…to reflect back on us, filling our lives with meaningful interactions and relationships. As this occurs, life is sure to feel more precious, but isn’t that the idea? Join Dr. Lisa Firestone for the online course “Creating Your Ideal Relationship: How to Find and Achieve the Love You Say You Want.”…
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…rauma, essentially saying of their abuse “Aw, it wasn’t so bad.” She discusses trauma bonding, repetition of trauma, and the treatment of violent individuals. Finally, Dr. Courtois offers some optimal parenting strategies “to promote the child’s self esteem” including building resilience and repairing negative experiences so that the child feels responded to and cared about….
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…hips, past and present. Secure Attachment – Dr. Daniel Siegel co-author of Parenting from the Inside Out often refers to the four S’s of attachment in which a child feels safe, soothed, seen and secure. This creates what is called a secure attachment. Children with a secure attachment can see their caretaker as a secure base from which to venture out and explore the world. They feel they can move freely, but that they can always come back to the p…
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…ibution? The answers to both questions are at the heart of Suicide and the Inner Voice. Dr. Firestone believes that the key to understanding suicidal behavior comes from a knowledge of the destructive thought processes of those at risk and an awareness of their origins in early family interactions. He tells us that the negative events in our lives are not nearly as harmful as what we tell ourselves about them. From an understanding of how one begi…
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There’s plenty of advice available on parenting, but there’s no one Parenting Rulebook that answers all parenting questions. In fact, it’s helpful to have a handful of different strategies and approaches, and to keep in mind that your approaches should evolve as you mature as a parent, and as you approach each new phase of childhood. It’s almost always problematic when parents rigidly adhere to any one philosophy. My overall suggestion? Combine k…
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…isis, even the optimists are becoming doubtful. When one brings a critical inner voice to a table already crowded with the failures of every major societal institution, it is essential to distinguish the failures of huge external systems from personal failures. The employee with excellent work performance may, nevertheless, lose his job or a hard-working professional may not be able to make house payments. A critical inner voice will blame the sel…
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…ell as the feelings behind those thoughts. In this insightful webinar, Dr. Lisa Firestone will introduce an empowering approach to treating depression, while highlighting specific actions individuals can take that have been shown to reduce symptoms of depression. She will discuss a method in which therapists can help clients identify destructive patterns of thinking, the “critical inner voice” that can perpetuate a cycle of depression. When someon…
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…important to consider our own relationship to technology. . Articles on Parenting How Childhood Defenses Hurt Us as Adults When we internalize destructive attitudes during hurtful or traumatic experiences in our past, we strengthen our “anti-self.” As we grow up, our anti-self resides within us and encourages us to take actions that replicate our past but that are damaging to us in the present. . How to Bully-Proof Your Children by Building T…
Learn More…t national and international conferences in the areas of couple relations, parenting, and suicide and violence prevention. Dr. Firestone has published numerous professional articles, and most recently was the co-author of Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships (APA Books, 2006), Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice (New Harbinger, 2002), and Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion: The Wisdom of Psychotherapy (APA Books, 2003). See all of Dr. Fires…
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…move forward and grow. This type of knowing is not learned in a classroom. Parenting is an experiential journey. We make mistakes along the way. These mistakes however move us from our own “stuck” position. We too have to learn to face challenges, and those presented to us by our children are often the most intimate and intense. We are going to miss it sometimes and overreact other times. In fact, as we watched the tape, my daughter looked at me w…
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