When you’re agonizing under the weight of despair, simple tasks feel daunting. Getting out of bed, showering, or leaving the house requires herculean effort. To live with despair means to wake up every morning with a heaviness pressing down on your chest and a feeling of exhaustion no matter how many hours you slept. Perhaps […]
Whenever young people exhibit behavioral problems, many mental health professionals are quick to blame their parents. Of course, no one can deny the profound effect that parents have on children, but is parenting really all that influential? Is parenting truly the omnipotent determinator of a child’s future? If parenting were truly all-powerful, children raised by […]
When you start with big dreams, full of youthful enthusiasm, happiness always seems within reach. Over time, challenged by obstacles and hardships, your commitment to those dreams is tested. But you’re still young, so you push on and persevere. Then you get hit with big disappointments, letdowns in your career, love life, or friendships. You feel […]
If you’ve ever loved someone struggling with addiction, you know that there are few sufferings as agonizing. Addiction is a rollercoaster ride of impassioned highs and lows. It has the power to devastate relationships, rip apart families apart, and even end lives. What makes addiction so challenging? No matter how many times the addict emerges clean […]
If you’ve contacted a therapist, chances are you may be struggling with a toxic mindset. Things didn’t turn out the way you hoped; you may feel angry, misunderstood, hurt. Together with your therapist, you pick through your history, examine your friendships, scrutinize your family, spouse, or society. In the early stages of therapy, intense feelings […]
After grad school, I was assigned a clinical supervisor who was always stressed-out… She picked at her nails, took phone calls during our sessions, complained about the clinic’s financial problems, her busy schedule, health issues, and her aging cat. She constantly sighed, shifted in her seat, and shuffled through mounds of files on her desk, […]
Despair comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s triggered by a specific event; other times, it arrives inexplicably, without notice or cause. It’s impossible to find a person who hasn’t experienced despair. We all intuitively know and dread the feelings that despair brings; for some, it’s a dull pain in the chest or stomach; for others, […]
What does “setting healthy emotional boundaries” mean? No parent sets out to sabotage their child’s development. But when a parent fails to provide healthy emotional boundaries, they unwittingly cause lasting damage to their children’s ability to trust others and embrace intimacy. Separation, individuation As children mature, they naturally seek independence. From the moment they learn […]
What is psychodynamic group therapy? Wherever I suggest group therapy to clients, they tend to respond with disdain. “Group therapy? People actually do that?” The next question, asked in conspiratorial tones, comes quickly: “What do people talk about?” When I explain the group therapy contract, they appear aghast. Group members are encouraged to put their […]
Why do some people thrive in the face of obstacles and setbacks, while others in more favorable circumstances lack the drive to persevere? What does it mean to be a self-awakening person? Buddhist scholar and peace activist Daisaku Ikeda suggests: “Fortune and misfortune are unfathomable. Even if we achieve a win, our joy will not […]
