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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…
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Unraveling the Enigma of the Autism Spectrum
By Carolyn Knarr, MSW, LCSW, Director of Children’s Therapeutic Services Autism is one of the most misunderstood childhood disorders. Many myths abound concerning characteristics of children with autism. Changes in the diagnosis criteria have added to the confusion, including the deletion of the Asperger’s diagnosis. So, what is autism, and how is it diagnosed? According to the DSM-5, the manual that mental health professionals must use to diagnose clients, the following are necessary for a child to receive an autism spectrum diagnosis: A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history: Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example,…
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