15Apr

Creativity, Humanity and Self-Judgment

“I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself” -Hayao Miyazaki Hayao Miyazaki is a prolific animator from Japan who wrote movies such as Ponyo, Castle in the Sky, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises. His strong opinion is directed at the use of AI in animation. His subordinates pitched him an […]

15Mar

Imagery In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy is consistently used in my personal therapeutic approach. It helps teach clients to challenge their thoughts and beliefs. Put them on trial, see if they hold up, are they rational or irrational? Imagery can be used to extend this intervention, to create new images to accompany these thoughts, images that reflect the […]

15Feb

Disordered Eating

When someone engages in disordered eating habits, they may eventually find themselves in therapy to work through their habits. The body the brain and mental health overall suffer from disordered eating. Disordered eating describes patterns of restrictive eating, compulsive eating, irregular or inflexible eating patterns: fasting or binge eating falls in this category. Disordered eating […]

15Jan

Emotional Blackmail

People often fall accidentally and easily into patterns of emotional blackmail, especially when the stakes are high. We have all had a time where we may have felt guilt tripped into a request by a family member or coworker. The request often prioritizes what they want over our own personal wants or needs. Susan Forward […]

15Dec

Post-Election Coping

Even though the election is over, for many, the anxiety that the election sparked and sustained is not going anywhere. According to the American Psychological Association nearly 70% of Americans reported the presidential election of this year was a source of significant stress in their lives. We see it everywhere we look, still, it is hard to […]

15Nov

Learned Helplessness

Our lives are a conglomeration of nature and nurture. We learn from our environment, how we are raised, our life experiences, and we adjust. Seligman and Maier in 1967 did a study which identified learned helplessness as a phenomenon in dogs. (Sadly) Psychologists did experiments on dogs and found when they were exposed to repeated […]

15Oct

Self-Care for the Election

If this is your first election Congratulations on exercising your right to vote! If you are unable to vote, know you can make a difference in your community in other ways. Election time can be scary. There is a lot of information and statistics thrown at us constantly, a lot of bickering and fact checking and re-fact […]

15Sep

Caffeine and Anxiety

Many of us start the day with coffee and it is something that we often don’t think twice about. One cup of regular coffee is about 80 to 100mg of caffeine, depending on your beverage of choice. Espresso is about 75 to 150mg a shot. Cold Brew is around 200mg per 16oz serving. Medical guidelines […]

15Aug

Getting Triggered & Grounding Yourself

“I like to conceptualize triggers as landmines; we didn’t put them there and neither did the immediate circumstance that put you into this triggered state,” says Harlich. “When one gets stepped on, often nobody sees it coming, nor may anyone even know what landmine was stepped on.” [Rachel Harlich is a psychotherapist specializing in LGBTQ […]

15Jul

My Friend is Suicidal: What Should I do?

NAMI is the national alliance on mental illness. They are the nation’s largest grass roots mental health organization. Taylor Bennet from NAMI wrote an article about how to support and listen and potentially help a friend who expresses feelings of wanting to die. Suicide is heavy. It is not easy to think about and it […]