BlogsTherapist Blogs
Bi-Polar, Emotions, And Your Child
Children whose mother or father is affected by bipolar disorder may need to keep their stress levels in check. A new international study, led by Concordia University, suggests the stress hormone cortisol is a key player in the mood disorder. The findings published in Psychological Medicine, are the first to show children whose mother or father is affected by bipolar disorder are more easily affected by stress. When faced with normal everyday stress, their cortisol levels peak sooner.
Research has shown that children of parents with bipolar disorder are four times as likely to develop mood disorders compared to the general population. This may be due to the genetic factors associated with bipolar.
Long-term activation of the stress hormone cortisol can lead to negative health consequences such as; digestive problems, heart disease, sleep issues, depression, memory loss and obesity. It is important to be aware that your child may experience everyday stress as overwhelming. Parents can ...
Cheryl's Monday Therapy Blog
May 14, 2012
Sometimes it can be easy to forget what a miracle it is to be alive. This temporary lack of gratitude for the gift of life is not our fault - when we are experience pain, grief or anger we just hurt!
During painful times, it is valuable to step back from the story of what is going on and get a new perspective. With that perspective, pain is often diminished and valuable lessons can be learned. I believe that one of the main ways therapist help clients is by supporting them in gaining a new perspective during painful times. A good therapist not only helps someone feel better, but supports them in solidifying the lessons learned from the experience of pain, so that a person is more likely to feel confident and less likely to experience the same hard times in the future.
Have a great week,
Cheryl
May 7, 2012
Not everyone can benefit from therapy. Those who on their own investigate starting therapy often have a much higher rate of success th...
ADHD and How I Learned To Take my Foot Out Of My Mouth
This was a difficult blog post for me to write because it caused me to remember some of those embarrassing moments in which I have put my own foot into my mouth and felt like the woman in this photo. Whether or not you have ADHD, I am sure we can all look back over a time when we wished we had not blurted something out while at a meeting or social engagement. But for individuals with ADHD, this problem can create a lot of anxiety and stress around business and social functions. In addition, the inability to read social cues can sometimes prevent these individuals from receiving promotions at work and social stability in all areas of their lives. The following article addresses this concern and the challenges that go along with it.
Many people with ADHD can relate to a long history of being challenged by the uncontrollable urge to (inappropriately) blurt things out or over explain themselves. If you are one of these individuals, wondering how you too can learn to take your foot out of ...
5 Steps To Increase Awareness
This is part 3 of learning how being curious can save your relationships. Remember the old wives’ tale curiosity killed the cat, but in this case curiosity leads to a better understanding of self and can save the relationship. Being curious can lead to 5 distinct levels of awareness and with each level there is an increase in conscious behavior. The more conscious you become the easier it is to have relationships that are satisfying and easier to recognize what is making some relationships difficult. You will experience yourself at different levels of awareness depending up the issue. Listed below are the 5 levels of awareness you could experience by practicing being curious.
1. You are not aware of your inner dialog. You are aware that your life is not working for you. You are feeling really stuck and it takes a long time to feel better about yourself and you have no clue how the change occurred.
2. You decide to listen to your self- talk and you reject what you are hearing, &...
Third Culture Kids
A home away from home. Caught between cultures. A foreigner in your own land. These phrases all describe the experience of a third culture kid. The term "third-culture kids" refers to children who spend a significant amount of developmental or formative time outside their (parents') home culture. Children of military, missionaries, or other expats are good examples. This results in an interesting phenomenon - these children, caught between two cultures, create a culture of their own.
Spending one's formative years in another country means that third culture kids internalize that country's customs, culture, and language, while also retaining their home culture and language. At the same time, however, they are perceived as foreigners in their host country. They create a "third culture" to deal with this tension. This usually means spending lots of time with others who experience the same situation - usually other third culture individuals, who can bond around the same shared experience....
Is Therapy For Me?
Most people seek out therapy or counseling during times of crisis – such as acute problems in love relationships, grief and loss, feelings of debilitating anxiety or panic, or urgent career issues. However, many individuals are also confronted with chronic feelings of emptiness and lack of happiness.
Such individuals may have all material creature comforts but nonetheless feel that nothing truly makes them happy. They may have the perfect partner, family, great friends, a fulfilling career. But they struggle with the very real and human feeling that no outside influence is able to provide any true meaning to their lives. Sooner or later they may come to the realization that they must search for meaning and happiness inside of themselves.
What is the meaning of life? Where can we find it? This question reaches further than any therapy. But therapy or counseling can certainly help start or advance the journey to the answer(s). I recommend that anyone who has suffered a lack of ha...
Relationships vs. Cell Phones
Staying Connected in a Connected yet Disconnected World
As a Counselor in Chestnut Hill, I see so many couples, individuals, and families who are struggling with a sense of disconnection. At a time when our cell phones allow us to be tethered to the workplace and the larger world many of us are discovering how challenging it can be to focus on the people in the room with us. Paying attention and being present with loved ones has become increasingly difficult. My counseling clients report hiding in rest rooms to check their Face Book newsfeeds, work email, online groups, or to text in the same way an alcoholic might cover up their drinking. We recognize it’s wrong to do so, which is why we are hiding it, yet the compulsion to “check” is so strong that we allow it to interfere with our real lives in ways that weren’t possible a few short years ago.
In conducting couples counseling, I see partners and spouses feeling the tension when they believe loved ones are p...
7 Strategies to Start Healing the Damage of Depression
Here's the bad news...depression damages your brain. This is particularly true when depression goes untreated for long periods of time, and when there are repeated episodes of depression. In addition, the likelihood of relapse increases with every subsequent episode. This damage can cause problems with memory, planning, prioritizing and decision making. People who struggle with depression often spend a great deal of time ruminating, which starts as trying to figure things out, but ends in triggering the fear responses in the brain. This causes the depressed person to remain stuck and hopeless. Plus, this pattern of negative thought becomes more and more solidified the longer it continues.
Here's the good news...the damage can be undone. Below, I've outlined several strategies that can help begin to reverse the damage that has already been done. Remember that healing comes over a period of time with daily effort.
1. Fish oil: Research shows that taking fish oil can improve the mood an...
Do You Have an Addiction to Food? 5 Food Addiction Symptoms
I have always enjoyed SHAPE magazine and recently found this on-line. The article is written by Jennipher Walters and describes what symptoms to look for if you're wondering if you could be addicted to food/eating!!
"I often say that in college I was addicted to Pop Tarts. In graduate school, it was candy corn. These days, thankfully, I'm more drawn to more nutritious foods, but I can't tell you the number of times I've heard others say that they're addicted to chocolate, or chips or fast food. While we usually all say these things in jest, the more research that is done on the brain's reaction to some foods, the more food addiction isn't just a joke - it's a reality.
The latest study to come out Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that a chocolate milkshake may affect the brain in the same way that cocaine might. Cocaine! Researchers are finding that high-sugar and high-fat foods, in a way, jijack the brain into not just craving but needing certain kinds of food. So ho...
Are You Addicted to Food?
So many people have seriously - and half kidding - have asked me if food can be addicting. And my answer is always a resounding YES! I know this is just a little over 7 minutes but when you're wondering about how/where cravings begin, and how (food) addiction keeps you from losing weight, then you need to view this video. Our THINKING (in fighting the battle of the muffin top) is critical but the pathology of addiction is something that needs to be understood too - and I think this video does a nice job of it.
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