Addiction creates a dynamic where we have to “reach” for something in order to feel ‘okay’. Throughout my blogs, you will notice a trend – I love metaphors. Let’s take a look at addiction as a wound that has never been treated. Somewhere in our lives we decided that a bandaid would do the trick…
More and more people seem to be burdened with some sort of mental illness or condition. The medical industry, where much of the psychotherapy is conducted, seems hooked on palliative ‘solutions’ such as medication and curtailed programs of manualized ‘sausage-machine’-style psychotherapy which assume that every patient is the average patient. There’s no time to actually…
Today’s teenagers are under a great deal pressure. In fact, according to the CDC, 1 out of every teenager has a diagnosable mental health issue. In addition, depression, anxiety, drug overdoses and suicide are currently at epidemic rates for teenagers. In fact, suicide was the third leading cause of death for teenagers and now it…
Do you want to quit smoking but you believe it’s too hard? Do you want help to quit smoking for good? Some people believe they cannot quit smoking because they have smoked for a long time, or because they started smoking when they were young, or because they smoke too many cigarettes each day, or…
Life can be stressful, and we all want to suffer less. There is so much information out there, so where do we start? When I was in the Navy, it was 2002 to 2007, I was a Navy Corpsman, aka “Doc” and worked with the Marines. Basically, that is a Medic/EMT ( we did…
Dr. Claire Vines, Psy.D., DAPA, Psychologist / Licensed /Psychotherapy / Psychoanalytic/
February 12, 2019
Practice observing your thoughts, rather than reacting automatically to them. Think of your thoughts as clouds floating by. Look at which draw you in and which make you want to run away. Is there a way you can untangle yourself and just observe your thoughts, rather than reacting?
MANAGING TIME-A LIFE SKILL WORTH LEARNING As parents prepare their youth for adulthood they focus on over 25 life skills that their child needs to learn and practice at a mastery level prior to entering into their adult years. Why a mastery level? Because if we allow mediocre work at home and in school and…
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…
I recently read an article by Cody Fenwick regarding children and gun violence. His article was so alarming that it inspired me to write this article. Many of us feel because we live in Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek or Lafayette that our children and teenagers do not have to worry about gangs or gun violence.…
Working with teenagers, I hear very often from parents that they feel their teenager is not responsible and they have concerns about trusting their teenagers. I also hear from teenagers how they are upset with their parents for not trusting them and not allowing them to make decisions. I understand the parents’ concerns, but at…