Blog Articles

Dealing With the Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect

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Understanding Childhood Emotional Neglect Childhood emotional neglect refers to the failure of caregivers adequately meet a child’s emotional needs, such as providing love, support, and validation. This can lead to experiencing trauma at a very young age, which has long-lasting effects on one’s life. Most importantly, childhood emotional neglect can disrupt the relationship with oneself at a very young age, instilling beliefs such as, “I’m …

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Healing from The Grief of Stillbirth

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A stillbirth is defined as the death of a baby from 20 weeks of incubation to attempted birth. What makes a stillbirth different is that the mother experiences the birth and death of her child in one single traumatic event within the entirety of her pregnancy. Surprisingly, experiencing a stillbirth is quite common. According to a 2020 study, about 1 in every 150 pregnancies ends …

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Social Exclusion in Adolescents: A Common Form of Bullying

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Social exclusion can be common for adolescents in middle and high school. Whether not being chosen for games or purposefully excluding kids in numerous situations, the consequences are extremely harmful. Salmivalli states, “Bullying can be direct, such as physical or verbal attacks, indirect (also referred to as relational bullying), such as social exclusion and rumor-spreading, or it can happen online. The adolescent period of life …

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How to Make a Decision

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Who has been there? Maybe you have found yourself choosing which career route to take, which city would be best to move to for you and your family, or which school to enroll your children. Life can and will throw several options toward us (yay for options, this means we aren’t stuck or trapped, and we are capable of creating our own futures!), but how …

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When Panic Attacks – Part 3: Advanced Anxiety Techniques

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Part 3 of 3 Part 1: Easy Anxiety Techniques Part 2: Slightly-More-Complicated Anxiety Techniques Part 3: Advanced Anxiety Techniques Hopefully, you’ve found some useful ideas in my previous two anxiety articles. This article covers some even more advanced techniques for dealing with anxiety. These techniques have aspects that are simple to learn, but they also tend to go a little deeper into examining the ways …

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When Panic Attacks – Part 2: Slightly-More-Complicated Anxiety Techniques

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Part 2 of 3 Have you tried and mastered the anxiety techniques in “When Panic Attacks – Part 1: Easy Anxiety Techniques”? Great. The techniques in this article are slightly more complicated and it may take more practice and experimentation to integrate them into your life. Nevertheless, learning and incorporating these ideas can help with not only short bursts of anxiety but with more persistent …

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When Panic Attacks – Part 1: Easy Anxiety Techniques

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Part 1 of 3 Part 1: Easy Anxiety Techniques Part 2: Slightly-More-Complicated Anxiety Techniques Part 3: Advanced Anxiety Techniques Anxiety is one of the most common complaints that bring people into therapy. It is estimated that in any given year, 18.1% of the population could qualify for an anxiety disorder diagnosis. As with any reason people come to therapy, effective treatment of anxiety will vary …

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What Should I Be When I Grow Up?

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Remember playing The Game of Life as a young person? I liked reading all the different occupations from which you could choose. Want to be a florist? Here’s your card. Prefer to be surprised? Draw from this stack of cards, and… you got teacher! Here’s your salary, here are your housing options, and here’s your car. Done. If choosing a career was as simple as …

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Healing Isn’t Linear: What to Expect in Therapy

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“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” ― Cynthia Occelli I believe that asking for help and seeking support is one of the bravest and kindest things you can do for yourself. To get the most out …

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3 Mindfulness Techniques That Can Help You Fall Asleep Faster

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Do you ever find yourself struggling to fall asleep at the end of a stressful day? If so, then you’re not alone. Many of us can get stuck thinking about our long to-do lists, replaying the events of the day, or carrying so much tension in our body that it feels impossible to fall asleep. While it can be tempting to distract ourselves by watching …

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Deprivation Versus Inspiration

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Therapist and writer Ken Page explores three ideas in his book Deeper Dating that are resonating with me right now: attractions of deprivation, attractions of inspiration, and core gifts. Attractions of deprivation are ones that reinforce painful relationship wounds. They ask us to disavow our core gifts. Being in such an imbalanced state triggers longing and need and keeps us from being intimate with ourselves …

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How to Get the Most Out of Therapy (With Me)

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Choose someone you like.  Choosing a therapist is a bit like dating. You can go on a date with someone who is perfectly lovely and still not click with them. Similarly, you can go to a therapist who your friend loves and not feel like you can work well with them. It’s not because the therapist is a bad person or a bad therapist, the …

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Creating and Maintaining Routines – Why Is It So Hard?

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Routines: We need them, yet many think of them as “traps” that kill spontaneity and promote complacency.  The Benefits of Establishing Routines Challenges in Establishing Routines But creating and sticking to routines, especially if you have ADHD, depression, or anxiety, can feel overwhelming, frustrating, and torturous. Individuals with mental or behavioral health disorders may view the routine setup process as doomed; many may not even try. …

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When Shame Shows Up

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If I feel in any way vulnerable, other people’s silence can feel like punishment. Yesterday, I had trouble breathing, concentrating, engaging in anything. This was my go-to response in childhood. The feelings of abandonment manifest as acute physical pain in my chest, and then I essentially go numb.  Yesterday morning and afternoon I spent in this state. I distracted myself mostly by watching movies and …

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