When is gift giving appropriate within the therapeutic relationship? I’ve been thinking about this recently as Christmas and the holiday season is often accompanied by gift giving. There can be a bit of merriment in the air around Winter Solstice, some whimsy. The counseling relationship is oftentimes, and understandably, a deep one. Gifts can be a common “love language” for people. Gifts can be a form of kindness. A sign of gratitude. I have had…
Embracing gratitude and actively practicing it can help you regulate your parasympathetic nervous system. This is the part of the brain that can stop you from going into a panicky fight or flight mode if it senses danger. Sometimes just our thoughts alone about a situation are enough to trigger this system. The way we conceive of our state of affairs can tell our nervous system to go into over-drive. We end up with a…
I have bipolar one disorder. This is a fact that informs much of my day-to-day living. I need to take my medication, stay on top of my therapy appointments, go for bloodwork, strive for a balanced lifestyle and, above all else, maintain a solid, restful, regular sleep routine. When I don’t sleep, whether due to anxious thoughts, or having had too much alcohol earlier in the evening, or from just being keyed up due to…
The holiday season is here, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s specifically. This is a time of year that can be very difficult on one’s mental health. Every November into December, I notice that I have an uptick in clients coming to see me for depression, grief that loved ones have passed away, feelings of being overwhelmed and complaints that they themselves are not “good enough.” They’re in pain because they believe what they do…
