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How to Distance Yourself from Your Phone: Part II

September 28, 2019

In part I of this blog series, I outlined first steps you can take to reduce the amount of time you spend on your smartphone and its harmful effects on your health. To boost your physical, mental, and emotional health, you can start by using your “do not disturb” functions liberally, especially while you’re driving and while you’re sleeping at night; silencing audio and vibration notifications; putting your phone away while you’re eating meals with family and…

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How to Distance Yourself from Your Phone: Part I

September 27, 2019

By now, we all know that it’s better for our health and our relationships to limit the amount of time we spend glued to our smartphones. By being attuned to our screens instead of the world surrounding us, we’re missing out on connections with our loved ones and peaceful moments. I can’t count the number of times a client has made a disparaging remark about their relationship with their cell phone, noted the difficulty in staying focused…

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Reducing Envy

September 26, 2019

Moya Sarner from The Guardian unpacked envy in the digital age; summarized below are her findings. Envy is a universal emotion, ubiquitous enough to be one of the seven deadly sins. Humans have always struggled with envy (defined as feeling a resentful longing for someone else’s possessions/attributes/etc.), but the ways in which envy is stirred and expressed have evolved with technological advances. Thanks to the Internet, we are now connected to the rest of the world by…

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Recognizing Signs of Loneliness

September 25, 2019

Cigna recently conducted research on loneliness and its impact on our health. Despite the ease with which we tend to joke about being lonely, it can wreak havoc on our physical and emotional health. The Cigna U.S. Loneliness Index, which surveyed over 20,000 American adults, found that around 50% of Americans feel lonely sometimes, around 25% of Americans rarely or never feel as if they have someone who understands them, and the youngest adults now (Generation Z)…

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The Unexpected Importance of Getting Boo-Boos Kissed: On Sharing the Difficult Feelings

September 24, 2019

The image of a parent kissing their child’s scraped knee is as timeless and iconic as it is heartwarming. Though some might say the act is more symbolic or just a placebo, there are some good brain reasons why this actually works. Louis Cozalino writes in his book, The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy, “This biochemical cascade stimulate the secretion of oxytocin, prolactin, endorphins, and dopamine, resulting in warm, positive, and rewarding feelings.” He goes on to say, ”It…

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Procrastination… a Bad Habit or a Solvable Struggle?

September 23, 2019

It’s 7pm on a weeknight. You’ve just gotten home from a long day at work and are absolutely exhausted. Unfortunately, you have a meeting in the morning you need to prepare for. Before starting to prepare you think to yourself “I should take my dog out for a walk”. When you get home from your walk you make dinner for your kids then start to get them ready for bed. While you’ve been productive with these tasks,…

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The Mental Health Benefits of Owning a Pet: The Pet Effect

September 23, 2019

Danielle Bertini, LPC It is no secret that living in today’s world it can be easy to get caught up in the high-demand, fast-paced environment. Smartphones, social media, Internet, and constant text messages can quickly become overwhelming. Aside from some of the more “traditional” ways to fight daily stressors, such as yoga, meditation, exercise, etc., there is another way to be able to find help right at home, in the form of a wet nose or a…

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Toward a More Compassionate Environment

September 22, 2019

Steven Topper, LCPC Most of us would agree that the world would be a far lovelier place with a little more compassion. And while many of us work to extend compassion toward our pets, families, and friends, so many struggle with self-compassion. In the Podcast “Psychologists Off The Clock,” Dr. Christopher Germer discussed the role of self-compassion and how to increase daily self-compassion. He asserts that self-compassion is a practice in moving toward acceptance, and that, “You…

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4 Ways to Let Go of Being a People Pleaser

September 21, 2019

I work with many clients who struggle with being a people pleaser. My job as their clinical therapist is to help the client understand possible reasons why they struggle with the need of wanting to please other people and then possible coping strategies on how to start saying “no” to others. I recently read an article from Fast Company that touched on this very topic, “How to stop your people-pleasing behavior from limiting your success” by author…

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Coping With Chronic Pain

September 20, 2019

Shannon M. Duffy, MFT, LCPC Pain affects your overall mood and in turn, can affect the quality of your life. It is becoming more important and beneficial for those who experience acute and chronic pain to address pain management within the psychotherapy atmosphere. We typically just associate pain with physical components, however, those who have chronic pain experience unpleasant sensory and emotional difficulties. There is a very high prevalence of comorbidity of mood disorders with those who…

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