WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING? Professional counselors work with individuals, couples, families and groups. In private practice, a counselor’s interests and experience determine their clientele and the services they provide, whereas in community agency settings availability of caseload typically determines the counselor to which an administrator assigns a client. In short, professional counselors help clients identify goals and potential solutions to...[ read more ]
DOES THE COUNSELOR ADHERE TO ETHICAL PRINCIPLES? There are numerous ethical guidelines designed to keep counselors from harming clients. Perhaps most importantly, there is a guideline barring against dual relationships. When a counselor enters into a therapeutic relationship with a client, he or she should not have any other relationship with that person, such as teacher, friend, employer, or family...[ read more ]
Reacting negatively to negative emotions creates a vicious loop where you feel bad about feeling bad, leaving you stuck in a cycle of negativity. You’ve probably been trapped by it many times. But, it’s possible to break it by cultivating a different attitude. First, though, a story involving negative feelings. One of my more painful memories was from my senior year in...[ read more ]
With the added stress of work, the ubiquitous interruptions of social media, and the breakneck pace of our lives, cultivating a good relationship with your spouse or partner may seem like a herculean task. The nature of relationships inevitably results in disagreements, issues, or problems between people. This tendency can be amplified in long-term romantic relationships. The more time you...[ read more ]
Signs of the long winter to come are beginning to appear. As the nights become darker and the mornings colder, it’s not uncommon to feel a sense of foreboding. The transition into fall brings changes not only in activity levels but also emotions. This month I decided to “practice what I preach” and integrate for myself some of the things I’ve...[ read more ]
You may think of mental health therapy as an intimidating process only for those with a serious mental health problem. But this myth is changing. Chances are good that you know someone in therapy. Someone you probably think “has it together.” In fact, a recent study found that 37 percent of Americans have seen a therapist in the last year....[ read more ]
Mental Health Stigmas My focus here is challenging the notion that a person has to be in crisis or “sick” to need mental health therapy. In truth, most of my clients don’t have a significant illness. They made their first appointment because they felt stuck. They had conflict with a partner. They were struggling with work. They were confused about...[ read more ]
HOW YOU FEEL AND REACT TO HOW YOU FEEL AND REACT Yes, I intentionally typed that twice, since most mental health symptoms are caused by our negative reactions to negative emotions. These feelings are the primary reason people come to therapy. They are closely related to long-term relationship problems, low self-esteem, functional impairment. They also have many other emotional and behavioral...[ read more ]
Most of us engage in some type of repeated activity or behavior that provides a sense of soothing. But how does a person know when their habit has become an addiction? There is a fine line between the two based on factors such as time spent engaging in the behavior, chemical reactions in the brain, and whether or not one...[ read more ]
PTSD can be thought of as an over-response to a traumatic or life-threatening event that is outside the normal range of daily life stress. It is commonly associated with combat and other military experiences but often presents in private practice as a result of what I refer to as “capital T-traumas”. These may include verbal, physical, emotional or psychological abuse...[ read more ]