By Peggy Gold, MS, NCC, LMHC, Narrative Therapy Topic Expert Contributor

Click here to contact Peggy and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

What’s your “Holiday Story”? For some, it may be about connecting with friends and family, eating hearty meals and treats, singing songs, or getting in touch with one’s spirituality. For others, it may be laced with groans and moans, trepidation, loneliness, frustration, angst, and bouts of depression and anxiety. Often both “stories” can somehow co-exist.

I used to spend quite a bit of time worrying about the holiday season and what it would hold. With increased obligations, people really are in demand this time of year! With so much more on our plate (literally and figuratively) it’s easy to feel overloaded and disconnected from what the holiday season is supposed to mean. Combine that with mandatory or obligatory time spent with relatives or coworkers that may not normally spend time together, and it can be a recipe for STRESS. All of a sudden our holiday stories are about shopping, traveling, running from place to place, and making small talk. They are frenzied and lack depth and feeling. I call this type of story a “thin story” (lacking depth). When life gets taken over with thin stories, we can start to retreat inside ourselves, which only feels worse. It can become a very vicious cycle. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

There have been many studies and proposed programs suggesting that the incorporation of exercise into one’s regular routing can go a long way towards both warding off depression and treating it in those already exhibiting symptoms. The positive effects of exercise on mental health are well-documented, but the precise ways in which physical activity can aid in the fight against depression may not always be exactly clear. It is for this reason that a study conducted at the University of Nottingham in the UK has been especially well-received. The study worked with a selection of women indicated for feelings of depression, and chose a certain number to participate in regular exercise treatment routines, while the study group was introduced to a supportive regimen of counseling and exercise.

The study was in part established based on the notion that standard gym exercise routines often fail to produce positive results for those with depression because of the relative isolation of the activity. To counteract this isolation, the study group was given extensive motivational counseling sessions before each period of physical activity, and participants took part in low-impact exercise on treadmills in communicative, supportive groups. Emotional support was on-hand throughout the exercising segments to allow for extra encouragement and help as needed. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Longwood Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Headline

Taking a leisurely stroll at sunset or starting off the day with a brisk walk has often been hailed as a healthy and invigorating way to incorporate exercise into a healthy lifestyle. Increasingly, the benefits of walking and other forms of exercise are being recognized as useful components of the healing process in clients with feelings of depression. Suggesting that the adoption of an exercise regimen –even if it simply consist of enjoying some therapy sessions while taking a quick jaunt out of doors- can have a significant impact on recovery, especially in clients experiencing emotionally-related lethargy and other undesirable symptoms. The growing acknowledgment of these benefits may lead more mental health professionals to take their work on an amble.

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Carlsbad Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

By Debbie Devine, MS, LPC

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“In the depth of winter, I finally realized that deep within me there lay an invincible summer.” A. Camus

Let’s face it, life throws us curves sometimes. We all experience the ups and downs that lead some of us to seek the help of a therapist or counselor: relationship issues, money problems, job struggles, grief and loss. Add any of those stressors to our current economy and it becomes even more challenging to stay positive and thankful! And yet, an optimistic focus is an essential quality for mental health and happiness. What do we do?

The Practice of Optimism

The alarming thing about tough times is that negativity feeds on itself. As we “talk fear” to others, we contribute to THEIR anxiety. They then spread that talk to more people, keeping us all in a state of uneasiness. Negativity is truly contagious, a “mental virus” spread by thoughtless conversation, news stories, and emails. Before you know it, a whole nation is panicking, which helps cause the very hard times we fear.

What we Focus On, Grows…

An ‘attitude of gratitude’ simply means that we make a conscious choice to put our attention on what we like about our lives. One easy exercise is to list the three best things that happened to us today, and then note why they happened. The “why” is usually because we chose to make an effort to improve our lives, whether it’s the good feelings we get from working out, or the pleasure of calling a friend. This helps us see that we are not victims and we are not powerless. There is always one small thing we can do to improve our present circumstance and ease our anxiety. Some ideas: Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org Featured Column written by Sarah Jenkins, MC, LPC

Click here to contact Sarah and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

I am writing this article as the plane I’m on rises to join a sky that clamors to support and embrace it. And as I struggle to wrestle my unruly, petulant judgments about air travel, I find myself reflecting on the actual journey that I have taken. Not a vacation, but my return to from where I lived most of my years as a young adult. I had returned to Virginia to help my mother, and all of her memories packed in unassuming boxes, as they travel to their new home in Arizona.

The process of moving my mother, and our history in Virginia also comes on the heels of a dear friend’s request to write a letter for his parents as part of a scrapbook in celebration of their anniversary. And as both of these experiences ask for my reflection upon “the past,” I find that they also make me consider the idea of “attachment” and “impermanence.” Maybe you can relate.

The classic saying about change is that change is the only thing that is truly predictable; nevertheless, and as my trip to Virginia serves to remind me, no matter what one is attached to, it is not “permanent.” Thought it may be uncomfortable, and illicit strong reactions as you consider it, impermanence is what is permanent. Everything, and anything in life, is temporary, even this very moment. For while we may seek to get attached to things, people, events, substances, emotions, money, objects, beliefs, perceptions of others, even memories of the past, and ourselves, it is predictable that things do end. We just do all that we can to avoid it. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

Meditation is a practice that has seen a significant boom in the West in recent decades. Appealing to the modern mind, body, and spirit, so often caught up in the fast pace and frequently stressful environment of everyday urban life, meditation offers a way to achieve calm, focus, and a decidedly lighter mood. But as one recent study has suggested, meditation –or at least, specific kinds of meditation– may be highly advantageous in improving visuospatial memory, as well. As more and more people become aware and concerned about the implications of memory loss and lack of focus, such a study offers a practical and potentially very powerful method for taking control, not to mention its possibilities within the realm of therapy. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Albuquerque Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

By Sherry Gaba, LCSW

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Remember that famous quote from Varuca Salt in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. That reminded me of how we all feel sometimes when we don’t get what we want and are thrown into reality once again that things don’t always come how or when we want it. There is a force at work greater than ourselves and what we may hope for may present itself or not, but if it does, it is not exactly always in the form we want it to appear and usually when we least likely expect it.

This month’s challenges for me got me thinking about Varuca Salt. It also reminded me of my father’s famous quote, although I don’t know if he made it up or not….”Sherry,” he would say, when I would be disappointed about not getting something I desperately wanted, “Expect for the worst, hope for the best, and you will end up somewhere in the middle.” Now, that seems reasonable, doesn’t it or does it? It certainly doesn’t go along with the whole law of attraction principal that whatever we think, we will attract. Read the rest of this entry

By Jason Wasser, LMFT

Click here to contact Jason and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

A few weeks ago, I read that Warren Buffett, one of America’s most influential investors, likened this country’s escalating fiscal woes to “an economic Pearl Harbor”. In my practice, I find that my clients are handling the financial crisis in ways that they never thought they would. Some talked about screaming at their spouses and children, while others talked about drinking to take the edge off at the end of the day. But the majority talked about the depression they are trying to fight. Feeling stuck and overwhelmed, their resources seem limited given all that is going on in the world. And no one ever wants to feel like they are stuck where they don’t want to be. Doing something for themselves can sometimes seem out of the question.

A different Buffett, Jimmy, the musician and savvy businesman once mused, “if life gives you limes, make margaritas”. Inspired by the words of the Mayor of Margaritaville, today I did just that! A close friend of mine and I closed up shop and headed down for a daycation to the Florida Keys to enjoy the therapeutic healing of the water, sun, sand and good conversations with friendly locals. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org Featured Column written by Sarah Jenkins, MC, LPC

Click here to contact Sarah and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

As a young child growing up in the hills of North Wales, Great Britain, my imagination assured me that the small, brown, dark circles dotted across the fields were truly doorways into other worlds. Skipping in circles, dancing to the harmony of the breeze caressing the trees, I was certain that, at any minute, I would be whisked away into the worlds in between this one, and the next. And, in between those worlds, I could find mystery and magic.

I held onto my belief in the world of fairies until I was about seven-years-old. My neighbor, innocently enough, burst my bubble of fantasy when he innocently told me that fairies weren’t real. Fairy rings didn’t exist. Though the Celtic folklore surrounding the land of fairies was generations old, the dark rings were, in fact, a unique moss that grew in circles amongst the green hills of Wales. I was crushed. The land in between worlds, the place that I believed I could travel to, became a cherished reminiscence. I grew up, and thought my imagination would forget about it. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update:

Anyone with even an amateur interest in psychology will quickly be able to impart that the brain is a fascinating organ. The prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that allows us to consider past memories and ponder what the future holds, as well as to perform complex reasoning, is also responsible for enabling us to over-analyze and to hold onto emotional responses well past the point at which they’re actually useful. Paradoxically, the same part of the brain that has bestowed us with the means to think more has also given us the opportunity to blunder, worry, and fear — and this affects not only our thought processes themselves, but our overall happiness in general.

Enter Madison University Communications Psychology professor Richard Davidson, whose journey to helping develop new tools for greater mental control and happiness began with a visit to the Dalai Lama. The famed exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama exemplifies the Buddhist values of peace, compassion, collectedness, and, despite his separation from his homeland and his people, of happiness as well. Davidson wanted to investigate how monks’ mental exercises and daily practices physically effected their brains, and was assisted with the help of several Tibetan Buddhist masters hand-picked by the Dalai Lama, all of whom had spent tens of thousands of hours meditating. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist San Antonio Bureau - All Rights Reserved.