Therapy Chicago Archives
We are not always nice to ourselves which can cause a lot of anxiety or stress. If we are able to be kind to ourselves, then more than likely, our mood will change and we will feel more confident in who we are and how we hold ourselves. You have to love yourself in order to others to love you. That also applies to being kind to yourself. Be kind to yourself so others will also treat…
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Steven Topper, LCPC Many of us have a clear idea of what therapy is going to look like. We’ve grown up with images of a stoic and mysterious figure in a large chair while the patient is totally vulnerable. For anyone who has been to therapy, it’s typically quite a different experience than they were expecting. And as our understanding of mental illness has grown and evolved, so has our understanding of how to conduct effective therapy.…
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The human brain is a complex organ that serves many functions. However, there are times when our brain and its thought-processing function do not serve us in the most productive way. Our mind can sometimes play tricks on us, and it can emotionally and mentally wear us out to the point of exhaustion if we let it. We oftentimes fall into the negative thought trap, where we start having one negative thought and then it transitions into…
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Work: we have a love-hate relationship with it. Many of us believe in the importance of hard work and search for passion in our careers. The first question out of our mouths when we meet someone new is typically, “What do you do for a living?” School preps us to be thinking throughout our whole childhoods about what we want to do when we grow up. Our work can give great meaning to our lives — many…
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I work with many clients who struggle with anxiety and depression whether it is related to their personal or professional life, or for some, perhaps both. My job as their clinical therapist is to help the client identify reasons/triggers/stressors that are contributing to their anxiety, and then helping them to find possible coping strategies to help reduce the symptoms. One strategy I often suggest is aromatherapy in conjunction with deep breathing/meditation exercises. I also typically have lavender…
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Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor Life can throw us some curve balls and complaining can feel like an effective way to get through them. While it can feel good to complain about the situation, it is also not the best thing to do for our mental health. Complaining includes judging yourself or others, looking at the negative side of things, being hard on yourself, and sitting in the hard stuff rather than pushing through it. Over time,…
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Breakups are difficult for many reasons, and often times during the breakup, we do not know how to handle it in a healthy and beneficial way. We tend to focus on the negatives of the relationship and also for the day and a few days after feeling anger and wondering why the relationship not work out. If you are the one who is doing the break-up or have been broken-up with, follow these tips to help you…
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There are often times when our friends are hanging out and we have to say no, but we are watching where they are checking in on Facebook, what stories they are putting on Instagram, or what snaps they are taking on SnapChat. We tend to feel sad and mad that we have to work or do something else and cannot be with them. In modern terms, it is called “fear of missing out” also known as FOMO.…
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There’s no doubt that social media has been one of the most life-changing technological innovations that we’ve ever had access to — it enables us to feel connected to people all over the world. However, social media is not just a magical online space in which people enjoy greater access to their loved ones far away. Social media has also brought with it upticks in anxiety, depression, and self-esteem issues; young people, who are developmentally primed to…
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A Part of the Past Shows up in the Present We pick up where we left the family in part I of the blog. DL is frozen at the moment afterhearing a voice from the woods saying, “If you build it he will come.” DL discovers the voice from the woods is Unc, who is playing a practical joke. Unc is whispering what he calls “learning the Gottman (2016).” What Unc actually says, “if you use a…
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