Bringing Awareness to Avoidance
What is avoidance? It involves consciously sidestepping challenging or unwanted situations to protect our mental and emotional well-being. While many people are familiar with the idea of avoiding, sometimes it can be difficult to identify what type of avoidant behavior you’re engaging in. Cognitive avoidance, situational avoidance, substitution avoidance, protective avoidance, and somatic avoidance and […]
The Power of PLEASE Skill
Today, we’re diving into one of the super cool skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) – the PLEASE skill. This skill is a hidden gem for managing your mental health and maintaining emotional balance. What is the PLEASE Skill? First things first, what is the PLEASE Skill? It’s an acronym that stands for: Physical illness: […]
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Target Depression
Navigating through the dense and overwhelming fog of depression can feel like an insurmountable task. The weight of sadness, anxiety, and hopelessness can become heavier and heavier over time, especially if you have been working in therapy for a long time to overcome your symptoms. One intervention that is oEen not the first sought upon […]
The Basics of CBT: What You Need to Know Before Starting Therapy
There are hundreds of psychological treatments available, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an intervention that has been emphasized in literature, treatment, and research. With all the buzz around CBT, the information on CBT can become convoluted. So, let’s break down several points: what is CBT and how does it work, what mental health conditions […]
Overcoming Negative Self-Talk with CBT Techniques
What is negative self-talk? Nearly everyone engages in negative self-talk at times, especially when we feel like we’ve messed up. It can act as a form of internal consequence, a way of punishing ourselves. For some, negative self-talk becomes a perpetual cycle, like a devil sitting on our shoulders, constantly reminding us of past failures, […]
Using CBT to Manage Stress: Techniques You Can Start Today
Defining and Identifying Stress Stress may not be an unfamiliar word for many in the modern world where one has endless amounts of responsibility, from financial pressures to work commitments and personal expectations. As many may experience, stress is a broad concept that refers to a mental or physical response to threatening or challenging events […]
Why CBT is an Effective Approach for Managing Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Living with anxiety and panic attacks can be a challenging experience. The relentless cycle of worrying thoughts, physical symptoms like a racing heartbeat, and sudden feelings of fear or dread can feel overwhelming. However, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective, evidence based treatments for managing these distressing symptoms. But what makes […]
Recovery and Mindfulness Techniques for Everyday Life
Trauma Recovery and Mindfulness: Techniques for Everyday Life According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, text-revision (DSM-5-tr): “Psychological distress following exposure to a traumatic or stressful event is quite variable. In some cases, symptoms can be well understood within an anxiety- or fear-based context. It is clear, however, that many […]