Therapy
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In this post I want to briefly share my understanding of the interplay between fear and anger, or, at the risk of sounding a tad too lofty, my philosophy of anger and fear. I call it “sutra on anger and fear.” The word “sutra” is Sanskrit for “aphoristic teaching.” (I don’t speak Sanskrit but I like to play with it a bit since much of my clinical thinking has been influenced by Vedic and Buddhic ideas that had been originally written in the language of Sanskrit.) This “teaching on anger and fear” is rather basic but it’s pivotal to understanding my approach to anger management (I’ll be sharing some anger management tips in the months to come as I am currently working on an anger management book).
Anger and Fear | 360 Degrees of Mindful Living
Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift In Our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis | Psych Central
If madness, or psychosis , is just a result of a physical defect in the brain, then it makes sense to devote little effort to understanding the experiences of mad people, and to focus instead on suppressing such experiences as much as possible. That’s what our vast “mental health” industry has been doing for decades, without success. In his book, Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift In Our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis , psychologist Paris Williams outlines a very different approach — one that prioritizes understanding and the valuing of personal experiences. Before writing this book, Williams spent time as a hang glider pilot, winning one world championship and several national awards. Then, he tells us, he experienced a mental crisis that could have been labeled psychosis, but avoided getting diagnosed or “helped” by psychiatry.
Understanding the Effects of Social Environment on Trauma Victims
Both culturally and medically, we have long seen it as arising from a single, identifiable disruption. You witness a shattering event, or fall victim to it — and as the poet Walter de la Mare put it, “the human brain works slowly: first the blow, hours afterward the bruise.” The world returns more or less to normal, but you do not. In 1980, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defined trauma as “a recognizable stressor that would evoke significant symptoms of distress in almost everyone” — universally toxic, like a poison.
Why Is It So Hard To Get Anyone To Change?
Edgar Levenson, M.D. Change is hard for us all. In the Olden Days of male-oriented, medically dominated, classical psychoanalysis, patients were “screened.” Many people now treated successfully were deemed “un-analyzable”. And if in treatment you didn’t do well, it was fault—inadequate motivation or wrong diagnosis. Well, things are different now.7 Steps to Develop Awareness of Your Feelings and Thoughts | Neuroscience and Relationships
Your thoughts are an inner dialogue. You have an average of about six thousand thoughts a day, most of which you habitually repeat to yourself. In many cases, you learned to think these thoughts from experiences with your primary caregivers in childhood, and have been repeating them from that time.
Many long-term relationship seekers have failed to find their ideal partners despite sincere and intense efforts. They have read dozens of self-help books and Internet articles, watched dating videos, and sought competent therapists to help them. They have learned every phase of finding the right person, correcting their own dysfunctional behavior, and keeping competitive in the dating market.
Who Are The "Keepers?" The Behaviors of Successful Long-Term Partners
We’ve all encountered the brilliant artist who creates incredible, creative pieces of art, but does not pick up on your cues that you are ready to leave the conversation and move on. Or the person who can tell you absolutely everything you ever wanted to know about summer weather patterns, but totally missed the joke you just told and is now looking at you like you did something offensive. We walk away from these encounters wondering what exactly is going on since the person is obviously high functioning, but seems “socially awkward.” Perhaps these people have Asperger’s Syndrome . Many people with Asperger’s Syndrome, often referred to as “Aspies,” get diagnosed as children.
Loving Someone With Asperger’s Syndrome | Partners in Wellness
The hallmark symptoms of clinical depression are no doubt sadness and loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed. Many people also are familiar with appetite and sleep changes. But there’s a whole set of other physical symptoms that are less known but just as debilitating. In fact, depression can literally hurt. According to a study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, up to about 76 percent of people who report the typical emotional symptoms also report physical signs, such as stomach problems, headaches, backaches and chest pain. Depression also is a chameleon.
Depression’s Other Symptoms
Living Free From Regret
A friend of mine sent me a list of The Top 5 Regrets People Say on their Deathbed as compiled by Bronnie Ware , a woman who works closely with the dying, It wasn’t relevant that the list was not necessarily the result of stringent empirical research or that it could even be fictitious; what seemed relevant to me was that it had gone viral on the Internet. These five regrets were obviously resonating with people and inspiring them to tell others about them. The regrets expressed simple desires: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Removing a protein from cells located in the brain's reward center blocks the anxiety-reducing and rewarding effects of nicotine, according to a new animal study in the July 27 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience . The findings may help researchers better understand how nicotine affects the brain. Nicotine works by binding to proteins called nicotinic receptors on the surface of brain cells . In the new study, researchers led by Tresa McGranahan, Stephen Heinemann, PhD, and T.
Eliminating protein in specific brain cells blocks nicotine reward
Need Mental Health Treatment in 2 Weeks? Fat Chance
So let’s say you needed mental health treatment right away. Let’s say it’s an emergency — so much so that you sought out help at the local emergency department, and the doctors there said that you absolutely needed to get into treatment immediately — within a week or two. Now, let’s assume you’ve got good private insurance. You know, something like Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts Preferred Provider Organization. This is one of the best insurance policies you can buy in Massachusetts. What sort of chance would you have in getting to see a mental health professional within two weeks?Jason, a college junior, is trying to decide what to do after graduation. He is leaning strongly toward graduate school but is unsure of whether he wants to stay in the United States or study abroad. An honors student at a liberal arts university, he has taken a wide variety of courses--from chemistry and calculus to philosophy and political science--and he has gotten As in all of them. While he knows he is fortunate to have so many options available, he also sometimes panics that he will make the wrong choice and end up in a job he doesn't like.
Multipotentiality: When High Ability Leads to Too Many Options
Toxic “Feel-Good” Thinking – Why It’s Addictive to Your Brain | Neuroscience and Relationships
Habitual thinking patterns that cause intense feelings of fear, anger, shame or guilt are not only toxic, but also addictive in nature. Why? They stimulate pleasure and learning centers of the brain similar to addictive substances. Toxic thinking is characteristically compulsive in nature and causes intense fear-based feelings, which can overwhelm or zap our body’s energy supply. It consists of thoughts that habitually forecast disaster, perpetuate worry, instill doubt, obsess on perfection, describe self (or another) as a victim, or point fingers at others. So, how can these pain feelings stimulate pleasure?A group of college honors students huddles over scribbled pieces of paper in a dorm room in the early morning hours, bleary-eyed and tired but unwilling to leave until they finish what they've started. These friends are not pulling an all-night study session. They are playing , and a new study suggests that their fun-and-games role playing may be helping them to manage anxiety and fears.