I was expecting good things from Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He’s quite well-known within the mindfulness world as the developer of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and a founding director of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This book was a best-seller, […]
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An A-to-Z gratitude challenge is currently making the rounds in the blogosphere. The goal is to identify something to feel grateful for starting with each letter of the alphabet (X and Z just have to contain, not necessarily start with, those letters). I thought I would join in. A-romatherapy: very pleasant and relaxing B-edtime: my
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So, what is it to be trauma-informed? Trauma-informed practice recognizes the intersectionality of trauma, mental health, and substance abuse, with an awareness that anyone may have experienced trauma, whether they’ve disclosed it or not. Trauma-informed practice aims to create environments that prevent re-traumatization and promote a sense of safety. The individual client’s safety, choice, and
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What exactly are emotions? Well, there’s no easy answer to that; it depends on who you ask and what their theoretical perspective is. But regardless of how we define them, how do we describe them? That can be easier said than done. There’s even a psychiatric term, alexithymia, for difficulty identifying and articulating emotions. Several
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Chances are, you’ve heard the idea that vaccines can cause autism. Various organizations and individuals champion this notion; one of the most prominent is actress Jenny McCarthy, whose son was diagnosed with autism at age 2. She has an autism-related organization called Generation Rescue, and on its website is a guide to vaccine safety. Note: Since
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is vulnerability. The word vulnerable is derived from the Latin word vulnerare, which means to be wounded. There are different ways in which we may be vulnerable, including socially and cognitively. In a diathesis-stress model, vulnerability refers to biological and
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I Am the Architect of My Own Destruction is Juansen Dizon’s second book of poetry. The book opens with a letter to the reader, which begins “It’s hard to write when you want to kill yourself. It’s harder when you don’t really know the reason as to why.” Throughout the book I felt like I as
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At first glance, the idea of the law of attraction is very appealing; you get back from the universe whatever you put out into it, because like energy attracts like energy. According to the film The Secret, it’s not only thinking about what you want to get back; you need to really pour some emotion
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I have never had a problem with medications in general, and in my work as a nurse, I’ve seen how much good they can do. Despite that, I’ve gone off the meds I take for depression a few times, and that’s what this post is about. My first episode of depression was in 2007. I
My Experiences of (Temporarily) Going Off Psychiatric Medications Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is invalidation. Validation conveys acceptance, along with a recognition that someone’s thoughts, feelings, or reactions are understandable. It also serves to communicate that the relationship is important. It doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing or approving, something I think is a
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