Adapting EMDR to keep you safe
When you bring a sense of calm from the present moment, and then you remember the traumatic memory while staying anchored in a current sense of safety, you can show yourself that despite that bad thing happening in the past, you are now actually safe, and okay, and lovable, and worthy. The goal is to allow your brain to do in a calm state now what it couldn't do in its overwhelmed state then—to bring in adaptive information.
How do you ward off depression?
I have an analogy I use with people where I say that if you were a car on a roadway beside a ravine, depression is like poor wheel alignment that is continually steering you towards the ravine. Depression creates mood-congruent urges that just self-perpetuate. It makes you want to listen to your sad playlist, to lay in bed all day, to withdraw from your friends. To get worse. That wheel alignment steers you towards the ravine. How do you course-correct?
Staying safe with suicidal thoughts
It can be extremely scary to have suicidal thoughts. Many clients I meet are worried about how to keep themselves safe and very focused on getting rid of the thoughts altogether. This post includes managing access to lethal means, increasing reasons to live, and figuring out the origin of suicidal thinking.
What is parts work?
Parts work (an umbrella term for many different strategies including Internal Family Systems and ego state therapy) is increasingly used as a means of befriending and shifting those parts of ourselves that stay ineffective or that stay in intense emotion despite our best efforts. We can use parts work strategies to offer compassion to all parts of ourselves.
DBT Assumptions (Part 1)
When first looking into DBT, one of the main things that caught my eye was the DBT assumptions. This is an unassuming (ha!) page at the beginning of the DBT skills manual that details all of the things we take as truths. In DBT, they are self-evident, and we lean on these assumptions as the foundation of the therapy. Without further ado, each assumption, what it means, and why I freaking love it (no bias here, obviously). As an edit after I wrote this—wow, I'm going to have to do two posts on this one. Here we'll just focus on assumptions about you, the client.
Why I Don’t Want You to Self-Harm
Content warning: self-harm
Much of the work I do involves helping teens and adults stop self-harming, and there are many reasons I am emphatically against the practice. I'll also try to be self-aware for a second and recognize that saying “self harming is bad” isn't exactly a daring position to take on my part. It seems pretty obvious why this practice is damaging, and there are some effects that maybe you hadn't thought about yet.
On Hospitalization
Content warning: suicide, inpatient hospitalization
Some of you who are reading have been hospitalized before with suicidal ideation, a manic episode, or other critical mental health symptoms. (I'm glad you are here. I hope you have experienced healing since that time.) Some of you who are reading have never been hospitalized and never had to think about it. And some of you who are reading are currently considering hospitalization. Regardless of your past or current experience, this is a complicated topic, and I'd like to cover it as I hope it will be helpful.
How Do I Know I'm Ready to Pursue Trauma Therapy?
The prospect of starting trauma therapy can be daunting. Once you've made the decision to pursue trauma treatment, there can be a number of questions. Who do I trust for trauma therapy? Which modality is the best one? What do I expect when I get started? While I hope to touch on some of these topics in later posts, this post will focus on helping you determine your readiness to enter trauma therapy in the first place.