Have you ever found yourself perseverating about something that happened in the past and been unable to get your mind off it? Have you ever found yourself reacting to new situations as if they were something from your childhood or a recurring horrific event you consciously know has passed? Does this happen despite what you tell yourself before or during these events? If this is the case with you, your thinking may be being driven by trauma.
Read moreDo you have people in your life who tell you that they think you are depressed? Do you hear what they’re saying and think ‘I don’t know what they’re talking about?’ or wonder how that can be the case. Maybe you agree with them, but don’t want to admit it. If this sounds like something you’ve experienced, you may be depressed and not realize it.
Read moreAre you someone who suffers from engaging in what is commonly called sex addiction? Do you spend hours a day engaged in sexual activity you have no idea how to stop (although you feel like you’ve tried everything)? Do you feel helpless or powerless to do what you know is in your best interest and function like ‘normal’ people? If so, you may have wondered what it might be like to be magically cured of this ‘addiction,’ or what is also known as out of control sexual behavior.
Read moreOne of the biggest issues in the world today is depression. Recently the World Health Organization came out with a finding that depression is the single biggest health issue in the world...the world! It is the most prominent contributor to disability and is a “major contributor to the overall global burden of disease.”
Read moreThis is an interview with Mike Kampschaefer, PsyD, who is a noted therapist and psychoanalyst in the Oklahoma City area. He is an expert on childhood issues and their impact in later life, as well as being my brother.
Read moreDo you find yourself not going out anywhere for fear of being around other people and not knowing what to say to them? Do you avoid certain situations for fear it might put you in front of someone else you would feel awkward or even worse? Is the only time you can feel relaxed when you’re by yourself? If any of these are true, you may be suffering from social anxiety.
Read moreDo you find yourself reliving the past? Do memories come back over you with the same awful details that they always have? If this describes what you experience, you may have PTSD affecting your memories. PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a condition where memories are frozen in the brain in a way that causes distress and negatively affects the brain and the rest of the nervous system.
Read moreAre you a male who looks at porn and tends to feeling guilty about doing so, or worse? Whether you do or not you should probably know about a new book I recently read by David Ley, PhD called Ethical Porn for Dicks: A Man’s Guide to Responsible Viewing Pleasure. It can help give you wider perspective of a part of your life you probably never thought of, and if you have problems with porn use it can help you have a better take on the relative degree of your problem.
Read moreDo you find yourself wondering if you have depression at this time of year? Depression is one of the most serious mental illnesses that can happen to people at this time of year, and can be worsened by the belief that you ‘should’ be happy and cheerful because if it the holidays.
Read moreOne of the most common mental illnesses people across the world suffer from is depression. In fact, the most common emotion among adolescents is depression. Once you are feeling depressed, you might find yourself falling into inactivity and show other signs of depression...
Read moreOne of the issues most of my clients deal with these days is anxiety. It may arise in many forms, but the common denominator the vast majority of their experiences is anxiety. These days it can be more disabling than helpful...
Read moreIt’s been long known that secrecy is the breeding ground of any number of ills, from international incidents to rifts between couples and families. In this piece I will focus on how it relates to problematic or out of control sexual behavior (which I’ll refer to as OCSB).
Read moreSome people find themselves engaging in multiple affairs either within a monogamous relationship or as stand-alone interactions: whatever the case there tends to be a common theme of secrecy, the relationships being complicated, and there being a degree of unmanageability despite what the person who is engaging in them believes.
Read moreIt seems the last 20 years have seen such a rise in the proliferation of pornography via the internet that it has become much more commonplace than in previous times. This has so much been the case that one local radio personality has spoken about how the age of 'paper porn' has come and gone. This time period has also seen the average age of initial pornography viewing and use descend to between 10 and 15 years old, at least in boys. With so many young people being exposed to pornography at such a young age, it necessitates asking the question 'How young is too young?' as well as prompting the need to look at the consequences of pornography use in general.
Read moreThere has been a lot written about the issue of what is popularly known as sex addiction. This has been promulgated early on within the addiction and recovery movement, and has more lately been taken up by mainstream media. While the label floats around and is easily applied to any number of sexual behaviors, there exists no consensus in the therapeutic community about what constitutes sex addiction. I choose not to use in in my practice not because I don’t believe there is such a thing as sex addiction, it’s just not something I care to diagnose without a clear clinical picture of just what it is. That being said, I work with men who exhibit what is less commonly known as problem sexual behavior, compulsive sexual behavior, or what Douglas Braun-Harvey and Michael Vigorito refer to as Out of Control Sexual Behavior.
Read moreI wanted to take the opportunity to comment on the latest data from the Center for Disease Control and from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reporting that the national suicide rate has had a large increase in the last 15 years. This is especially troublesome considering advances in mental health care and increased focus on individuals who have mental illness and are likely to attempt suicide. The problem is that government funding to help treat and alleviate mental illness has not kept pace with inflation or the increased demands of people who suffer from depression. Part of the study put her focus on individuals in midlife who attempt suicide. This comes at the same time as many individuals have been displaced due to economic problems in this country. There are abundant ways to help people to prevent suicide if there are early warning signs and appropriate interventions.
Read moreEMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapeutic model designed to help people overcome traumatic events that have somehow impaired their brain function, mental health, and overall well-being. In it’s 25 years of existence it has helped innumerable people to live happier, healthier lives. Something that often goes unrecognized is the spirituality that can complement EMDR and make it more meaningful for the people who benefit from it.
Read moreIt is a gentle form of therapy for people who tend to be easily intimidated by typical forms of therapy, such as Exposure Therapy, traditional talk therapy, and even EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). All of these require the client to revisit the event that is troubling them in some degree of detail. Image Transformation Therapy (ImTT) enlists the body to help work through the issue(s) that the mind won’t or can’t get a grasp of. By visualizing a color in the body that represents the trapped pain or fear, it removes the burden of the client to revisit a painful memory or situation and helps to resolve it.
Read moreCreating a partnership agreement has never been easier with all the online templates available to make this happen. It is important to put these agreements in writing, as the evidence of a partnership may difficult to prove if one of the partners dies.
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