Worry

LET’S END THE “CRAZY” TALK
October 2, 2017

#MIAW17

In honour of mental health awareness week, I thought it important to discuss the main reason why mental health awareness campaigns exist in the first place.

I can’t begin to tell you how many clients come to me, not only with clinical symptoms, but with broken spirits. Whether they are dealing with mood or anxiety disorders, personality or relational problems, a huge number of my clients feel discouraged and isolated because of misunderstandings, closed-mindedness, and confusion on the part of their entourage. It is to these people, the friends and family members of individuals diagnosed with a clinical … Read the rest

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Top 3 Things to Consider When Therapy Just Isn’t Working
June 27, 2017

Ok, so you finally decide to seek therapy despite your reservations.  You go to your appointments with an open-mind and maintain that you are willing to do what it takes to finally feel better and reduce your uncomfortable symptoms. Your therapist assesses your primary concerns, conducts a proper evaluation, collects and shares necessary info, and offers a treatment that seemingly harmonizes and compliments your therapeutic goals.  But…it is just not working.  What do you do?  I’d like you to consider these three things.

  • Therapist-Client Mismatch: Please do not go to therapy once and say, “that therapist just didn’t get me!”  
… Read the rest
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Anxiety’s Kryptonite
January 31, 2017

If someone would have told me that I’d be teaching my clients about the importance of paced breathing, I would have said they were nuts. As a student, I would have rolled my eyes and said that this kind of intervention was useless. BOY WAS I WRONG! Proper breathing technique is an extremely important addition to any treatment plan, especially when treating anxiety. Let me explain why and hopefully I’ll convince you to the degree that I was convinced that breathing is an indispensable tool in increasing general well-being.

Part of our nervous system controls automatic behavior and another part … Read the rest

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Your Distorted Thoughts
January 10, 2017

Something I often hear in my office is, “am I normal?”  Some people get really angry and judgemental with themselves for having thoughts that are irrational or illogical, and to that I say, quit it! It is very ‘normal’ (and inevitable) to sometimes have patterns of thought that don’t make sense.

What kind of thoughts am I talking about? Here are some examples:

  • “I just had a fight with my girlfriend; our relationship must be over.”
  • “My boss didn’t seem interested during my presentation; she must hate my work.”
  • “I failed my entrance exam; I guess I’m not cut out
… Read the rest
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4 Steps to Mastering Your Worry
October 3, 2016

UNDERSTANDING THE SPECIFICITY OF THAT LABELED GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER (GAD)

It is a misconception that Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is, put simply, a cluster of generally anxious symptoms. GAD, in fact, points to a very specific pattern of anxiety that is namely, excessive worry. I think we can all agree that worrying occasionally is “normal.” However, when the worry is all-encompassing and is the only thing you do all day-every day, there is a clinical problem happening and it’s called Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

As you’ve guessed, the leading symptom of GAD is excessive worry and it’s not GAD unless … Read the rest

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