Category: Uncategorized
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7 Topics Covered in Group Therapy for Substance Abuse
Rubin Khoddam Ph.D. Group therapy is a cornerstone of substance abuse treatment. Substance abuse treatment is a complex and multifaceted journey, and one of the most effective tools in this process is group therapy. Whether you or a loved one is seeking help, learning a few group therapy topics can help you know what it can do…
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Know What Makes You Valuable
Steven Stosny, Ph.D. Several decades ago, I began asking my clinical clients to describe what makes them valuable, important, and worthy of appreciation. Most conflated value with entitlement, privilege, possessions, money, or popularity, thus revealing a primary target of treatment. The secret is being “valuable” or able to value. Creating value makes us valuable, making people and things…
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Halloween Special: Why Do We Find Clowns So Creepy?
Trevor A. Foulk Ph.D. During Halloween time, we’re confronted with a lot of images and experiences meant to terrify us. Some of the things we encounter are objectively terrifying. For example, it’s not hard to understand why a man in a hockey mask holding a chainsaw evokes a feeling of fear when we see it. While many…
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How to Keep Anchored During Difficult World Events
Beth Kurland Ph.D. If you are struggling deeply with recent world events, you are certainly not alone. I have been alive on this planet for over five decades and somehow these last recent years have felt like some of the most challenging — collectively and on a global scale — that I can remember in…
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Eliminate Fear With Creativity
Robert Evans Wilson Jr. We are often inundated by fear. Fear is doled out by politicians to influence people. Advertisers peddle fear to keep people buying their products and services. Some media outlets lead with it to build audiences and sell more ad space. Doomsayers, prognosticators, and conspiracy theorists spread it to gather followers and create…
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5 Ways to Reduce New Employees’ Anxiety
Gil Winch Ph.D. Starting a new job entails dealing with much uncertainty regarding the job itself, the people and the culture, so it’s not surprising that in a recent survey, a whopping 87% reported suffering from ‘new job jitters’. Yet, the term ‘jitters’ doesn’t really convey how anxiety-provoking, stressful, scary, and rife with challenges starting a new job actually is,…
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3 Ways Mindfulness Meditation Makes Therapy Work Better
Loren Soeiro, Ph.D. ABPP If you practice mindfulness meditation, you probably know that it can lower your stress level, reduce anxiety, and improve low moods. You might also be aware of its health-improving properties. According to the National Institutes of Health, mindfulness meditation may be able to reduce your blood pressure, help you cope with chronic pain, and even make it easier to…
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How to Improve the Human Ability to Forecast
Thomas Suddendorf Ph.D. There are many good reasons to complain about human foresight. For one thing, we are often lousy at taking a longer view, being guided instead by the prospects of a quick buck, the whims of the daily news cycle, or likes on social media. We persistently predict our projects will be finished within…
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Can Getting a Massage Improve Mental Health?
Jennifer Gerlach LCSW I remember a psychologist suggesting I get a massage. I felt myself a bit aback. Massage seemed to me like an expensive placebo. She shared about massage assisting with emotional release and healing of trauma. Years later, after receiving a massage in physical therapy for neck pain, I found myself surprised. Not only did the pain decrease,…
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Coping with a Parent Who Has Mental Illness
By Eric Levine, Ed.D., with Courtney Kelly One in 14 American children has a parent with a mental health condition. And children whose parents are struggling with mental illness become adults whose parents are struggling with mental illness. Whether or not this means that they also become their parents’ caretakers, it guarantees they’ll have to manage a thorny,…