When I was training to become a therapist, I knew that I did not want to work with children. I had a heart for the elderly and hurting adults, but I was afraid to work with children because I knew they would break my heart; I knew I would shed tears and perhaps not be…
If you were asked, “have you ever experienced anxiety?”, what would you say? “Yes, daily”, “Sometimes”, or “No, never”? The reality is that more people suffer from anxiety than are actually admitting. Unfortunately, anxiety can cause such confusion, that individuals feel trapped and unable to express their symptoms to others for fear of being judged…
I have lost count of how many people are terrified that I am going to think or determine that they are “crazy”. It became so frequent that I started to blame my job title. Many people think that only “crazy” people go see a therapist, or at the very least, only “people with something wrong…
Painful past experiences. We’ve all had them. Broken relationships. Abuse from the people who were supposed to watch out for us. Traumatic moments and events. The list keeps going on and on. With each painful past experience, you developed ways to help you survive, get through, to overcome the hurt you were going through. You…
Not a lot of things are 100% true, but here are two known facts: 1) Life is not fair, and 2) People do not act right. Undoubtedly, there are going to be times in life where we feel immensely disappointed by the cards we are dealt and/or by those around us. Disappointment WILL happen. We WILL…
By Benjamin Marr, M.A., M.B.C. Dedication I dedicate this article to my mother, who always encouraged me to use my assets, although they had their limitations due to my disabilities. She motivated me to use my remaining skills to develop my intellect to an even higher level, never to perceive myself as handicapped (“cap-in-hand”), but…
Engulfed by a Storm Those who have never been in a domestic violence situation are often perplexed as to how intelligent people become trapped and why they remain with someone who is abusive. In an effort to help provide clarity let us consider the dynamics of the following story: Imagine as if you are…
If we have a home with a yard we may want to cut away the underbrush when bushes are overgrown and choking off new life. We cut back the trees at the end of the summer to allow a fuller expression of their beauty the next year. We do a clean sweep of the lawn…
As a psychotherapist, I’m in the business of hearing how people, especially women, talk about their bodies using hateful and disparaging terms. They aren’t alone. I’ve done the same myself, and so I know how hard it can be to make peace with our imperfect bodies (are they ever anything else?) let alone feel loving…
As a psychotherapist, I often meet individuals, couples and families who at first describe the relationships that matter the most in their lives as ‘very close’, ‘tight’, and supportive. But later, after understanding the issues that brought them to my office, I view them more as insular systems that nurture – or even demand –…