mental health
When we see our therapist or even people surrounding us, they often ask, “What are some coping skills that you use?” You might say: reading, journaling, meditation, cooking, self-care, etc, but what exactly is a coping skill and how do we know it is helping us? There are two types of coping skills that therapists talk about: Problem-Focused Coping Skills and Emotion-Focused Coping Skills. So, what do these both mean and how do they differ? Problem-focused coping…
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Rejection is one of the most emotionally painful experiences that we face as human beings. We can experience rejection in various settings – in our workplace, being rejected/not chosen for a job opportunity, in the school system, in friend groups, and in romantic relationships. Regardless of how you experience rejection, it is hurtful and it can leave you feeling alone and insecure. Rejection from a romantic partner can undoubtedly be the worst kind of rejection, and if…
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I work with many clients who are struggling with their work life balance, especially when they are looking forward to an upcoming vacation. My job as their clinical therapist is to help the clients understand the possible reasons why they are struggling to create this balance in their life, and also possible coping strategies to implement more work life balance. I recently read an article that touched on this very topic from Fast Company, “If you’re going…
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Steven Topper, LCPC My depression is too bad to leave the house. This anxiety is crippling me. Every time you do that I get overcome with anger and lash out. I can’t handle this. Each of these statements have a few things in common. One is that they’ve likely been said by many people, especially those of us suffering with immense pain in our lives. Each statement may look or feel slightly different, but they share this…
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Steven Topper, LCPC In recent years, a common and basic human behavior has come under scrutiny: attention seeking behavior. We hear this in many contexts, almost always negative: Oh, she’s just doing that for attention. People that engage in attention seeking behavior are often ostracized and told to knock it off. It could be beneficial for us to dive deeper into what this phrase truly means. We may be demonizing something that is fundamental to us humans,…
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Rachel Simmons of The New York Times recently wrote about failure; summarized below are her findings. We are all familiar with failure — it touches us all at some point in our lives, in different ways and at different times, but none of us are immune to a lack of success. From flunking a test to bombing a job interview to burning the holiday dinner to losing a relationship to dropping the winning pass, we all know…
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I work with many clients who struggle with anxiety and stress related to lack of work life balance. My job as their clinical therapist is to help the client find possible reasons why they are struggling with this lack of work life balance and then possible coping strategies to help with their anxiety related to their work. I recently read an article that touched on a very similar topic from Fast Company, “Hip offices are part of…
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The use of dating applications has become increasingly more common over the past few years. Approximately half of the American public has either met a significant other through a dating application or knows an individual that uses this method to meet people. With dating applications gaining popularity, the social stigmas surrounding them have decreased. Today, about 1 in 5 adolescents actively use dating applications but despite their increasingly widespread use, our knowledge around the impact of this…
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Therapy is a complex journey that you may have been wondering about whether or not you want to embark on. If you have never gone to therapy but are thinking about taking the plunge, it may be helpful to do some research and have an idea of what the process may look like. Therapy is not a “one size fits all” type of experience. Like you, your therapy experience will be unique – it will be tailored…
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I work with many clients who make mistakes who then ruminate over the mistake session after session. My job as their clinical therapist is to help the client understand reasons why they made the mistake, understand why they are still ruminating over the mistake, and understand possible coping skills to move on from the mistake. I also gently remind them that everyone makes mistakes, myself included. I recently read an article from The New York Times that…
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