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Care for Caregivers
By Cathy Downen, MA, MA, PLPC Karen doesn’t know exactly when she got so tired. When she invited her elderly mother into her home to live with her family, she was optimistic about dealing with the challenges of her mother’s Alzheimer’s symptoms while working from home and keeping up with the needs of her husband and two children. But now she feels alone and discouraged. She has missed many of her kids’ events, her career has stagnated, her friendships have been neglected, and she hasn’t been to the doctor for herself in years. She wishes her life were different, but she’s exhausted and doesn’t think she has any options. Karen…
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The Power of the Cognitive Behavioral Approach to Stereotyping
by Mary Singleton, MEd, PLPC I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been thinking about recent racial conflicts involving police officers and citizens. We have all seen how an event, such as a police officer shooting someone, can inspire dramatically different reactions in people — reactions which often correlate to race and which elicit very different feelings and behaviors as a result of these thoughts. Cultural messages and life experiences contribute greatly to the automatic thoughts an individual has in response to a significant event, and psychological responses are involved, as well. Many people have been conditioned, starting at an early age, to automatically respond to circumstances in…
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Getting A True Reflection: Challenging Unhealthy Thoughts
Have you ever gone to the carnival and seen a fun-house mirror? Instead of revealing an accurate, true mirror image through the use of a standard mirror, a fun-house mirror bends certain sections just enough to distort the image. Do you remember standing in front of the mirror, perhaps laughing with your friends, moving forward, then back, and enjoying the distortion? That’s because you knew the distortion was not reality. If you thought the distortion WAS reality, it might have produced feelings of fear, anxiety and lack of safety. Perhaps if someone showed you the truth regarding the fun-house mirror, your feelings of fear and anxiety might have subsided, in…
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Get to the Root of Your Child’s Anxiety
By Elizabeth Nimmo, MA, LPC It is a common occurrence for most children to experience some level of fear or anxiety at one point or another during their childhood. Often, we characterize these as typical age-and-stage appropriate fears, such as a belief that monsters are under the bed or the requirement of a nightlight to fall asleep. On average, most children outgrow such fears, and they simply become a platform for parents to convey love and care while children are developing necessary emotional and cognitive skills. However, some children’s fears grow from typical age-appropriate concerns into larger issues that are rooted in irrational beliefs. Such beliefs and fears often create…
Marriage Family & Individual Counseling | St Louis MO
