Anxiety is a fuel for action. Being anxious is unbearable, it makes you want to do something, anything that can relieve the pit in the stomach dread that something bad is imminent; and you have zero control. Anxiety is a sign of helplessness in the midst of threat. It propels you to act, to [...]
A Relationship with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) bot sounded weird at first, but gradually grew appealing to Stella, a 45-year-old copy reader who was the sole carer for her mother, suffering from dementia. A relationship with an AI bot that looked human, smiled, and asked how Stella was doing, made her feel cared for [...]
The power of touch is profound in romantic relationships. Touch serves a multitude of functions right from the moment of birth. The sensation of skin on skin offers a feeling of safety, security, and calmness that lets you just be, take everything in and grow without having to use up your attention span and [...]
Three Impediments to Discussing Divorce With Young Children, and a Three Step Process to do it Well Discussing divorce with young children is probably every parent’s worst nightmare. All the promises you made yourself when you first embarked on the parenthood journey crumble into dust, making you feel like a failure. Discussing divorce with [...]
The Way You Love Your Child is Key to Their Mental Health The way you love your child is the most significant factor in determining his or her mental health. One-third of children between 3-17 years of age in America have at least one mental health problem. So it may be present in your [...]
Three Ways to Make Bad Feelings Less Sticky Every client I have worked with shares their despair that their bad feelings won’t go away, and that nothing they do makes it better. Getting distracted for a while by being busy; sleeping; vegetating in front of a screen or immersing yourself in a job doesn’t [...]
How Rumination and Insecurity Become Team Players in Romantic Breakups Rumination and insecurity go hand in hand. Insecurity is a destabilizing experience. It takes the ground from under you. There is nothing to hold onto because you feel lost, wobbly and untethered. Along comes a rope to cling to – a mental strategy [...]
Seven Ways to Say, “I love you,” and Six Ways That Fail. “I love you!” says your partner as they go off to get on with their day. “Love you” says your mom as you end a phone conversation and you say it back. Do you feel loved in that moment? Are you experiencing loving [...]
Fear of Letting People Down Makes You Let Yourself Down Fear of letting people down is immensely stressful. Fear of letting people down bathes you in conflict, eats away at your sense of right and wrong with acidic guilt eroding your soul. Fear of letting people down puts you in a no-win situation, and that [...]
Getting the news that she was finally pregnant, should have been immensely relieving to 25-year-old Kerri, but she was as stressed if not more than before. Previously she had been stressed about having her second child before she was 35 years old, but now she was stressed about not having enough energy for her lively first born, 4 year-old Eric. She fretted over giving him less attention and potentially creating a long term problem. Recalling her own childhood Kerri remembered being the oldest in her family, and with each new baby that came along, she was pushed further and further into the background, being forced to take on parenting tasks. Her father worked long hours and was also in competition for the scant energy his wife may have for him when he was home. Kerri had vowed to herself that her children weren’t going to suffer like that, and she was going to make sure her husband Ari would never feel he had to battle to get quality adult time with her.
