Feeling my emotions enables my ability to make wise choices and to turn what I once considered a burden, into a benefit. My willingness to feel enables new learning opportunities to better understand my system (body) and its functioning. What we avoid, we can’t learn from. I now have the ability to access my values at a deeper emotional level which allows me to identify how I want to respond (whether verbal or behavioral). I decreased my reactiveness regarding criticizing or complaining by recognizing and utilizing self-awareness.
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Stop Paying Therapists isn’t about encouraging people to avoid or quit therapy. It’s more about encouraging clients to utilize their time in therapy by being more intentional about equipping the skills and tools taught in order to graduate from therapy. We shouldn’t start therapy without the goal of completing therapy. The time we spend in therapy varies. At times it could be as brief as one session and at other times therapy can last for years. Whether it is one session or years of sessions, neither is wrong unless both the therapist and client aren’t being intentional about utilizing the time spent to assist the client’s needs.
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Vulnerability Exploitation: Twelve Typologies of Gaslighting Found in Committed Couple Relationships
At this juncture in our culture, most of us know the general concept of gaslighting. For those of you that are doubting your recollection, allow me to jog your memory. Gaslighting is phenomenon where one particular party (i.e., the gaslighter) mischievously attempts to cause another party (i.e., the discerning party), usually someone with whom they are intimately connected to some degree, to question or doubt their own sanity or perceptions of reality.
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Have you ever been in a situation where someone says something passively? Maybe your friend starts the conversation, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…” I don’t know about you, but it’s difficult after a comment like that not to take whatever is coming the wrong way. For people with disabilities, many passive comments are heard daily that may be well-intended but just land wrong. If you have uttered some of the phrases below, I know it was likely well-intended.
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It’s that time of year again – the intense time after spring break and just before summer, where school testing is in full swing, meanwhile students and teachers are eagerly counting down the days until summer break. I’m hearing all about it from teachers, parents, and students, all of whom are reporting that this time of year is stressful and exhausting no matter your role.
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Eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of all mental health disorders, only surpassed by opioid addiction (1). Over 10,000 deaths each year are the direct result of eating disorders, that is one eating disorder death every 52 minutes (2). 81% of 10-year-old children are afraid of being fat, with 1 in 4 having attempted to lose weight (3). These alarming statistics are only just a few picked out to highlight the eating disorder epidemic.
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My first response in learning that Merriam-Webster chose this word as their 2022 Word of the Year was “less than surprised.” I thought, “Hmmm. I can see that.” After all, it was constantly being used in media coverage of politics, but it has also been a phenomenon that many mental health professionals have focused on in their writings and media posts.
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Therapy can seem uncomfortable; You have a total stranger asking questions about your personal life and encouraging you to share information that you would rather keep private. What could be uncomfortable than therapy with one stranger? Some might say therapy with multiple strangers- aka group therapy. So why does group therapy exist?
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Mental health continues to be more understood and respected in our society, but not without challenge. Between different theories, styles, and approaches it can often be overwhelming on what to trust is the “right” answer to life’s problems. The real question to ask yourself, though, is what is the healthiest choice for me?
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Self-care has become such a buzz word in the media that we can barely go a day without hearing it marketed to us from all directions.
Whether it is to buy the latest skin care item or yoga class, self-care has become the marketing catch all used by everyone from big businesses to healthcare, but what is self-care? And will of its promises really bring us a better quality of life?