Posts Tagged "addictions"

Can you imagine how some individuals must have reacted when new evidence from scientists and philosophers began to emerge suggesting that the earth was round; not flat as had been believed for thousands of years.  After all,  the belief that the Earth was flat was almost universal until about the 4th century BC.  Promoters of this new idea were labeled heretics and insane.  And it’s understandable how people “felt.”  This was going to literally rock their world.  Try and remember your last time standing on the beach looking out toward the horizon where sea meets sky.  It gives the false illusion that that the earth is flat.  When I look out as far as the eye can see in any direction, it really “feels” like the earth is flat. ...

I first met Jack (not his real name) several months ago.  He had been referred to me because of his struggle with addictions and extreme anger. Practically homeless, he was in his early 50’s yet looked like he was in his late 60’s.  The substance abuse had clearly taken it’s toll in very visible ways.  I didn’t know Jack, I had never met him prior to his visit, but as his story unfolded, I began to connect the dots and realized I did know some of his family members. This was quite a surprise to me and I clearly remember the precise session that I realized my connection to his children. I won’t belabor Jack’s story.  It’s a familiar one for those who struggle with substance abuse.  He was in and out of therapy, attempting to maintain sobriety...

I guess I’ll join in the fray and write about MJ ‘s untimely death. Or is it really so untimely?  How long would one realistically expect to live considering the toxic milieu of opiates and anesthetics allegedly floating in  his blood stream? All this is very familiar for those who where around when Elvis met a similar demise. For those of you still in the womb in 1976 (or was it 1977), not so familiar.  I remember the news reports streaming day and night.  Long lines and throngs of neurotic fans converged in front of  draped ironed gates at Graceland in Memphis.  Constant TV coverage erupted.  I remember reading  at the time that a nurse slipped a note to his physician who was seeing another patient with encrypted abbreviations that read,...

This video is the trailer for a great documentary on the US’s addiction to debt. There’s also a great 30 minute preview on youtube.

Aaron Beck has defined CT as being an active, directive, time-limited, structured approach to therapy based in the underlying theoretical rationale that an individual’s affect and behavior are largely determined by the way in which one structures their worldview. The overall strategy of cognitive therapy emphasizes the empirical investigation of the client’s automatic thoughts, inferences, conclusions, and assumptions. Thoughts (cognitions) either verbal or pictorial are based on the attitudes or assumptions (schemas), developed from previous life experiences. For example, a client may develop schema that says, “I cannot relate socially unless I have a drink to calm me down.” Consequently the client reacts to situations in terms of inadequacy even when...