A GoodTherapy.org News Headline

Each year as the sun begins to tuck its familiar summer warmth into a gray blanket of clouds, some people just can’t seem to get into the Autumn spirit. Feelings of loss, sadness, remorse, and other negative and often strong emotions may arise, making it difficult to enjoy day to day living. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, can be difficult to control, and finding a positive treatment mechanism is a goal among many mental health professionals. Recently, a study at the University of Vermont showed that the application of cognitive behavioral therapy, especially when administered with light therapy in combination, was linked to a significantly lower rate of recurrence of SAD among participants than recurrence levels reported a year after therapy implementation by those receiving light therapy alone, as well as those in the wait-list control group.

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

By Becki A. Hein, MS, LPC, Anxiety Topic Expert Contributor

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

One of the most common requests I get from clients in my psychotherapy practice is “Please help me get rid of this anxiety!” I then get to explain the Bad news and the Good news. The Bad news is that you are not going to get rid of your anxiety. In fact, it would be harmful to not be able to feel anxious. Anxiety and fear come with being alive. Anxiety can be useful when it causes you to be extra alert or careful, such as when you are walking to your car in a dark parking lot or when you are taking a test. Human beings were designed to feel anxious when faced with danger or a challenge. The fight or flight response is triggered causing adrenaline and other chemicals to increase heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, narrow our focus of attention, and enable us to do what we need to do to stay alive. However, human beings were not designed to be chronically anxious. Recent studies have shown that chronic anxiety plays a major part in either causing or exacerbating several physical illnesses, including heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders, and chronic respiratory disorders. Therefore, it is a good thing to learn to manage your anxiety. That brings us to the Good news. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

The many benefits of cognitive behavioral therapy are widely lauded among both mental health professionals and the clients who have benefited from its introduction into their lives. In particular, those experiencing symptoms of depression are likely to gain a great deal of personal empowerment and inspiration from undergoing a course of cognitive behavioral therapy, achieving a greater understanding of themselves and the world at large through examining thoughts and behaviors. Unfortunately, access to this form of treatment as well as psychotherapy at large is significantly limited in many parts of the world, and those who may stand to benefit most from CBT are often unable to find a practitioner or to afford treatment.

Explorations in the viability of online delivery of CBT have been underway for quite some time, and more advanced and precise investigations are being made into the possibility of reaching out to those without reasonable access to mental health care through the utility of the internet. Recently, a team of researchers in the United Kingdom set out to discover whether CBT delivered in real time by a qualified therapist was capable of showing promise for recovery in those with feelings of depression. After an eight month follow-up with clients who were diagnosed with depression and participated either in general health care or an online CBT program, the researchers found that those involved with cognitive behavioral therapy showed a recovery rate of nearly fifty percent, about double the rate of the control group. Read the rest of this entry

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

A GoodTherapy.org News Headline

Typically, those who experience strong compulsions to perform certain tasks or routines repeatedly with concerns about the perceived consequences of not doing so are associated with obsessive compulsive disorder, a mental health issue that can become debilitating for some people. This issue has traditionally been classified as relating to health concerns involving anxiety, but a review carried out at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests that OCD may stem from purely biological causes. While the review is far from being conclusive, it notes that a combination of treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and cognitive behavioral therapy is most promising for modern recovery.

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

A GoodTherapy.org News Headline

It has long been suspected that insomnia, rather than being a symptom of other health concerns, is a standalone issue that tends to be accompanied by any number of physical and mental difficulties. Those who experience chronic pain, such as in the case of people afflicted by osteoarthritis, are often affected by difficulty sleeping as well. Seeking better treatment for such clients, researchers at the University of Washington Seattle have performed a study on the ability of cognitive behavioral therapy to address both pain and sleeplessness. In contrast to a control group given stress management and wellness training, those given CBT reported significant gains in sleep efficiency and quality as well as a reduction in perceived pain over a year-long period. Therapy may gain a boost over popular medications as a result of the work.

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

By Gary Seeman, Ph.D.

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

Awareness is Ever-Present

To be aware is to witness. And our witnessing selves are always there when we dream, [1] in daily activities, when feeling emotions, and in states of excitement or distress. We are constantly aware, though our focus may be clear or muddled. Without awareness, there is no consciousness. But awareness is hard to see. It is ever-present, like the air we breathe.

Although always present, awareness may not be remembered. For example, we may walk around a table while moving from one room to another. But we let our perception of the table recede from consciousness without storing memories that are easily retrieved. The encoding of memory depends in part on the intensity of experience, whether this intensity is influenced by the strength of a sensory perception or an emotional response.

We are self-aware when we attend to representations of experience – whether drawn from memory or visualizing a possible scenario. In psychotherapy, we train awareness on our lived experience to realize our hopes and goals and live more satisfying lives.

Every form of psychotherapy has methods to enhance awareness. This reflects the central role of improving the quality of awareness in the process of mental healing. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update

For many people of all vocations and backgrounds, times have been considerably tough for the past few years. Major changes in terms of financial life along with a rapidly growing and changing world have created a fair amount of turmoil, and those in both developed and emerging nations have been feeling the pinch. Yet perhaps closest to the front lines of change, especially when change takes a violent turn, there exists a group of people whose experience of day to day difficulty puts them in an entirely different class. Soldiers at war are exposed to some of the most stressful and harrowing experiences modern life has to offer, and many are finding the burden too difficult to bear.

There’s no denying that soldier suicide is a critical issue; it was recently revealed that in January, more soldiers died by their own hands than in the course of combat. An incredible fact that seems on the edge of possibility, this problem belies the need for meaningful and rapid understanding on the part of armed forces administrators and leaders, and for effective prevention programs as well. Accordingly, the US Department of Defense today announced the appointment of David Rudd, Psychology Chair at Texas Tech University, to a study that will test psychological treatments for suicidal veterans.

The study, set to begin in September, has been allocated nearly two million dollars’ of funding and will focus on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. Aiming to reflect and seamlessly work with the structure and demands of military life, the study will incorporate a relatively short three-month treatment period, and determine whether a customized, scalable program can help soldiers keep suicidal thoughts and feelings at bay, for both mental health and the ability to remain in service.

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

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

Whether it’s a bad back, achy knees, or a site of previous physical trauma, chronic pain is a problem endured by scores of people, many of whom find themselves debilitated or unable to enjoy a previous lifestyle as a result. While prescription painkillers and other medications are often given to those who suffer from chronic pain, serious addictions as well as significant expense lead some to feel trapped between being in pain and being chained to a drug. But as Robert Kerns of Yale University has recently revealed, chronic pain sufferers can take advantage of a different kind of treatment with none of the side-effects of painkillers and with benefits that can last a lifetime. Psychotherapy can be an excellent way to help people overcome their personal battles with chronic pain. Read the rest of this entry

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

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Jolyn Wells-Moran, PhD, MSW

Pain is a trickster. It can occur when the brain has been hyper-sensitized by a long-term injury, even one that has healed. Pain can also be a result of adjusting the body against the original pain. Further, it may be a warning sign that certain lifestyle tendencies or habits need to change. Robert Kerns, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Psychology at Yale University looked at 22 studies on the effects of psychotherapy on low back pain, a condition of the majority of adults at some times in their lives. He concluded that cognitive-behavioral therapy, meditation, guided imagery, hypnosis, biofeedback and other forms of therapy can rid many people of pain or help them manage it.

David Bresler, president of the Academy for Guided Imagery and founder of the UCLA Pain Control Unit, agrees. He says an advantage of these therapies for pain is that they are not addictive as are many pain medications. The effects usually last beyond therapy too and some of the therapies are quite short-term. Stress, poor exercise habits, certain thoughts about the pain, sleep issues and sometimes, accompanying depression, can all cause or worsen low back pain.

Ongoing pain appears to disrupt brain activity in the frontal cortex and there is some speculation among research scientists that it may cause permanent damage there. Some of the therapies may actually increase the brain’s endorphin activity, thereby relieving pain. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Jolyn Wells-Moran, PhD, MSW

Just another diet book? It seems unlikely that the book, “The Complete Beck Diet for Life: The Five-Stage Program for Weight Loss” (Oxmoor House, 2008) can be dismissed so easily. After all, the author is Judith Beck, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research in Bala Cynwyd, PA. Her father, Dr. Aaron Beck, developed what is now a well-researched psychotherapy for depression, cognitive therapy, commonly referred to as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT has been used successfully for a wide range of behavioral and psychological issues. Judith Beck, released her new book in December of 2008 and follows one she wrote the year before, “The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person” (Oxmoor House, 2007), but this one focuses more on development of behavioral habits or skills. The 2007 book primarily used cognitive principles to help people think like thin people. Read the rest of this entry