Category: Helplessness/Victimhood
The Good Therapy Blog
January 27th, 2012 |
After having worked in a residential treatment facility for abused and neglected girls for 8 years, I observed that the phenomenon of learned helplessness had become an all-to-common denominator for these children. It was very rare that an abused child was placed with us for a single incident of abuse. By the time these children reached our facility, many of them had already been physically or sexually abused numerous times throughout their childhood and adolescence.
Many times these children had been abused not by a single perpetrator but by several different people, including members of their... Read More
December 7th, 2011 |
Trauma symptoms are often experienced and viewed as invasive and malevolent. Helplessness, hopelessness, confusion and a condemnation of self for their existence also appear thematic. The initial layer of trauma treatment is frequently the unraveling of self-loathing for the expression of symptoms themselves; survivor and therapist collude in their endorsement of them as being inherently destructive and are to be eradicated. A divergent perspective could be that symptoms are an expression of health versus illness. Viewing... Read More
November 18th, 2011 |
Sexual assault can significantly change how a woman lives her life. Many women who have been sexually assaulted look for methods of protection in order to avoid being victimized again. Some purchase guns, tasers or mace. Others acquire dogs for protection. And many women enroll in modern self-defense training (MSDT) classes in order to gain a sense of empowerment, strength and to reduce feelings of helplessness. “The primary goal of MSDT programs is teach participants how to avoid and resist sexual assault,”... Read More
© Copyright 2011 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Longmont Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
March 24th, 2011 |
The recent sexual assault of CBS news reporter Lara Logan during her coverage of the February 2011 Egyptian uprising is a stark reminder that any woman is vulnerable to assault, regardless of her public status. You don’t have to travel to a distant country during political upheaval to be at risk. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (2000), 17.6% of American women have been victims of an attempted or completed sexual assault. And while men can be sexual assault survivors, 90% of rape victims are women.
Here are some statistics on sexual assault:
1. 32.4% of rape survivors... Read More
March 7th, 2011 |
This article will make it all sound so easy. And, practically speaking, it is. The act of making requests is an extremely straightforward process. Similar to the choice to forgive someone, offering a sincere request can immediately and radically alter the landscape of your long held grievances. Suddenly with a courageous wave of your hand, the chances of getting what you want from others can be tipped in your favor. It takes practice. But it's not rocket science. There are four recommended steps to follow – described a few paragraphs down. (Go ahead and glance at them but then come back.)
The... Read More
March 2nd, 2011 |
Depression varies from person to person and episode to episode. It not only varies in its degree of intensity and disability, but also in which types and how many symptoms the sufferer experiences. Some people do experience most of the symptoms of depression when they get depressed, but many people experience only one or a few.
It always amazes me how one depressed person can obsess about suicide, but be compassionate, forgiving and non-judgmental about themselves, while another can attack themselves viciously and yet never find any appeal to suicide. Another can feel like they are weighed down... Read More
February 16th, 2011 |
This is the fourth in a series of articles on the Scapegoat and how Voice Dialogue can help heal this ancient phenomenon that continues to occur within all human communities and within certain sensitive and susceptible individuals. The first two articles explored the Shadow, the phenomenon called projection, and the history of the Scapegoat in human communities. The third article begins the sorting and healing process through Voice Dialogue sessions with a composite client named Helen. See the first three articles here.
In... Read More
February 2nd, 2011 |
It’s not uncommon to hear couples say, “I love my partner, but if he would just do___ we would be better off”, or “I love her, but if she would only do ____ I would be happy in this relationship.”
These are very real desires: If only my partner would do (something goes here), then we would have a perfect relationship. Well maybe not perfect, but the partners who are asking for their mate to change really believe the wished-for changes would fix the problems in the relationship. It’s a wishing pattern some couples exist in. Unfortunately, that position keeps the couple stagnant, each... Read More
February 1st, 2011 |
As a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist (CBT), my goal is to teach people that a life free of depression, anxiety and other “negative emotions” is within their reach. I believe that most people are apprehensive about beginning therapy either because of something they saw on television, portraying therapists as unethical buffoons, or due to a bad experience with a therapist that wasn’t a good fit for them. When someone tells me that therapy was “ineffective” for them, I am distraught; as a CBT therapist, I often hear clients telling me that they did little more than “vent” to their therapist,... Read More
January 31st, 2011 |
Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Teenagers pose a greater risk of completed suicides because often they act impulsively without considering all of the consequences. Suicide affects the entire community in which it occurs family, friends, teachers, neighbors, acquaintances; everyone is touched by the loss of any one to suicide. Suicide can be preventable and with knowledge of signs, and symptoms and what to do, people’s lives can be saved. Currently more men die when attempting suicide but more women overall attempt suicide. In the United States, approximately 18 per... Read More
January 27th, 2011 |
Imagine bright and intelligent young adolescents or high school students. Imagine the countless different professional and personal paths they can choose to follow. But what if they envision their futures not based on their own capabilities and dreams, but rather on what they see around them? New research shows that exposure to female experts in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) increases women’s self-concept of their abilities in these fields. What does this mean for psychotherapy and the public... Read More
© Copyright 2011 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Chapel Hill Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
January 12th, 2011 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Over the past several years, and especially in the past six months, schools nationwide have moved to fight bullying in their hallways and classrooms. Study after study shows that being victimized by a bully can be psychologically devastating. Bullying victims can develop long term anxiety, depression, low self esteem, and social avoidance that escalate during adolescence and become lifelong struggles in adulthood. Therapy and counseling are important interventions, but it’s important that they be implemented early; the longer bullying goes on unreported, the... Read More
© Copyright 2011 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Louisville Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
January 11th, 2011 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Too often, youth who most need access to medical care, counseling, and social support are the ones least likely to receive it. There is no single way to change this trend, but the more insight we have into what kids are experiencing (or not experiencing) the better equipped we are to help parents and schools meet those needs. Two seemingly-unrelated studies published recently shed light on the experiences that children are encountering and what parents can do to help.
Victimization is a large problem. A... Read More
© Copyright 2011 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Scottsdale Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
January 7th, 2011 |
Another way to understand your healing journey is to think of growing from a place of victimization to survival and finally into thriving. While you had no choice about being victimized, you do have a choice about growing through these stages. Regardless of what the traumatic event was, where or when it occurred, there was a period of time, however short or long, when you were victimized. This victimization is not of your doing and is not something to have guilt or shame about, rather it is a factual reality to understand, accept and grow through. When an individual cannot or does not (for... Read More
