You may be adulting, but are you emotionally adulting? https://youtu.be/ARG5YwUO4nM DISCLAIMER: Material on this site is for informational purposes only. The content of this site is not intended to be a substitute for evaluation or treatment by a licensed professional. Information contained on this site should not be used to diagnose or treat a mental health issue without consulting a … [Read more...]
Understanding Triggers
November 9, 2021 by
How can strawberries make you feel unworthy? Click below to learn what a trigger is and how it works. You may be surprised at how quickly a trigger can set an emotional cascade in motion! https://youtu.be/oARzvW-comw DISCLAIMER: Material on this site is for informational purposes only. The content of this site is not intended to be a substitute for evaluation or treatment by a licensed … [Read more...]
On The Death of George Floyd
June 7, 2020 by
In the past couple of weeks since the tragic and unnecessary death of George Floyd on 25 May, I’ve been both talking race in my therapy practice and researching race more often than usual. I’m trying to be informed, trying not to be naive. I have greatly enjoyed the respectful interchanges and the willingness of people of color to answer my questions. I can’t speak to what it’s like to be anything … [Read more...]
Psychological Abuse in Relationships
May 4, 2020 by
Outside of some of the more obvious abuses and sins against a relationship, such as physical abuse, sexual coercion and infidelity, there are other forms of abuse that may not be so obvious to some. These include forms of psychological and emotional abuse. It’s not necessarily that people have had poor relationship role models and landed in a relationship similar to the one(s) they grew … [Read more...]
Truth vs. Transparency
January 26, 2020 by
In my office, when it comes to truth, I always say that there are at least 3 sides to every story: yours, mine and the truth (which is generally somewhere in the middle). Over the years, I’ve come to see truth as a largely cognitive concept, an intellectual pursuit. That is, your truth comes out of your perception, which is based on a set of cognitions, or thoughts, that you have in your mind … [Read more...]
School Shootings and Other Entitlement Fallout
August 16, 2019 by
After the school shooting in Florida awhile back, my husband became engaged in a discussion on social media about gun control. He responded to a post a man made noting how frustrated the man was with the “thoughts and prayers” sentiments he kept seeing on social media in response to these senseless acts of violence. The implication in his post was that faith has nothing to do with the solution to … [Read more...]
White Fang
August 8, 2018 by
Last night, I watched White Fang with the kids. It was a really good movie. I’m sure many of you have read the original book by Jack London. For those who haven’t, I won’t spoil it for you, but the main character is a “wolfdog” that has three very different owners across his life. What I found interesting was the relative ease with which his personality changed from good to bad to good, depending … [Read more...]
14 Lessons from The Greatest Showman: The Story of P.T. Barnum
May 23, 2018 by
***Spoiler Alert: Important plot elements revealed below.*** A patient of mine recently found out that I’d not seen the movie The Greatest Showman, the story of P.T. Barnum. She couldn’t believe it and thought the message was one I simply MUST know. At her next session, she brought her copy of the movie for me to borrow and urged me to watch it. I’m so glad I did. Thank you. Regardless of how … [Read more...]
Shame, Sex and Love
May 2, 2018 by
Check out this amazing podcast with Alanis Morissette and trauma and recovery expert Pia Mellody from the Meadows. Great discussion about shame and so many other things! Here’s just a sample: “If you take on somebody else’s shame because they are being shameless, you wind up feeling worthless. That’s very, very toxic.… Your own shame feels like embarrassment or humility. It’s not a negative … [Read more...]
Lessons from Alice in Wonderland
March 19, 2018 by
In my opinion, Alice in Wonderland may very well have been written by someone under the influence of LSD. Nonetheless, I think there are some important lessons to be learned from the story. Here are 5 of the many… Don’t go down the rabbit hole. The rabbit hole represents uncertainty—you never know what you’re going to get, so it’s really best to steer clear of a possible trap. In other words, … [Read more...]
