How to Find and Keep Friends: A Guide for Middle Age
Karla Olson, a 51-year-old mother of three in Park City, Utah, is working on creating what she’s calling the Empty Nester Club. She plans to develop an online community on the video-communication app Marco Polo, and hopes local branches will form around the country for in-person meetups. For Olson, it’s all about creating a community […]
Aging Brings Us Closer to Death. Why Do We Get Happier as We Age?
Editor’s note: The following article is by Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, an expert in artificial intelligence for drug discovery and aging research. He is also the author of The Ageless Generation: How Advances in Biotechnology Will Impact the Global Economy. The premise of the following essay is that feelings of intense grief, intense joy, or the […]
Therapeutic Ways to Change Negative Thinking
Along With 12 Tools for Addressing Crisis Situations We all have thoughts that invade our brains from time to time and mess with our moods. We all get down. Whether it’s your job, social life, family, or something completely different, sometimes the negativity can be too much. It can snowball. That’s the part where it […]
Bullies Are Everywhere These Days—Here’s How to Respond to Them
Elizabeth Bernstein, a writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of this article about bullying, had something to say recently to the guy who pulled up behind her VW Beetle in a jacked-up pickup truck, honked furiously while she waited for a pause in oncoming traffic to make a left turn, then followed her […]
Letting Teens Sit with Silence. Or Not.
The question is one that plagues parents and therapists alike: What to do with kids who won’t talk—who can barely handle talking at all—who also hate all the questions they’re asked, in an attempt to get them to talk? Should you keep badgering them until they say something? Or, do you leave them alone to […]
The 5 Core Approach to Covid-19
The coronavirus is adding to your stress level, right? That’s understandable. What can you do to keep it in check? Here are some strategies that tie closely with our overall philosophy at Encompass Counseling Center about taking care of your whole self. Our focus is on the five attributes that comprise your entire being. This […]
Putting the Coronavirus into Perspective
Perspective is an important thing to consider when dealing with anxiety-provoking situations. You know this from your sessions with your therapist. Please remember this as you consider your response to Covid-19. Don’t let emotions outweigh logic in your everyday choices surrounding the coronavirus. Whether it’s fighting someone in the grocery store for toilet paper, or […]
How to Find the Right Therapist for You
Table of Contents If you’re having trouble finding the right therapist, don’t despair. It’s not easy. People usually go with who’s closest to where they live or work, or who takes their insurance, or both—without ever actually deciding what they need personally from therapy. It’s what they need from therapy that should lead them to […]
The Destructive Nature of Shame – and Why We Should Kill It
by Angela Walters, freelance author and creative consultant Our emotional scars are nothing to take lightly, and believe me I don’t, but sometimes a simple thing can help us find relief. That’s why I wrote this article, to give you something simple to remember that I hope will help you pinpoint why you can’t […]
Confession: The Only Way to End an Addiction for Good?
Confession. Who needs it? Criminals admitting their crimes to police? Children caught with their hand in the cookie jar? Congregants talking to their priest? How about confession for those suffering from an addiction? It’s what Dr. Carl Hart, chair of the department of psychology at Columbia University, thinks. His view of addiction focuses less on the […]
Stressed? Here is what you can do…
Feeling stressed out? Experiencing headaches, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, upset stomach, or irritability? If worrying or anxiety goes untreated, it can lead to depression and even suicidal thoughts. There are things you can do, though, including lifestyle changes, to alter the way you respond to stress. You have some options to re-establish harmony of mind, body, and […]
The Best Way to Support Elderly Caregivers
Five Ways to Help Elder Caregivers with an Alzheimer’s Spouse Be sensitive to how the Traditionalist Generation thinks. Help elderly caregivers let go of the person they knew. With the therapist’s help, identify the kinds of support elderly caregivers need. Forge a circle of support for caregivers, with friends, family, and groups. Remind elderly caregivers […]
The Healing Power of Play for Traumatized Children
Play is the natural way that young children discharge the tensions of their daily lives. When children are picked on at school, they may come home at the end of the day and enlist siblings, friends, or even stuffed animals to play out a drama in which the child, transformed into the school principal, gets […]
The Stress of Dating a Narcissist
Sally knew she shouldn’t have done it. But against her better judgement, she decided to give it a try. Sadly, the relationship ended up causing her much more pain than it was worth. That’s what can happen when you date a narcissist. “It’s easy to fall in love with narcissists,” said Darlene Lancer, marriage and […]
What Is Concealed Depression and How Can You Spot Its Sneaky Symptoms?
When you think of depression, you may be inclined to picture someone who struggles to get out of bed every morning and is barely able to function. But unlike many medical conditions, depression is one that often goes unseen and undiagnosed. That’s because many sufferers actually experience concealed or smiling depression, in which they put […]
Don’t Let Worrying Make You Sick
In the following article, WebMD explores the potentially deleterious effects of excessive worrying on physical and mental health—and also provides some suggestions about how to combat anxiety that threatens to negatively impact your life. The content is reviewed by Joseph Goldberg, MD, a medical reference expert at WebMD. Are you an excessive worrier? Perhaps you […]
The Mystery of Loving an Abuser
People are often amazed at their own psychological conditions and reactions. Those with depression are stunned when they remember they’ve thought of killing themselves. Patients recovering from severe psychiatric disturbances are often shocked as they remember their symptoms and behavior during the episode. A patient with Bipolar Disorder recently told me, “I can’t believe I […]
About Anxiety
What is anxiety? A powerpoint primer.
Defusing Emotional Bombs
It has been said that if we repeatedly find ourselves in places where we don’t want to go, it’s our thinking that has led us there. Emily can relate. All she has done is mislaid a report she knows would be very helpful in a meeting scheduled for today. Yet her mind immediately goes to: I must […]
