Are your mind and body working against one another? Psychological stress is so powerful that it can practically tear your body apart. Studies correlate stress with chronic pain, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, dementia, infections, and just about every other…
Your spiritual beliefs can be your most powerful tools for positive transformation. Psychotherapy based on the integration and amplification of spirituality is referred to as “transpersonal” — because the nature of spirituality is that it helps to bring us outside…
Most people come to therapy for irritable bowel syndrome reluctantly. They feel confused by their symptoms, and upset that their doctors don’t seem to have any real solutions. They feel skeptical about whether psychological treatment can help them… because no…
There is no single underlying cause of chronic headache pain, but rather a constellation of contributing factors. There is a genetic component, so a family history of migraine headaches does predispose you to also have migraine headaches. But even if…
The increasing number of returning veterans has helped to raise public awareness of the effects of trauma on mental health. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can set in after exposure to an extremely frightening event, and it is characterized primarily by…
The terms psychotherapy and counseling are often used interchangeably, but many people believe that there is a difference between them that is important for both clients and clinicians. That is why there are separate degrees and professional organizations for counselors and clinical psychologists. I…
Many people think of hypnosis as a special type of therapy – hypnotherapy. However, when it comes to psychological interventions like psychotherapy and coaching, I think that hypnosis can usually be better thought of as a tool that is used to…
The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler and his successors has always purported to have implications for career choice and satisfaction. The techniques of Adlerian lifestyle analysis, such as the assessment of psychological birth order and the interpretation of early recollections, provides…
When you’re considering psychotherapy, you should remember that the most important aspect of the treatment, in terms of predicting whether it will be effective for you, is the relationship itself. A deeply trusting and cooperative relationship with your therapist must…
A few years ago, when I was only just beginning to learn about Adlerian theory and therapy, I attended a workshop given by Al Milliren for the Chicago Adlerian Society. The topic was the evolving nature of the lifestyle. At…
The field of psychology is suffering a crisis of identity which is devaluing its services and damaging its practitioners. The problem, in my opinion, is the paradigm of mental health versus mental illness. “Mental illness” is a terribly stigmatizing descriptor, and “mental health”…
On a psychodiagnostic residency, where your job is just to understand people, one of the tools you use is the famous Rorschach Inkblot Test. In this test, the patient is shown a standard series of pictures created by squirting ink…
Rose writes: Can I get treated for depression? I’ve just been prescribed new antidepressants and sedatives and I’m really frightened but feel I have no alternative as I can’t function normally. Thanks for writing in, Rose. Your question touches…
A nice, relaxed meal; a slow walk on a sunny spring day; time alone with loved ones. It’s an accepted wisdom that the little things in life are often the most enjoyable. The more you allow yourself to stay in…
In my recent article on hypnosis, I mentioned that we don’t live in the present moment. We live in memories and dreams. This is an idea that will not be unfamiliar to those with a mystic bent, but the rest…
Hypnosis is a sort of spooky and misunderstood phenomenon. Most of what people generally know about hypnosis comes from movies and stage performers, not real clinical hypnotists. You may not even realize that clinical hypnosis is a very well-established and…
People communicate with each other constantly, and in ways we hardly ever even realize. You heard that right: even a truly prolific writer is unlikely to ever match in written words the sheer volume of information that is constantly transmitted…
For thousands of years, life was simple. You spent most of the day dawdling around with your family. You dozed, made arts and crafts, tended fires, gathered nuts and berries. The only time this lifestyle got hectic was when it…
On some level, most people recognize that psychological factors affect physical health. People basically seem to know, for example, that a stressful career or a ‘Type A’ personality might give them a heart attack, or that an abrasive colleague can…
Abstract Clinical hypnotherapy has been soundly established as an effective treatment for the symptoms associated with cancer and its related therapies, including chronic and acute pain, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, and mood disturbances. Its use produces strong tendencies…
In working with sufferers of chronic pain, I’ve taught hundreds of people to practice mindfulness meditation. I do this not only because mindfulness meditation is in itself an effective treatment for chronic pain, but also because it helps the practitioner…
