Progressive Muscle Relaxation

August 14th, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

A couple of years ago I did a video on PMR and I can’t find it so I did another one based on a few requests from clients who preferred to be guided through the exercise. I used the cam on my computer (which is about 5 years old) so the quality isn’t terrific – also I hate doing video- but it’s a good exercise and might be worth checking out. If you are experiencing any pain or have an injury just avoid tensing that part of the body when we get to it during the exercise.

Designed For Crisis

July 30th, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

The term crisis tends to bring with it thoughts of difficult events and our worst fears including our own mortality. Part of what amplifies our distress is how we approach a crisis cognitively and behaviorally. There are a few things you can do to tap into your own natural ability to cope with a crisis and perhaps even capitalize on it. Rethink How You Understand the Term Many things we consider good or positive events are in fact crises. The birth of a child, going to college, starting your first job, transitioning from one developmental stage to another all involve …

Freedom to Fail

July 24th, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

“SpaceX — which Musk touts as replacing NASA and colonizing Mars — has been a literal failure to launch. So many of its rockets have burned up or crashed that Musk, for reasons unknown, has made a blooper reel.” link I’m neither a fan or critic of Musk, I’m not looking to defend his politics, recent comments or his behavior, however, the author of the article made a common mistake – we confuse things not going as expected with failure. Musk, whatever you may think of him, doesn’t appear to fall into this trap. The “blooper reel” of SpaceX seems …

Of Monkey Bridges and Bánh Mì Sandwiches: from Sài Gòn to Texas

July 9th, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

I am not a “book recommender” in my practice, I have a core of books I suggest if clients ask – three of them are CBT or DBT workbooks, the other is Night by Elie Wiesel (yes many folks have still not read that book). I recommend “Night” because it is a powerful demonstration of “Meaning” within DBT’s IMPROVE skill and a source for “Comparison” in ACCEPTS. Well, another book made the list for the same reasons – “Of Monkey Bridges and Bánh Mì Sandwiches: from Sài Gòn to Texas” by Oanh Ngo Usadi. The book is a personal account …

Get your Greek on…

July 7th, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

Did you know that much of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is based on the work of the Athenian philosophers (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle)? One common skill taught in CBT is Socratic questions which can be used as a means of stepping away from our initial (and provocative) interpretation of an event and coming to a more reasonable conclusion. Socratic reasoning takes a conclusion (or anything really) and begins with a process of asking open-ended questions. This can be helpful when we are struggling with depression or anxiety because we are more likely to come to the worst possible meaning of …

States of Mind is on the agenda for today….

July 2nd, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

I do a pretty cool Star War’s analogy for this if I do say so myself.

Four Choices

June 30th, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

DBT presents us with four choices when faced with a painful situation, we tend to be really aware of two (changing the harmful situation, staying miserable) but not so aware of the others. To illustrate the four choices, let’s take the example of a difficult situation at work. In this scenario, let’s imagine you’re boss engages in small talk with your co-workers, takes them out to lunch, etc. and barely gives you a nod in the morning. Our choices may play out in the following manner: (1) Change the Situation- This would involve different strategies including, taking initiative and starting …

Self-Validation

June 28th, 2018jm@ownhope.org0 Comments

DBT and CBT are both pretty big on changing how you think as a way of changing how you feel. Both recognize cognitive distortions which are faulty patterns of thinking that develop during periods of distress and/or can act as a catalyst for distress. One component of both therapies involves helping folks change their thinking habits so they are less vulnerable to high levels of distress and are less prone to engaging in ineffective behaviors. One way to challenge ineffective thinking is to engage in self-validation. There are six levels of validation, for this post we’re going to focus on …