Category: Prejudice / Discrimination
The Good Therapy Blog
February 2nd, 2011 |
Whether we know it or not . . . whether we want to know it or not . . . we all have currents of prejudice within our psyches. Although many think of their prejudices as simply “the truth,” others realize that there are some major roots to our prejudice . . . roots that need to be named, known, and worked with.
One of the roots of our prejudices is . . . we are taught to be prejudiced by the active teachings of those with whom we grow up, and also by their modeling. This is poignantly expressed in the song “Carefully Taught” from the Broadway show and the movie, “South Pacific.” Read More
January 24th, 2011 |
NOT power OVER, but power WITH! How often have you heard this phrase, almost a chant, seeming to clarify, simplify, and resolve issues about power with just these six words. I’d like to invite you to look deeper.
From my perspective, there are two significant ways to misuse professional and personal power: over-using it and under-using it. In my Right Use of Power programs, I ask people, literally, to line up on a continuum based on their own assessment of where they tend to find themselves, One extreme end of the continuum is overuse of power and the other extreme end is underuse of power.... Read More
December 14th, 2010 |
Let’s face it. Compared to gays and lesbians, straight people have it easy when it comes to the practical nuts and bolts of relationships and marriage. They go to school, find a job, fall in love, get married, have kids, send them to college, retire to Boca Raton and call it a day. The path is well trodden, worn into place by generations of “traditional” couples who have set the cultural standard. Even divorce and the minutia of dissolving a relationship are spelled out in great detail by the legal system in each state.
From an emotional and interpersonal perspective, being in... Read More
December 13th, 2010 |
One factor preventing kids with mental health concerns from seeing a therapist or counselor is not that their parents don’t notice something’s wrong, but that they are hesitant to ask for help. This is according to a recently-published study from the University of Nottingham. Many parents who noticed that their children were struggling emotionally were hesitant to ask for help: some feared it would reflect poorly on their parenting skills, some dreaded the stigma that may come with a diagnostic label,... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Fullerton Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
December 9th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Once a person becomes addicted to a substance, be it alcohol, tobacco or drugs, the addiction becomes a biological and medical problem. But how as person thinks about quitting, and often, why they started using the substance in the first place, is far more psychological. It’s because of this that substance abuse is so often grouped with mental health rather than physical health. For example, the government agency concerned with addiction is called the Substance and Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. And a person... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Encino Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
December 8th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
In the past week, two different published studies have shed light on the psychological relationship between biased environments and how people respond to that bias. First, a Georgia State University study on racism that was published in the journal Psychological Science. Participants in a popular diversity training program had responded positively in the short term, but white participants reported that long-term, their sense of guilt and inability to change systemic racism paralyzed them from being... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Oakland Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
November 23rd, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Tailoring therapy and mental health intervention to the cultural needs of specific populations has proven effective in a recent study funded by the National Institute for Mental Health. The study took place at a community health center in Boston’s Chinatown and focused on reaching Chinese immigrants suffering from depression. Depression and other mental health conditions are often more prevalent in marginalized populations. And even among immigrants identified as depressed, just 6.5%... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Atlanta Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
November 7th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Chronic medical conditions come with a wide range of adjustments, ranging from the physical and practical to the social and emotional. Certainly those that are life-threatening bring a great amount of psychological consequence. But those that are not life-threatening can also diminish quality of life, especially when symptoms of the condition disrupt social interaction or confidence. For example, a new survey of patients with severe psoriasis finds that, for 50% of these patients, fear of what... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Mckinney Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
October 22nd, 2010 |
Seth Walsh, 13, Asher Brown, 13, Billy Lucas, 15, Tyler Clementi, 18, Raymond Chase, 19, all died within the last three weeks as a result of suicide. All of them were bullied or harassed for being perceived as gay. And these are just the names that we know. There are many others out there suffering and struggling through the discovery of their sexuality.
Every day gay teens or teens who are perceived as being "outside the box" are bullied and harassed for simply being who they are. This bullying can come from fellow students but there are also negative messages from families, teachers, television,... Read More
October 15th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Humans are inherently social creatures, yet we often feel the need to hide feelings of depression, anxiety, grief and stress from those around us. What is it that keeps us from speaking our fears and feelings to friends, family, coworkers, or peers, let alone acting on those feelings enough to find a therapist or counselor? For some, it’s a sense of shame, reinforced by mental health stigma or perceived mental health stigma. Teenagers, for example, generally accept that mental illness is not a character flaw, but individual teens... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Tucson Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
October 12th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Most patients diagnosed with schizophrenia will be prescribed one or more medications for the rest of their life. Left untreated in any form, symptoms of the condition can disrupt personal relationships, make it difficult for the person to maintain employment and education, and interfere with their ability to care for themselves. In recent years, some have come to question whether medication is an appropriate first response to early signs of schizophrenia. Now, a... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Encino Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
October 8th, 2010 |
It’s not just the thoughts and feelings we experience internally that are involved in depression. A study from Iowa State University suggests that living in certain neighborhoods makes depression far more likely. Crime and poverty are two environmental stressors that can make someone more depressed, but they’re not the most influential. For people of color, prevalence of racism mattered more than prevalence of crime. Overall, the strength of social ties within neighborhoods was the strongest positive factor. Strong... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Naperville Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
October 6th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
The first full week of October marks Mental Illness Awareness Week in the United States, and has been in place since 1990 when Congress first established the week-long advocacy event. The week is promoted largely by the U.S. National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI invites therapists, counselors and other mental health professionals to join teachers, parents, public leaders, and all those whose lives have been affected by mental health concerns to join together in their... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist San Francisco Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
September 28th, 2010 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
Statistics show that people with serious mental health issues are more likely to be unemployed, homeless, unmarried and poorer than the average population. But do these factors increase one’s likelihood of developing mental illness, or does mental illness increase one’s likelihood of decreased socioeconomic status? Researchers in Norway looked specifically at people diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a population with a unique statistic: people diagnosed... Read More
© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Coral Gables Bureau - All Rights Reserved.
