It’s funny. When someone becomes anxious or depressed, we want them to go to a counselor to sort themselves out. It’s their problem. Only mental illness isn’t a personal issue. It’s a social one. In some cases, this means that the person who is...
Are you a long time counseling client who hasn’t really changed your life a whole lot? Maybe you still go because you don’t know what else to do. In this article, I’ll review some ideas about what to do when counseling doesn’t help. See a...
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score is based upon the answers to ten questions focused around childhood experiences. The assessment shows a relationship between traumatic childhood events and physical, social and emotional problems later in adulthood. This...
Shame happens when we perceive we have done something wrong and someone else witnesses it. Instead of seeing the behavior is wrong, we believe that we are wrong, bad, defective, unworthy, or don’t deserve love. Unlike guilt, shame requires a witness to exist....
Sometimes I get clients who are really nice people, they seem honest, and really want to feel better, but they just don’t budge. Almost always the underlying reason is toxic shame. They have a deep belief that they are bad, and they don’t deserve to feel...
