mental health
By Eric Dean JD, MBA, MA, MA, LPC, CADC We talk about emotions quite a bit in therapy – and for good reason! Expressing and analyzing our emotions in a safe environment has many powerful benefits. However, while many of us can list specific emotions – anger, sadness, happiness – we may not be able to define “emotion.” I have noticed that for many clients, defining “emotion” has helped them precisely identify and more deeply reflect on…
Written by Kara Thompson, Licensed Social Worker In Part I of this series, we explored the true intention of self-care. We may have begun to recognize the ways in which we may have mislabeled the activities we enjoyed as self-care despite considering their long-term effects on our well-being. Remember, self-care is about prioritizing our self in the now to better honor our overall wellness in the future. Now that we have some background on self-care, let’s dive…
Written by Kara Thompson, Licensed Social Worker Let’s imagine: You woke up at 6 am, hoping to be ready to take on the day but instead feeling a sense of dread. Those 4 glasses of wine the night before sounded great at the time, but we are paying for it this morning. It had been a long day and we thought, “Hey, we deserve it!” But now we’re just tired, groggy, and technically have some time to…
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC It is highly likely that you have heard of or referred to someone as a narcissist. This label is often synonymous with selfishness and a lack of compassion for others. In fact, there is even a popular Greek myth about a man named Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection, which ultimately led to his demise. But how common is narcissism really and what are its roots? Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a…
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) is an interactive therapy founded by Francine Shapiro back in 1987. Unlike traditional psychotherapy models, EMDR is nontraditional psychotherapy rooted in mindfulness and non-judgmental awareness, resulting in transformative healing. EMDR is one of the treatment modalities that follows the adaptive information processing (AIP) model. According to AIP, people with PTSD have disturbing thoughts that remain unprocessed over time. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), trauma, negative thoughts, and maladaptive behaviors result from unprocessed memories. In most cases, people fear processing such thoughts because of the high…
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC The act of delaying and putting off tasks without any apparent reason is known as procrastination. Tasks may be delayed until the last minute or even when their deadline has already passed. People may feel as though they are delaying doing their work unnecessarily. For example, an individual may have an assignment pending, but instead of doing the actual work, they decide to waste your time on the internet. While they often fully acknowledge the…
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC It does not matter how old we are – we all carry with us an inner child. Now that may sound a bit funny, but simply put, the inner child is the embodiment of the core beliefs we internalized about ourselves in childhood, many of which are negative or untrue. As children, we begin to form our understanding of the world through our interactions with our primary caregivers. For…
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC Career counseling is a subset of professional mental health counseling that aims to help you navigate career choices. Whether you are attempting to enter the job market, changing careers, or at any stage in your career, a professional career counselor can offer valuable advice and various options. Job stress is associated with anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and other mental health issues. Career counseling can help you in coping with such stress. Career Counseling: What Is It…
Shannon M. Duffy, MFT, LCPC Licensed Psychotherapist Many can relate to the following scenario. Things are going well, almost too well. You have been doing all the work addressed in psychotherapy and focusing on self-care and utilizing your coping skills in all the right places and right time. Then, out of nowhere you are either triggered by a stressor or multiple stressors build up where you feel out of control and all the steps you took towards…
Steven Losardo, MFT Watching a partner struggle with depression can feel like a heavy burden, especially when witnessing their symptoms firsthand. At the same time, it can be challenging for a spouse to know how to help. The good news is that there can be several ways to be supportive when depression shows up. This blog will review four ways to support a partner in a committed relationship who has depression or low mood. How you view…