someone says something to you that feels unkind and triggers you into a negative state of mind? Maybe you have a propensity toward depression and lose your will, your spirit, your gusto to stay engaged in life in ways that generate your creativity and… Read more »
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At different points in our lives, many of us hold grudges against other people who we feel have hurt or offended us in some way or another. We can hold grudges for people who aren’t even alive anymore. We often hold onto grudges with the false notion that we are making the other person suffer by… Read more »
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Recently, a friend of mine who suffers from chronic lower back pain came back from yet another visit to the doctor with a bit of unexpected advice. Instead of the usual discussion of shots, medications, physical therapy, or even surgery, his doctor recommended a book, Healing Back Pain: The Mind Body Connection. The book by… Read more »
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Start Making Sense of Anxiety – See, Sense, Set a New Direction Raise your hand if you have never experienced anxiety. I’ve asked this question to thousands of people around the country when teaching about stress reduction, and not one person has raised their hand. What a relief to discover I am not the only… Read more »
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In my last blog, I described the “voice” as a series of negative thoughts and attitudes toward self and others, which are at the core of a person’s self-destructive ideology and behavior. As such, the voice can be conceived of as the internal enemy or anti-self aspect of the personality. My approach to psychotherapy is… Read more »
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