Blog Profile / World of Psychology
| URL : | http://psychcentral.com/blog | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Academics / Psychology | |
| Posts on Regator: | 3685 | |
| Posts / Week: | 13.5 | |
| Archived Since: | February 24, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
How to Quiet Your Mind & Get More Shuteye
As soon as your body hits the bed, it’s like a gun firing at the starting line. Your thoughts take off like a pack of horses, each thought racing faster than the first. Did I do everything on my list? Did I pay the cable bill? What’s the due date on that project, again? Work [...]
You Are Amazing
Yes, it’s true: You are amazing. You are wonderful, fantastic, downright spectacular. No? You don’t think so? Every day I hear people put themselves down. They curse themselves for being stupid, a failure, or weak. My answer to them is always the same — sure. But let’s be clear what we’re talking about. You, the [...]
Arts & Crafts in Psychiatric Occupational Therapy
The profession of occupational therapy (OT) has many of its roots in the Arts and Crafts Movement, a response to the industrialized production at the end of the nineteenth century which promoted a return to handcrafting (Hussey, Sabonis-Chafee, & O’Brien, 2007). Its origins also were strongly influenced by the earlier Moral Treatment Movement, which sought [...]
Taking an Antidepressant: Sanity and Vanity
At first the weight gain from my new antidepressant didn’t bother me. All I cared about was that this medicine was working. I felt myself coming into my body again; I could experience emotions and enjoy the present; I wanted to do things again. One of those things was eat ice cream. A lot. So [...]
8 Ways to Help Your Aging Parents
As they age, our parents might need more help. But you might not know exactly how to lend a hand or even where to start. Plus, what do you do if your parents balk at your attempts to assist them? While every situation is unique, Christina Steinorth, MFT, a psychotherapist and author of Cue Cards [...]
Coping When Horrible Things Happen
With the recent bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon, many of us find ourselves asking the same questions… How do we make sense out of senseless brutality? How do we deal with those who embrace an ideology of destruction? How do we reckon with those who suckle their children on hatred? What do we say [...]
Humiliation is No Way to Teach
“You idiot. Can’t you do anything right? I asked you to do a simple task. And what did you do? You screwed it up big time. What the hell is the matter with you?” Some people believe that humiliation is a good teacher. You gotta learn. You must not forget. You will be punished if [...]
Best of Our Blogs: April 19, 2013
When tragedy hits, it affects all of us. We could be living in the town, state or country where it happened. But we don’t have to be. Crisis reminds us we’re vulnerable, we can’t control everything, and there are evil people in the world. This type of news can floor the most put together person [...]
How Trauma Can Affect Your Body & Mind
As I write this, our thoughts are with those in Boston who were affected by the bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon. In my 20 years living in the Boston area, I cheered on the runners on many occasions and now, even from far way, these events feel close to home. Experiencing trauma can have [...]
Boston Strong: Donate to the Marathon Bombing Victims
Wednesday night I attended the first Boston Bruins game after the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. The TD Garden was packed for the opening ceremonies, where a tearful montage of the scenes from the aftermath of the bombings reminded us of all the care, help and compassion that was in large supply by first responders [...]
Tips for Supporting a Friend Who’s Sick
There’s a disconnect between how we treat sick people and how they want to be treated, according to Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author of the new book How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick. We stay silent. We say stupid things. We go from being sensitive, sensible, kind adults to rambling niceties or [...]
Why You Should Date ‘Apples’ Instead Of ‘Candy Bars’
This guest article from YourTango was written by Elisabeth LaMotte. One of the most interesting aspects of my work as a therapist is how much I learn from my clients. Years ago, I worked with a young woman who was struggling to find a happy, healthy relationship. She easily, breezily summarized her challenge: “My sorority sisters [...]
Down in the Dumps? Garbage Pickers with a Happy Life
A recent article published in the Journal of Positive Psychology surveyed the life satisfaction of 99 garbage pickers in León, Nicaragua. Researcher Jose Juan Vazquez interviewed these difficult-to-access individuals and found that not only are they happy, there is no correlation whatsoever to their financial well-being. This is one of those studies that take a [...]
An Exercise for Living a Value-Based Life
Instead of living deliberately, many of us live by default, according to Polly Campbell in her thoughtful book Imperfect Spirituality: Extraordinary Enlightenment for Ordinary People. She gives several powerful examples: We vote a certain way because our parents do. We work a numbing number of hours because we’re taught this makes us good providers. [...]
Boston Marathon Bombings: Coming Together in a Time of Need
While the police are still sifting through the clues for information about who was behind the Boston Marathon 2013 bombings on Boylston St., it’s time for the rest of us to take a deep breath and start healing from this tragedy. With over 100 people injured — some quite seriously — and three people dead, [...]
Best of Our Blogs: April 16, 2013
It’s very easy to fall prey to blame and victimhood. Why? There may be adequate reason to feel justified in complaining and being negative in your life. Maybe things just aren’t going right. Your kids are driving you crazy. You got a divorce or undergoing recovery. You’re in physical pain constantly. You’re just extremely overwhelmed [...]
Self-Sabatoge When You Can’t Sleep
It’s 3 a.m. and I’m awake. Ordinarily I’d be asleep but right now I’m awake and I don’t like it. Strangely this happens at least once every couple of weeks for me. I just wake up early. No real rhyme or reason, it just happens. At one time in my life, this used to bug [...]
Putting Stress in its Place in Your Life
“You’ve been uptight lately,” my mom said the other day over lunch. We were celebrating my twenty-second birthday. Although I can’t stand spicy food, I dribbled Tabasco sauce over my fajitas and took a bite, eyes immediately watering, mouth burning. I have good reasons to be uptight, I thought, shoveling the spicy food into my [...]
Meditation as an Adjunct Therapy in Treating Mental Illness
While I believe mindfulness meditation has been the keystone to my recovery, I still think of it as an adjunct therapy. I couldn’t manage mental illness as well as I do now if I did not meditate. But I acknowledge that the medication my doctor prescribes and the therapy visits I have with him are [...]
3 Levels of Fun: Challenging, Accommodating & Relaxing
We spend a huge amount of time with TV. Watching TV is probably the world’s most popular pastime and is the greatest use of our time after accounting for sleep and work. In the United States alone, people spend more than four hours a day watching TV. Watching great television can be an enormous source [...]