Following the horrific mass shootings in the Atlanta area this week, people have been trying to make sense of why and how an individual could kill a number of people, apparently targeting women of Asian background. Our need to make sense of something like this serves two very strong needs for all of us: First,… Continue Reading Intersections of violence
Among counseling students and faculty, there is a fun exercise that consists of naming the diagnostic categories for the characters from “Winnie-the-Pooh.” Tigger has ADHD, Eeyore has dysthymic disorder, and Piglet has generalized anxiety disorder. But Winnie-the-Pooh himself seems to have all the hallmarks of an addictive personality. He just needs a “little something” (or,… Continue Reading Is there an “Addictive Personality”…?
With the recent spate of revelations about sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and sexual assault being reported in the media, many people of conscience wonder exactly what the aggressors owe the people who were the targets of their hurtful behavior. There are a lot of components to the hurt that people may have suffered, but the… Continue Reading Sin and Injury: When Sorry Is Not Enough
It’s hard to say anything calming or therapeutic since the election in November. Many people are feeling vindicated and many others are feeling betrayed, fearful, and even traumatized. But a major factor in the anxiety many of us are feeling is the sense that we cannot believe what we hear any longer. We’re subjected to… Continue Reading Ethics, Truth, and Our Political World of 2016
In May, I presented at the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology’s annual conference in Minnesota, along with colleagues from Adler University’s Chicago Campus. Our panel discussion was on encouragement, and we spoke about the different ways we have experienced encouragement in our lives and tried to pass it along to others. In my discussion,… Continue Reading Encouragement, Pain, and Survival
This week will be the annual conference of the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology, held this year in Bloomington, Minnesota. This is the largest show of support on the continent for Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology tradition. I will be joining a number of my colleagues from Adler University’s Chicago Campus, and our students, as… Continue Reading Adlerians Gather in Minnesota This Week!
An article was published by US News and World Report yesterday, and it has mixed news about the Affordable Care Act and mental health treatment: the number of people with mental health conditions who are uninsured decreased in 2015, but the number of people who received mental health services using insurance plans obtained on the… Continue Reading Obamacare and Mental Health: Good News and Bad News
The recent tragedy involving the murders of a news reporter and camera operator on the air in Roanoke, Virginia is a reminder that workplace grievances and grudges can erupt into violence very easily, and that terminating a person’s employment can be the trigger that causes a marginally disturbed person to become violent. Taking away a… Continue Reading Predicting and Preventing Workplace Violence: An EAP’s Worst Nightmare
For people who’ve made positive changes in their lives, holidays can be slippery spots. Individuals who have quit drinking, smoking, or using drugs, people recovering from compulsive gambling or overeating, and people who have been substituting healthier behaviors for unhealthy ones, may be at increased risk of lapses or relapses when holidays approach. Celebrations, added… Continue Reading Holiday Lapses
Mindfulness has become a hot topic in mental health and addictions treatment in recent years. Mindfulness techniques, including mindfulness meditation, have become standard items in the cognitive-behavioral therapy toolkit. This makes sense if you understand that many symptoms (including anxiety, depression, and cravings or urges to drink or use substances) represent experiences or expectations of… Continue Reading Mindfulness Basics