Search Results for: michelle deen/2010/06/2009/12/dr-lisa-firestone-“suicide-the-warning-signs”/2010/03/helper-tasks-how-you-can-help-someone-whos-suicidal/2010/03/helper-tasks-how-you-can-help-someone-whos-suicidal

Why It Is Good For You to Feel Negative Emotions

…know what you are doing with your life. My father, psychologist and author Dr. Robert Firestone exemplifies this principle, recently stating, I knew early in life what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be. I wanted to make a contribution and I wanted to help people. I didn’t want to be insignificant, I wanted to be significant and I wanted to share life and I wanted to experience it, I wanted to feel everything… I didn’t want to miss anything. I di…

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Steps to Overcoming Your Critical Inner Voice

…heir voices are expressing attitudes that were directed toward them as children. They will often say things like, “That’s what my father used to say” or “That’s the feeling I got from my mother,” or “That was the atmosphere in my home.” Recognizing where their voices originated helps people develop compassion for themselves. Step Three: Responding to Your Critical Inner Voice In the third step of voice therapy, an individual answers back to the vo…

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What Real Love Looks Like

…connection two people naturally share. My father, psychologist Dr. Robert Firestone, coined the term “The Fantasy Bond” to describe an illusion of connection that many people cling to in relationships. In article I wrote for PsychAlive.org, I described the difference between real love and a fantasy bond. A fantasy bond is created when two people replace real acts of genuine love, admiration, passion, and respect with the role and ritual of “being…

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Fantasy Bond

…t to the book “The Fantasy Bond”. In this dynamic interview, Dr. Robert W. Firestone discusses his concept of the “Fantasy Bond” and its relationship to the neurotic process with Dr. Richard Sieden, suicidologist, and Barry Langberg, attorney. The topics discussed include the dynamics of the “Fantasy Bond,” the “voice” and a defended lifestyle; emotional hunger; marital and family bonds; defense against separation and death anxiety; the bi-polar c…

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How Negative Thoughts Are Ruining Your Life

…heory and therapy technique developed by my father psychologist and author Dr. Robert Firestone. It is the basis of a book we co-authored titled Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice and the subject of many of my lectures, Webinars and my upcoming six-week eCourse “Overcome Your Inner Critic.” Why I have invested so much of my time and work into this subject is because what I have found in my 30 years of research and clinical practice is that, in almo…

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Teaching Our Children About Feelings

…tures a lively discussion between several young teenagers, ages 13-14, and Dr. Robert Firestone about the importance of being in touch with one’s feelings and developing the ability to communicate feelings to others, including one’s competitive feelings. This informative film examines themes often neglected in our educational system. This program is recommended for teachers and counselors for use at both junior and senior high school levels. Forma…

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Hunger Versus Love

…itle: A Perspective on Parent-Child Relations. In this program, Dr. Robert Firestone clarifies the distinction between parental behavior that leads to an anxious attachment in children and behavior that promotes a secure attachment. Participants in a parenting discussion group explore the destructive effects of emotional hunger, both from a perspective of their own childhood experiences and in present-day interactions with their children. A positi…

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The Self Under Siege: A New Model of Differentiation

…ach to increasing differentiation, a four-step process developed by Robert Firestone, Ph.D. that involves: 1. Breaking with internalized thought processes, that is, the critical, hostile attitudes toward self and others. 2. Altering the negative personality traits in oneself that represent an incorporation of the aversive traits of one’s parents. 3. Identifying and relinquishing patterns of defense formed as an adaptation to painful events in one’…

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Withholding: A Personal Story

…others, but we withhold from ourselves as well. As newborns, we are truly helpless yet maintain the illusion that we have magical powers. After all, we cry when we are hungry and food magically appears. We’re wet and uncomfortable, but with our screaming demands we are changed and comfort is restored. We point, and our needs are met. As we get a little older and start to acquire our own freedom and movement, we realize that we are not so powerful…

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Toxic Relationships

…entered into a “Fantasy Bond,” a term developed by psychologist and author Dr. Robert Firestone to describe an illusion of connection created between two people that helps alleviate their individual fears by forging a false sense of connection. A fantasy bond is toxic to a relationship because it replaces real feelings of love and support with a desire to fuse identities and operate as a unit. As the couple relates as a “we” instead of a “you” and…

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