If clients are grounded. present and connected, they get optimum results in EMDR therapy for anxiety. They feel better. Anxiety and PTSD symptoms get better when I do EMDR with them. So, I check in during EMDR processing and I ask, “How grounded are you?” Continue reading “EMDR Therapy for Anxiety: Grounded, Present, Connected”
Coping skills for COVID-19: Thought Stopping
If coping skills for COVID-19, like thought stopping, aren’t working for you, it’s not you. Coping skills are all well and good, but this pandemic is a not just a stressor, it’s a global trauma; many people are experiencing intense symptoms as a result. Coping skills for COVID-19 may not be enough. Continue reading “Coping skills for COVID-19: Thought Stopping”
Mood, Motivation and COVID-19
Mood and motivation often take a nose dive because of COVID-19 and all the problems of the pandemic. Shut downs, quarantine, loneliness, isolation, flashbacks, trauma triggers, bad memories, painful thoughts of the past… I wanted to offer several suggestions and a couple of psychology concepts that might help. That’s me, I love talking about psychology. I’m eager to help. Continue reading “Mood, Motivation and COVID-19”
Is Now A Good Time To Start Therapy?
Yes, now Is a good time to start therapy, in case you were wondering. While you’re staying home, sheltering in place, quarantined, staying safe from COVID-19 coronavirus you have more time available. Negative thoughts seem to pop up more. As a result of the lack of variety, lack of social events, and boredom, it’s hard to distract from those negative thoughts. Therefore, as a therapist, I recommend dealing with them. I recommend that you start therapy now. Continue reading “Is Now A Good Time To Start Therapy?”
Coronavirus and Therapy: Stress, anxiety, flashbacks
THERAPY REALLY WORKS
In recent weeks of the coronavirus pandemic I’ve had clients say, therapy really works, I feel like I can handle this now. I am free, I feel so much lighter, I feel like I dropped baggage I’ve been carrying for years, I’ve learned to keep myself safe. Continue reading “Coronavirus and Therapy: Stress, anxiety, flashbacks”
Coping skills to the rescue: Compartmentalizing decreases stress, anxiety, trauma
I teach you coping skills to reduce anxiety, stress, or symptoms of trauma or PTSD before we start dealing directly with traumatic experiences using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Those coping skills include relaxation, compartmentalization, breathing, grounding, paired muscle relaxation and a number of resources to draw on.
Continue reading “Coping skills to the rescue: Compartmentalizing decreases stress, anxiety, trauma”
Trauma and the People We Choose
People are like puzzle pieces. They fit together in intriguing ways. I was talking with a lady with a history of domestic violence about her new boyfriend. She told me he had a past. It is hard to make good choices until you have healed from the trauma in your past. Unfortunately there’s a thing called trauma reenactment: People choose other people to repeat their past trauma and drama.
12 “Happiness Activities” and 10 “LifeSkills”
Have a look at the 12 “Happiness Activities” below and the 10 “LifeSkills” (aka stress relief or stress management exercises) below. I hope they’ll give you some good ideas for greater happiness in your life and ways to reduce your stress levels.
Continue reading “12 “Happiness Activities” and 10 “LifeSkills””
Stress Management, Stress Relief and the Happiness Connection
My research got me really excited about the connection between stress management and happiness.
As you may have noticed, I am a bit of a nerd about evidence-based anything and especially stress management, high blood pressure, executive burnout, professional distress; holidays stress, and suicide prevention. Check out the exercises detailed below and build your own evidence-based stress relief program. Continue reading “Stress Management, Stress Relief and the Happiness Connection”
Anger Management
We can get at anger management a number of different ways. It is important to understand that anger serves a healthy function. In Marshall Rosenberg’s book, The Surprising Purpose of Anger he wrote that the purpose of anger is to alert you that your boundaries have been violated and give you the energy to take action to protect yourself.
Style differences in couples and NLP
Style differences in couples can lead to misunderstandings. Body language, eye contact, or lack thereof, how fast or slowly you talk, the words you use, thinking styles, and how you act can affect your relationships with people. In this blog, I talk about personal ways of being, noticing people’s interests, ways of processing when they’re upset and ways to make connection with people. Continue reading “Style differences in couples and NLP”
Stages of love relationships
Love relationships and the people in them go through stages. A couple may progress through the stages together or one person may be in a different stage from the other. Here’s a synopsis of that symbiotic stage of infatuation, the stage when we start to notice differences, then go out into the world and get closer again, later in life.