Current Articles | Categories | Search | Syndication
by Raychelle Cassada Lohmann, MS, LPC, author of The Anger Workbook for Teens
Do you counsel parents who are at their wit's end with a child who throws tantrums, destroys things, or is defiant? If so, here's some information for parents that can help.
Children are constantly soaking in what's going on around them. Studies are showing that even when parents don't think that their kids listen, they do. Parents are one of the strongest influences in a child's life. They set the bar. So be sure that parents are modeling appropriate anger management skills. Besides being the model of behavior, parents should teach children specific skills to manage anger.
Quick Tip for Therapists by Martin M. Antony, PhD, author of Overcoming Health Anxiety and Jenny Rogojanski, MA
Changing behavior can be extremely challenging for clients, and finding ways to reinforce progress between sessions can be critical for successful therapy. In particular, the client's environment, culture, or social context may act as a barrier to making changes outside of the therapy session. One strategy that may be helpful for overcoming this is to include a supportive family member or close friend as a "helper" who can motivate the client to make changes between sessions. At times, a client's partner may not support the client's efforts to change, which can interfere with progress. In these cases, it is particularly important to get the client's partner on board.
Quick Tip for Therapists by Randy J. Paterson, PhD, author of Private Practice Made Simple
It's sometimes difficult to get hardworking clients to contemplate the value of life outside work. One option is simply to recite the old maxim, "No one reaches the end of their life and says 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office.'" Based on my experiences sitting by a lot of deathbeds in my time, this seems to be true. I've never seen a shred of regret about not working harder.
Another option is to lead the client into the discussion like this:
Quick Tip for Therapists by Stephanie Moulton Sarkis, PhD, NCC, LMHC, author of 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD, 2nd ed.
A therapist can determine if a client's relationship is healthy by looking at the levels of control within a relationship. A healthy relationship is one that is interdependent: the partners are emotionally intimate and rely on each other, but also have their own interests and abilities. One partner does not try to control the other.
Quick Tip for Therapists by Martin M. Antony, PhD, author of Overcoming Health Anxiety and Heather Hood, MA
Although exposure-based treatments can be highly effective for helping clients overcome problems with anxiety, you can enhance treatment outcomes by paying attention to the way that you conduct exposure therapy. Successful exposure therapy follows these guidelines:
Quick Tip for Therapists by Martin M. Antony, PhD, author of Overcoming Health Anxiety and Valerie Vorstenbosch, MA
There are many reasons why clients are often noncompliant with homework assignments in therapy. They may face competing demands for their time, believe the assignments to be overly challenging or irrelevant, assume that the assignment will not be helpful, misunderstand what is expected for the assignment, or simply have limited motivation for change. Strategies for improving compliance depend on the reasons for noncompliance, so a first step to investigate factors that may be getting in the way of homework completion.
Quick Tip for Therapists by Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, co-author of DBT Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder
So what do we do with these unhelpful yes-buts? When the yes-but has become a pattern or habit, the clients need to become aware of it, and the most effective way to begin to increase awareness is for you to bring it to their attention (they can also use mindfulness to help with this if you've already gone over this skill). Gradually, they'll start to notice it themselves
Cyberbullies are like monsters in the closet. They seem to lurk in the corners and under the bed, and their victims fear they will appear at any time. Just like a child who fears the dark, the victim of a cyberbully may be scared of what hides behind the screen. In today’s world, clicks and keystrokes have the power to destroy and alter lives. Bullies use many different forms of cyberbullying to engage their victims in a game of cat and mouse.
Here are twelve types of cyberbullying that exist:
Perfectionism is the tendency to set unreasonably high standards that are inflexible, difficult or impossible to meet, and that interfere with an individual's life. Perfectionistic tendencies can be seen in many areas in clients' lives, such as work or school performance, writing, cleaning, organizing, and physical appearance.
One of the most effective ways to help clients reduce perfectionism is to change the behaviors that maintain perfectionistic beliefs. Some behavioral strategies that can be used to help clients overcome perfectionism include:
Quick Tip for Therapists by Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, author of Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens, Bipolar Workbook for Teens and DBT Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder
Sometimes, one of the hardest things about psychotherapy is knowing how to set appropriate boundaries with clients. Usually therapists have come into this field because they want to help, so it can feel counter-intuitive to say "no" when a client contacts you excessively by telephone or email, tries to extend appointment times, or wants more frequent appointments. But not saying "no" can lead to negative consequences like burnout. So when clients start making excessive requests, it's important to think about a couple of things.
New Harbinger Publications
Susan Albers, PsyD
Ronald Alexander, Ph.D.
Lisa Firestone, Ph.D.
Susan Pease Gadoua, LCSW
Elisha Goldstein, PhD
Randi Gunther, PhD
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.
Steven C. Hayes, PhD
Lara Honos-Webb, PhD
Susan Kuchinskas
Karen Leland
Tammy Nelson, PhD
Sheryl Paul
Suzanne Phillips, PsyD
Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D.
Stephanie Silberman, PhD
Pavel Somov, PhD
Cassandra Vieten, Ph.D.
Susan Albers, PsyD "Comfort Cravings"
Ronald Alexander, PhD "The Wise Mind Open Mind"
Susan Bauer-Wu "Living Fully & Letting Go"
Stanley H. Block, MD "Come To Your Senses"
Raychelle Cassada Lohmann, MS, LPC "Teen Angst"
Elliot D. Cohen PhD "What Would Aristotle Do?"
Carolyn Coker Ross, MD, MPH "Real Healing"
Troy DuFrene "Fumbling for Change"
Russ Federman, PhD, ABPP "Bipolar You"
Lisa Firestone, PhD "Compassion Matters"
Robert Firestone, PhD "The Human Experience"
John P. Forsyth, PhD "Peace of Mind"
Paul Gilbert, PhD "Practice Compassion"
Barton Goldsmith, PhD "Emotional Fitness"
Ken Goss, DClinPsy "Practice Compassion"
Randi Gunther, PhD "Rediscovering Love"
Rick Hanson, PhD "Your Wise Brain"
Russ Harris, MD "The Happiness Trap"
Steven C. Hayes, PhD "Get Out of Your Mind"
Lynne Henderson, PhD "Practice Compassion"
Lara Honos-Webb, PhD "The Gift of ADHD"
Jonathan Kaplan, PhD "Urban Mindfulness"
Melissa Kirk "Test Case"
Bill Knaus, EdD "Science and Sensibility"
Randi Kreger "Stop Walking on Eggshells"
Marilyn Krieger, PhD "The White Knight Syndrome"
Mary Lamia, PhD "The White Knight Syndrome"
Karen Leland "The Perfect Blend"
Barbara Markway, PhD "Shyness Is Nice"
Kelly McGonigal, PhD "The Science of Willpower"
Susan Pease Gadoua, LCSW "Contemplating Divorce"
Stephanie Sarkis, PhD "Here, There, and Everywhere"
Jefferson Singer, PhD "Life Scripts"
Shawn Smith "Ironshrink"
Olga Trujillo, JD "The Sum of My Parts"
Cassandra Vieten, PhD "Mindful Motherhood"
Ruth C. White, PhD "Culture in Mind"
Psych Central
Elisha Goldstein, PhD "Mindfulness & Psychotherapy"
Christy Matta, MA "Dialectical Behavior Therapy Understood"
Suzanne Phillips, PsyD, ABPP "Healing Together for Couples"
Pavel Somov, PhD "360º of Mindful Living"
Web MD
Judith London, PhD
Sharecare
Annemarie Colbin, PhD
Margaret Floyd, NTP
Raychelle Lohmann, MS, LPC
Blake Taylor
Sheri Van Dijk
Ruth White, PhD