…t so hard to stop procrastinating? We all possess what psychologist Robert Firestone describes as a “critical inner voice.” This “voice” is like a mean coach, critiquing our performance, questioning our abilities and encouraging us to stray from our goals. People who procrastinate tend to have a loud and active inner critic. They may hear self-hating thoughts like, “You won’t do it right, so why do it at all?” or “Don’t take a chance. You’ll never…
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…cognitive/affective/ behavioral methodology developed by my father Robert Firestone, Ph.D. The five steps of Voice Therapy target a person’s inner critic or critical inner voice. This “voice” represents a vicious anti-self that is formed out of negative early life experiences. The anti-self can fuel depression, leading people to experience a cycle of self-criticism and a feeling of worthlessness. The steps of Voice Therapy, involve: Step I: The p…
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…earn More 3) Fear of Intimacy As my father, psychologist and author Robert Firestone, wrote in his article “You Don’t Want What You Say You Want,” “Most of us profess that we want to find a loving partner, but the experience of real love disrupts fantasies of love that have served as a survival mechanism since early childhood… Pushing away and punishing the beloved acts to preserve one’s negative self-image and reduces anxiety.” Our fears surround…
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…following transcript contains part of an exclusive interview with Dr. Lisa Firestone and Dr. Christine Courtois. LF In working with people who have been violent, what do you think is the most important thing in terms of treatment just from your perspective? CC OK. Talking broadly I think, I would really want to look at their capacity for empathy and what I’ve found – and I don’t treat violent folks or perpetrators per se, but I think what’s absent…
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…following transcript contains part of an exclusive interview with Dr. Lisa Firestone and Dr. Christine Courtois. CC If I were to talk to parents about parenting, I would give them the message to really cherish their child and to do whatever they could to promote the child’s self esteem because that’s resilience for the child and also to be very mindful of “words hurt” and how much damage they can do with words and to be very careful and mindful of…
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…following transcript contains part of an exclusive interview with Dr. Lisa Firestone and Dr. Sheldon Solomon. Dr. Sheldon Solomon talks about the Fantasy Bond. SS: You know, Horney’s view was that all of us of necessity experience what she called basic anxiety, you know, the attachment people call it primal terror. Call it what you will, and long before we’re old enough and mature enough to intellectually grapple with that emotional fact and you k…
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…ng Webinars from PsychAlive. Read “Recognizing Complex Trauma” by Dr. Lisa Firestone About Christine Courtois, Ph.D. Christine A. Courtois, PhD, ABPP is a Psychologist in independent practice in Washington, DC where she is the principal of Courtois & Associates, PC. She received her PhD from the University of Maryland in College Park, in 1979. Dr. Courtois is immediate Past-President of Division 56 (Psychological Trauma) of the American Psychologi…
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…reasons, both personal and professional. For one thing, my father, Robert Firestone, has written extensively about the ambivalence inherent in every mother-daughter relationship. His descriptive accounts of the dynamics operating in the mother-daughter bond were published in Compassionate Child-Rearing (1990) and are explained in a chapter in our forthcoming book, co-authored by Joyce Catlett, The Self Under Siege: A Therapeutic Model for Differe…
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…years I have studied, along with my father, psychologist and author Robert Firestone, the roots of the critical inner voice. He developed “voice therapy” as a way for people to identify and separate from this inner critic by understanding the origins of the critical inner voice and then taking actions to go against it, actions that are goal directed and that represent a person’s true point of view. The steps involved in this therapy process are de…
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…ndon Association’s webinar, Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice, by Dr. Lisa Firestone, I hope to add some complimentary thoughts on the subject of self-attacking inner voices that diminish well-being, steal joy and shame natural enthusiasm. As children, most of us learned some version of the Golden Rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. Unfortunately, the lesson that we really learned was to treat ourselves, as well as others, as we we…
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