grief counseling
There’s no correct way to grieve. What follows isn’t a formula or a timeline. It’s a set of general approaches people have found useful while coping with grief, offered with the understanding that some will fit your situation and some won’t, and that skipping the ones that don’t help isn’t failing at this. Most advice about how to deal with grief goes wrong the same way: it treats grief as a problem to be solved efficiently, as…
Grief doesn’t come with an instruction manual. But for decades, people have reached for one framework to make sense of the chaos: the stages of grief. If you’ve lost someone or something important to you, you may have already heard the terms denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance thrown around, maybe by a well-meaning friend, maybe in a book you picked up at 2 a.m. when sleep wouldn’t come. The stages of grief come from psychiatrist Elisabeth…
Amanda Ann Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Certified The end of a romantic relationship can be devastating due to all the losses that you are forced to experience all at once. You have lost the relationship, future plans/aspirations, financial/physical/emotional support, and perhaps, even aspects of your own identity. These losses need to be grieved so that you are able to move forward. After a breakup, you might immediately begin grieving, or it might take some time for you to…
Amanda Ann Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Certified When you experience intense anxiety, anger, sadness, or excitement, you might need to calm yourself. But do you know how? Are you aware of the self-calming methods that might work best for you? Self-calming methods are often considered coping skills and are ways of exercising self-care, yet different methods work for different people. The trick is to discover which methods best meet your needs and are the most effective in…
Amanda Ann Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Certified When you experience intense anxiety, anger, or sadness, you might need to calm yourself. Do you know how? It’s important that you find self-calming methods that work best for you. There are physical and cognitive methods for self-calming, and they often overlap (for an account of common methods of physical self-calming, see my blog piece titled How Can I Calm Myself Down? Physical Self-Calming Methods). Try these cognitive self-calming methods in…
Meg Mulroy, LPC When someone you know and love is struggling with a mental health issue, it can often feel helpless and scary. There is a lot of pain in our own lives that comes from watching others that we love struggle and hurt. If you’ve been in therapy or work in the mental health field, you are probably drawn to suggest therapy to this person in your life. It makes sense that you would want to…
What is Top Down Vs Bottom Up Processing in the Treatment of Trauma? Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC Trauma is a loaded term that often elicits a strong response from those who hear it uttered. It covers all aspects of insult to a human body including physical injury and psychological disturbance; however, most tend to think of trauma as an injury to the mind or the nervous system as a result of something overwhelming, indescribable, or terrifying happening. While…
Informed Optimism: What Is It and How Can It Be Used to Cultivate a More Well-Rounded Mindset? Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC Do you ever find yourself thinking that the worst will happen? You are not the only one. For people living with anxiety, trauma, or depression, fear-driven thoughts can take control and distort perception. When your head is overrun with negative thoughts and pessimism, you start to doubt yourself and your ability to change your circumstances. Through cognitive…
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC You may find that your peace, time, efficiency, and privacy get compromised because you are unable to draw boundaries with your family members. It is indeed a difficult task to say “enough” to a family member, especially if they are toxic, but you need to do so. As a child, there are certain rules you must follow, but as you turn into an adult you need to learn to draw the line to…
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC Being a first-time mom comes with its own set of challenges, as you are exposed to various new experiences, from breastfeeding to soothing a crying baby. You’ve already conquered one difficult task by giving birth to your child, and now the second – the overwhelming chore of parenting your child – is causing you anxiety. You probably assumed that everything would be okay after your child was born. Still, as you begin your…