Post Traumatic Stress Disorder | Compassion Focused Therapy

Massage: One of My Favorite Stress Management Techniques for Good Reason

Elizabeth Scott has always enjoyed getting massages and also enjoys the idea of them being a part of a stress management plan. In her experience, massage has been an excellent short-term stress management tool, but she has since wondered what the actual benefits of massage are compared to other stress managements practices and whether or not a massage carried long-term stress benefits. Research into some studies published in various journals brought good news. One study showed that a massage lowered a subject’s perceived level of stress, which also resulted in lowered heart rate and even lowered blood pressure. Another study showed that a Thai massage can increase heart rate variability, pain threshold, and body flexibility.

Ways to Manage Every Day Trauma

Every day we are faced with micro traumas. Not large scale traumas such as in war or assault, but little disappointments and painful moments. Such things can include crime, diseases or debt. These little stressors can even trigger old wounds that can invade your present self. But it is possible to face these micro traumas and be able to move through them for a stress-free life. Your past influences how you manage stress, and even if you feel removed from your past traumas you should seek therapy to deal with how they may be affecting you today.

Will This Year Be Different from the Previous Year?

The year 2012 is behind us and we are all facing a brand new year, full of possibility. But sometimes the question is asked, “Will this year be different than the last?” While we all have ideas and hopes for a new year, the potential largely depends on ourselves. What you think and what you do shape your personal experience. New Years resolutions don’t always work out because a resolution is the same old movie you play in your mind. This year, play a new movie in your mind and make the changes you envision for yourself. You have the power to make 2013 a totally different year!

Maintenance CBT Reduces Risk of Relapse for Panic and Agoraphobia

Panic and agoraphobia routinely exact a debilitating affect on daily life for those who suffer from them. While there are many treatments available, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to have a marked impact on the prevention of relapse and remediation of symptoms of panic (it is important to note) more so than medication alone. Encouraging is the finding that after the cessation of medication, a well conceived maintenance program informed by CBT therapists has the most successful prevention of relapse. Any gains made during treatment are significantly less likely to be sustained without such a maintenance program. So for all those suffering from panic and anxiety, including CBT in your long-term treatment plan is crucial for your success.

Conflict with an ADHD Child From a Father’s Perspective

Most of the research on children with attention-deficit hyperactive disorder and the family conflict that arises in their household as they reach their teen years has been based on self-reports from both the child and the mother. Clarisa Markel, from the Human Development and Applied Psychology Department at the University of Toronto, recently led a study on how both mothers and fathers rate the level of conflict with their ADHD child. The study is an attempt to address the lack of research on the father’s perspective in this situation. Specifically, the study focused on whether each parent believed that the conflicts that arose were instigated by the child or not.

Becoming More Aware of Depression and Bipolar

Tom Wootan, the CEO of Bipolar Advantage, writes that we only see what we have been trained to see. In terms of the bipolar community, he means that doctors see only a disease, family and friends see only behaviors, and the afflicted see only pain. His point is that there is a lot more going on with depression and bipolar disorders than any one perception, or even the sum of the three impressions. Being trained to see the bigger picture of bipolar can lead not only to a deeper understanding of the disorder, but also better functionality for those who have it, more comfort for everyone, and the recognition of potential value of the disorder.

Is Cynicism Ruining Your Life?

Most people have at least one person in their life that can make them cynical. Whoever it is that inspires cynicism in our lives, it is generally someone who routinely disappoints or upsets us in some way. The cynical attitude that develops is part of a defensive mechanism that can be hard to lose once adopted. Unfortunately, a 2009 study of more than 97,000 women showed that cynical women have an increased rate of coronary heart disease, cancer-related deaths, and general mortality, while optimistic women were on the opposite side of the spectrum with decreased levels of death and disease than average.

Culture Stigmatizing Mental Illness Must Change

After a second student from Northwestern University passed away during the fall semester, one by suicide while studying abroad, professors Christina Traina and Laurie Zoloth have written in about the stigma surrounding mental illness that impedes the prevention of such tragedies. The Centers for Disease Control report that suicide is the third most common cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24 and the second most common for people between 25 and 34. Nearly every person who attempts suicide is suffering from an underlying issue such as depression. If the stigma around mental health issues can be raised, action can be taken to address mental illnesses before tragedy strikes.

How to Make Peace with Your Dark Past

Almost everyone has something dark in their past and it is human nature to dwell on that darkness, trying to figure out how we allowed those things to happen. It can become a dark circle of trying to understand what happened and agonizing over the fact that it did. The way to move forward, however, is through acceptance. It is possible for people to accept their dark history and perhaps even become grateful for it, recognizing that while they are not proud of what happened, they could not be the person they are today without it. Once the past is embraced, they can turn their eyes to the present and future.

How Gratitude Combats Depression

According to Dr. Deborah Serani, studies show that consistent positive interaction, particularly positive interactions that involve gratitude, both increase happiness and decrease depression levels. So while the holiday season may also be a season of gratitude, it can be emotionally important to try and practice gratitude throughout the entire year. Dr. Serani shares seven of the best techniques researchers have found to combat depression, including gratitude visits. A gratitude visit is simply delivering gratitude in the form of a letter or email to someone whom you are grateful to but feel you have not appropriately thanked. Another technique is to write down three good things that have happened throughout the week.

Nine Secrets of Courage from Extreme Fear

Everyone has to deal with fear, and the way fear is responded to can determine how we live the rest of our life. If we spend all of our time avoiding fear, we probably won’t get any better at handling fear when it is unavoidable. Jeff Wise’s new book explores the neurological underpinning of our fear response to better understand how fear can be mastered. In this article, he shares nine things that he found helps to increase courage. Studies show that physical fitness can curb the effects of fear, as exercise can ease depression. Thus skydivers with a lower body fat percentage take less time to recover from elevated stress levels.



• Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations.
• But in some cases, it becomes excessive and can cause sufferers to dread everyday situations.
• This type of steady, all-over anxiety is called Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
• Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we didn’t feel it, we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate threats. But often we bristle with anxiety about situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back and avoid the vital life with mindless oblivion.
• When we get clear about the nature of fear, we recognize this as a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we didn’t feel it — register this in some way . . . we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate or ominous threats. Yet it is clear that we often fear situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back for no good reason.

Bouncing Back: How You Can Help

There are many disasters and tragedies that occur across the world that undoubtedly leave survivors traumatized. The good news is that most of the survivors will rebound fairly quickly from trauma, even when it is severe. In recent years, post-traumatic stress disorder has been given a lot of attention in the media. It is a disorder that can haunt survivors with flashbacks of a traumatizing event and disrupt their sleep and concentration. With the focus on PTSD, however, the resiliency of human nature may be overlooked. Research shows that about 8-20% of people who experience a traumatic event will develop PTSD.

Bullying and Mental Health: Study Links Anxiety, Hyperactivity in Kids to Bullying

A lot of research has been conducted about the effects of bullying on the mental health of the victim and how the bullying contributes to issues such as anxiety and depression. A new study suggests that the relationship between bullying and mental health extends to the bully as well, showing that kids with mental health disorders are three times more likely to be a bully. The study used data provided by the parents of 64,000 children from the ages of 6 to 17 from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health, and showed that children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHD, and depression were six, three, and three times respectively more likely to be bullies.

Do You Play the Blame Game in Life?

According to Mike Bundrant, the director of the iNLP Center, the blame game is where a person blames other people and his or her environment for the the things wrong with life. Playing the blame game means being inactive in life and allowing the quality of life to depend on what everyone and everything else does to it. Being inactive means not taking control of life and not taking necessary steps to improve it by coming up with solutions to redress the bad things that happen. Instead of playing the blame game, Bundrant advises that people take charge and take proactive steps toward a better life.

Dr. Hart