Therapy can get bogged down when preoccupation occurs with small details and the bigger picture gets lost. My clients have often thanked me the most for providing and explaining how to use big concepts developed by major psychological theorists. The biggest Kahuna of...
Some clients go through life blissfully unaware they are not using their precious time in ways that are wise, wholesome or fruitful until struck by a mid-life crisis such as a heart attack, a near-fatal car crash or a sudden episode of depression. Other clients are...
A dynamic that is fairly common which causes unnecessary friction and distress in couples is where one partner becomes highly defensive and verbally counter-attacks the other simply because the other has expressed a preference, suggestion or request. When questioned...
Going inside is central to activities with the potential to increase presence, awareness, and emotional health, such as meditation and psychotherapy. Buddha spent many thousands of hours meditating to explore the inner workings of his own mind, find the causes of...
Parents and teachers socialize children by using praise to recognize and reward instances where the child’s behavior is considered good, right or socially acceptable. When the child’s behavior is judged bad, wrong or socially inappropriate they will...
Carl Rogers used unconditional positive regard (UPR) as a pillar of his psychotherapeutic approach. Rogers defined UPR as caring for the client as a separate person entitled to have his own feeling and experiences. For Rogers UPR was a way of non-judgmentally...
Clients with chronic generalized anxiety have frequent episodes of fight/flight in which they experience nervousness; increased heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, and muscle tension; dizziness; suppression of T cells with reduction of the immune response to...
We live in a society that greatly values personal growth and development. Here are some examples. First, ever since Maslow coined the term self-actualization in 1943 there has been an ever-increasing surge of interest in it among therapists and clients. Second,...
Childhood is when we form our self-image, our coping mechanisms to survive within our family of origin, and what I call our prime directive which is the organizing purpose of our lives. Adler and other psychological theorists have asserted that middle children who are...
In Arthur Miller’s brilliant 1949 tragedy the traveling salesman Willy Loman works his heart out, stresses himself to the max, and becomes not just bone weary but disillusioned, hopeless, and suicidal. From my clinical experience I know that when you have a...
