Contagious People… Catching What They Have.

By |2017-05-21T16:06:05-07:00July 23rd, 2011|Psychotherapy|

In his national bestselling book TheTipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell dedicates a few pages to writing about types of people called “senders.” These types of people, he writes, “are those who are very good at expressing emotions and feelings, which means that [they] are far more emotionally contagious than the rest of us.” These are the types of people who, after spending some time in their presence, we can’t help but be greatly influenced by whatever energy they are sending out. I find I often notice it most when I am feeling blah, have an encounter [...]

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Below the Surface

By |2017-05-21T16:06:05-07:00July 15th, 2011|Psychotherapy|

There's an idea out there in the psychology world that we create, to a large extent, how people treat us, and recently I've been finding myself thinking and philosophizing about this idea more than usual. Now obviously if we are rude and mean to someone most likely they will respond to us with anger or resentment... nothing profound there. And, sometimes friends, loved ones, and even complete strangers will be overtly rude to us for no apparent reason... I'm not saying we necessarily caused them to treat us in this way... sometimes people are just [...]

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Picking Up the Pieces

By |2017-05-21T16:06:06-07:00June 24th, 2011|Psychotherapy|

When we make choices that are obviously destructive and harmful – no matter how well we can justify them in the moment - they are more than likely to harm our bodies, our minds, and often our relationships, but also our psyches and our spirits. Bodies tend to heal more quickly, whereas the psychological repercussions of our choices are often longer lasting. It’s amazing to me how we can make a split second decision, and then be left to pick up the pieces for weeks, or months, or sometimes even years. Those who have used [...]

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Scott Miller at the CCPA Annual Conference

By |2017-05-21T16:06:06-07:00May 19th, 2011|Psychotherapy|

Yesterday I had the pleasure of once again hearing Scott Miller present. I won't go into too much detail about what he spoke about, but there was one thing that really stood out for me. He was giving a clinical example with a video of a case he was brought in to consult on. The individual he was called in to work with was a "very challenging case" - a man who had been receiving therapy and support primarily for his alcohol addiction for about 4 years. Now his mental health team was having a really hard time with this gentleman because they could not seem to convince [...]

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Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference

By |2017-05-21T16:06:06-07:00October 22nd, 2010|General, Psychotherapy|

Last winter some colleagues and I made our way down to Anaheim California for the Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference.  It was almost surreal when we received our workshop schedules a few weeks before the conference and I discovered many of the presenters were people who's work I'd been reading and studying for years.  I know it sounds pretty dorky to those not in the psychology world, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little star struck.  Okay, A LOT star struck. The highlight of the conference for me was definitely any and every presentation, workshop, discussion [...]

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