addiction is pretty hard to understand if you’ve never been there. the crazed lust, the desperate longing for whatever it is that your are hooked on – from heroin to alcohol to overworking to shopping to sex to codependency – whatever it is, if it’s not your thing then all you can do is shake… Continue reading addiction: underestimating the power of cravings
Category: therapy
15 years, 15 stories, 6 words
fifteen really short stories that have crossed my path in fifteen years of counselling: depressed, manic. manic, depressed. depressed, manic. marry you? you gotta be kidding. have anxiety, will not travel. help! too thin. better eat. that’s hard. “can’t think straight.” “relax.” “oh, wow!” booze, cocaine and
the therapist as a person – pt 4
this is a long overdue continuation from a post in march, about the therapist as a person. here is another vignette, or really almost a caricature, of the kind of role that a therapist can fall into – with all the positive and not-so-positive consequences. The Irreproachable Professional What she does: Is very mindful to… Continue reading the therapist as a person – pt 4
real life experience: bipolar and medication
this is a message i received from one of my artist friends a few days ago (who wrote this under the name of “a manic english person”). he wanted to share his experience with being bipolar (under these copyright conditions): A few months back I was assessed by an eminent psychiatrist who decided that I… Continue reading real life experience: bipolar and medication
journaling for healing: 15 tips
anyone who uses writing for therapeutic purposes should read louise de salvo’s writing as a way of healing. quite a bit of what she writes is based on james w. pennebaker’s research on writing and health (do go to his web site, he has all kinds of neat little tests on it). one of the… Continue reading journaling for healing: 15 tips
counsellors’ creed
susan friday from the vancouver/richmond mental health network society sent me this counsellors’ creed the other day. we don’t know who authored it. there are quite a few useful ideas in there – what do you think? 1. I will give you my undivided attention. However, I cannot be your parent, spouse, or lover, nor… Continue reading counsellors’ creed
professional objectivity
in the post about the 10 paradoxes of creative people, there was an interesting question by osmium/fuzzy logic: does my preference for hanging out with people who are on the same wavelength as i obstruct my professional need for objectivity? how about i answer with the conclusion of a paper i wrote some time ago,… Continue reading professional objectivity
why, what and how
clients often want to know why something is happening. one person, let’s call her alice, might say, “if i knew why i keep eating and eating, maybe i could stop.” let’s look at this. first, let’s investigate “why”. why is a question about a cause. what is it that makes alice overeat? put like that,… Continue reading why, what and how
art and psychology
in this month of concentration on the arts, i’m amazed at the many topics i didn’t touch. here’s a few of them the psychology of photography the healing power of pottery movement therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder therapy for actors anorexia among dancers psychology and architecture art and mental illness … and what else could… Continue reading art and psychology
those who quit drinking …
i was intrigued by levy’s comment on the art and alcohol posting a few days ago and thought it would be worthwhile to dedicate a blog entry to it. here is what he says: I can appreciate the turn around stories of artists and I