What is Confidence? Confidence is a skill anyone can develop. Cultivating a more confident air is much more accessible than you may think. Many people use the terms confidence and self esteem interchangeably, but they are quite different. Self esteem is relative to self worth. Confidence, is a state of feeling capable and skillful. Self
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Anxiety has a maddening way of robbing us of joy in any aspect of our lives, not withstanding intimate relationships. While some signs of strain and worry in relationships may indicate red flags, others are projections of our own unresolved traumas. Here are some common examples of the latter. 1. Anxiety ruins our ability
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Winter-over Syndrome No, just because you’re in New England doesn’t mean you have winter-over syndrome. Winter-over syndrome occurs for some who live in the Arctic, where winter is truly 7-8 months long. The harsh physical environment, plus isolation, can lead to a heightened version of depressive like symptoms as in seasonal affective disorder. With winter-over
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Stresses of Modern Day Life Father, provider, business man, friend, coach, emotional partner, and sex god. How many roles are you expected to fulfill as a man? If your body is under consistent stress, it over produces cortisol, human’s stress hormone. The building blocks of cortisol production are the exact same ones as those used
We are wired for inattention, yet expected to hold our focus for long periods of time. Our brains can only focus in ninety minute increments, yet a full work day is 8 hours, sometimes longer. Attention is our brain’s primary executive function, but in modern society, it is overstimulated and overworked. Behaviorally, with a brain
Trauma informed care isn’t a specific therapy technique, it’s a philosophy, or a way of practice. I’ve noticed the words “trauma informed” being thrown around with increased frequency like “narcissism” and these trends make me nervous. Being trained in trauma informed care (TIC) means that your therapist is aware of the potential for trauma to
Trauma Informed Therapy & Therapists: It Matters. Read More »
Fear, when experienced constantly and in the form of true danger, abuse, or hypervigilant anxiety, can incapacitate us. Even if not at this extreme, many individuals I know and work with experience a fear inducing situation and hesitate to approach similar situations ever again. For example, plenty of men I’ve worked with get out of long
Polyvagal theory is applied to the world of therapy by Maine’s own, Deb Dana. I’ll do my best to offer a brief summary here, but if you are more of an auditory learner, please watch one of Dana’s many Youtube’s here. Polyvagal Overview Polyvagal theory looks at our remarkable nervous system and how it’s evolved
Polyvagal Therapy: Trauma Healing Beyond Glimmers Read More »
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), may continue to be my favorite therapeutic modality for the remainder of my career. ACT intuitively makes sense to me. As I explain to my clients when introducing this type of therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy doesn’t seek to reduce emotional pain, but to find meaning in spite of it.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Framework for a Meaningful Life Read More »
Why Journal? Journaling has been around for centuries. If you’ve been to historic museum exhibitions, you’ve seen early diaries in which great adventurers note their travels and write of missing their loved ones. While modern technology has offered many tools by which to access mental health services, there’s something quite intimate about putting pen to
