Therapy Blog For Mental Health & Wellness
Welcome to our mental health and wellness blog. Here you will learn about different types of therapy, treatment options, and other relevant information. Diane is dedicated to bringing you the latest news in mental health and wellness. Keep checking this page for the most up to date information to help you live your most healthy and authentic life.
If I have learned anything over the last decade in regards to mental health, it is this. Mental and emotional health are fragile states. Many conditions, from pervasive mental health problems, to unexpected tragedies, influence our mood and ability to cope. This mental health blog discusses many aspects of mental health from approaches to therapy […]
Rarely does a couple consider marriage counseling for a relationship tune-up. Instead, couples call a marriage counselor when there is a relationship breakdown. Emotions usually are running very high by the time a couple calls to schedule marriage counseling. The intensity of emotions and high levels of stress result in couples having many expectations about […]
One of the most common problems reported by couples is poor communication skills. Couples often report that they have the same fight over and over again. This is due to habituated patterns of speaking and listening. Improving communication skills includes attending to and changing both listening and speaking skills. Listening skills Many times instead of […]
Authentic-Life Counseling, recognizes the importance of balancing community wellness with continuity of care for existing and new clients. To meet the needs of our clients video counseling and phone counseling are now available. Video counseling and phone counseling are an alternative to face to face session in the office. The challenges we are facing during […]
Feeling a lack of confidence in certain social situations is “normal”. Conditions such as who is in the room, how many are in the room, location, and activity are all factors that can influence our comfort level. Perhaps we feel invisible around the extrovert who commands a room in any social situation with funny stories […]
As I walked downstairs early one morning to fix tea, for no apparent reason one negative thought after another arouse in my mind in rapid fire succession. I had just woken up, slept well and with every step I took I was negative, critical and judgmental. “My kitchen is so ugly. The cabinets are filthy. […]
It is rather unfortunate that mindfulness has become trendy. The watered-down definition that I hear most often is “awareness of the present moment”. Mindfulness does indeed encompass present moment awareness. Which of course is in contrast to directing our attention to the past or future. But if present moment awareness is all there is to […]
Family alienation is a far-to-common occurrence in the modern family. The destructive and devastating, family alienation occurs when one person in the family becomes the enemy and is wrongly blamed as the root cause of family problems. The family member who is alienated might be a parent, child, grandparent or spouse. Family alienation is more […]
As we age, the feeling that we are in control of our lives often diminishes. There are many choices we make that don’t seem significant in our day-to-day lives until we lose the ability to make them on our own. In addition, changes to our physical, mental, and emotional state can cause us to feel […]
If you love a person who is wish-washy, unreliable and commitment-phobic (WUC), I feel your pain. Apparently many people feel your pain. Unreliability, last minute cancelled plans, and wish-washy-ness is a far to common complaint in therapy sessions. It seems as though there is a collective uncertainty in how we should be dealing with wishy-washy […]
Anger is a master that demands an outrageously high price. Anger destroys physical and mental health, relationships, self-esteem and dignity. There are many victims. The individual which feels angry, and the unfortunate target on the receiving end of the anger. Both pay a price. To manage anger, individuals often turn to counseling to learn Anger […]
Visions of the perfect story-book holiday is a particularly difficult idea for many people. Surviving Christmas in dysfunctional families requires us to pull out all the tools we have learned in therapy so that we are not triggered by mal-adaptive thinking and emotional patterns. Let This Dose of Encouragement Strengthen You You have probably survived […]
Top 5 Approaches Although anxiety is classified as mood disorder, there are physical and cognitive (thinking) patterns that maintain the condition. Effective anxiety treatment not only addresses the anxious mood, but also the physical and cognitive aspects that support the anxiety. At Authentic-Life Counseling, anxiety treatment utilizes traditional Western medicine and non-traditional Eastern healing techniques. […]
Of all the clinical interventions that I might use, I find mindfulness to be one of the most effective for clients. Using Mindfulness vs. not, is akin to using a navigation system or not. Mindfulness is a constant gentle awareness of where we are and where we are going. It prevents us from getting lost. […]
The Connection Between Your Mental Health and Politics There seems to be a new issue in the offices of many psychotherapist around the country. People are coming to therapy to discuss the connection between their mental health and politics. People are reporting a mental health decline due to the current divisive and contentious political climate. […]
As a therapist, I offer clients skills which promote emotional and mental well-being. If I could give my clients one gift, it would be that they learn to meditate . For new students, practical questions such as what is the best time to meditate are important. “If I could give my clients one gift, it would […]
The Ninja Ego The ego. An elusive but dominating force. It sneaks up on us and takes control of our thoughts, words, and behaviors in a wink of an eye. I have had many discussions with clients, friends and family about the importance of understanding one’s ego. I have been trying to understand mine for […]