Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Do you find yourself constantly checking things over and over again? Do you have thoughts that repeatedly intrude into your life? Do you feel compelled to repeat certain rituals and behaviors? If…
Cope with Stress: Manage Your Reaction
Stress is part and parcel of life and there are many stressful situations that we can neither avoid nor change. In these situations we have control over one thing and one thing…
The Counseling Relationship in Online Psychotherapy: What Does the Research Say?
My previous article on online counseling defined and explored the impact of technological counseling on the nature of the therapeutic relationship. This article takes this discussion a bit deeper through exploring some…
Understanding the World of Mental Health Chat Rooms
Mental health chat rooms have become a widely accepted form of seeking support and guidance for mental health concerns. While these services are freely and widely available it is important to understand…
National Online Mental Health: Progress or Decline?
Online mental health is increasingly forming a part of national mental health initiatives. Within the British government mental health system or the National Health Services (NHS) as it is known, online mental…
Hanging on in Quiet Desperation: Are You Depressed or Dysthymic?
Whereas a major depressive episode is an experience that ruptures the fabric of a person’s life, taking them from being okay to a space of dark depression (see my article Am I…
Can Anxiety be Cured?
Anxiety is an integral part of many peoples life experience. But does it have to be a permanent part? Can anxiety be cured? Can a person struggling with intense experiences of anxiety…
Creating Shared Meaning in Intimate Relationships
We all enter into our most important and intimate relationships laden with hopes and dreams for what the relationship will hold. It is these hopes and dreams and the shared meaning we…
Psychological Testing: A reliable Form of Online Psychological Help?
The range of options when it comes to online psychological help is very wide. From online psychological testing to support groups to professional therapy, the options are endless. One of the first…
Online Counselling: From the Therapist’s Point of View
In today’s impersonal world many of our experiences are filtered through the mechanical middle man and personal interactions are conducted via the internet. As an online therapist I wonder about this process…
Solvable Versus Perpetual Problems in Intimate Relationships
Being in an intimate relationship for the long haul is a challenging and expanding experience. As you and your spouse encounter new experiences and grow through the process of life, the challenge…
The New World of Online Mental Health Communities
The notion of being part of a community is an inherent feature of the human condition. Human beings are born into connection and cannot survive or function without ties of kinship. The…
What is the Best Way to Treat Depression? What the Research Says!
Major depression is a universal mental health problem that has a great impact on the capacity of people to contribute to society. It is a mental problem which is considered very much…
Stress Treatment: A Biopsychosocial Approach
What happens when stress really gets out of hand and we find ourselves spinning out of control into a stressed out mess? We start to lose perspective on everything, snapping at the…
Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Clinical Depression?
Clinical depression is a significant mental health issue effecting millions of people every year. In 2015 approximately 16.1 million American adults experienced at least one major depressive episode representing 6.7% of the…
Technological vs Traditional Counselling: Relating via the Screen – An Oxymoron?
Many of us do not remember a pre-Internet world and the World Wide Web is the go-to resource for addressing our needs. Whether it’s online shopping, understanding the best treatment for a…
Online Couples Counseling: An Introduction
Online couples counseling has taken off as an easily accessible mental health service specifically addressing relationships. Online couples counseling refers to the delivery of mental health services for couples via the Internet…
Essential Ingredients for Living With Mental Illness
One in five adult Americans will experience mental illness within any given year and 1 in 20 adults are living with a serious mental illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or clinical…
Positive Mental Health Through Happiness
Positive mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness or disease. Rather it is a fundamental sense of well-being that permeates your life and supports you in living a…
Overcoming Social Anxiety: Face Your fears!
While social connection and engagement are generally viewed as something enhancing and enriching, associated with positive emotions, for many of us the experience of social situations is a profoundly anxiety provoking experience.…
Free Online Counseling – Will I Get My Money’s Worth?
The concept of free supportive therapeutic services is not new. We need only look to organizations such as AA, crisis intervention and call-in centers to see the concept of people looking to…
Feeling Anxious: Managing the Day to Day Experience of Anxiety
You’ve been working on the presentation for weeks, sweating and preparing and fine-tuning it till it feels just right. You know what you have to say makes sense and is really impressive…
Key Factors in Depression Recovery
The notion of recovery from depression as opposed to symptom management is a relatively new idea and is open to debate (Stotland, 2012). Many individuals prior to experiencing a major depressive episode…
Help Your Mental Health: Strategy for Fostering Self-Awareness
The previous article explored what helps sustain and support healthy social, emotional and psychological wellbeing, pointing to the key to enduring mental health lying in the capacity for self-awareness. Self-awareness involves creating…
The Key to Mental Health: A View From the Therapist’s Chair
As a therapist I have the ongoing privilege of being part of peoples’ journeys to improved mental health. Hearing the stories and experiences of so many people and facilitating their learning, growth…
Am I Depressed? What the DSMV Says
Based on Diagnostic criteria from: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) You may be feeling “out of sorts”, down, not quite yourself. You don’t have your normal…
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: The Therapy of Choice for Anxiety
What do mental health professionals and studies suggest as the first line of approach for managing anxiety? This article will explore best practice for therapy with anxiety. Anxiety can be understood as…
Dealing With Stress and Anxiety: An Exercise in Thought Control
This article explores an understanding of dealing with stress and anxiety informed by concepts from cognitive psychology, specifically the seminal theory of stress of Lazarus and Folkman (1984). From this perspective stress…
Therapy Chat: Choosing an Online Therapist
Often our first line of exploration for dealing with life concerns is the Internet. When you need to gather information or address a problem you first do an Internet search. So when…
Talk to a Therapist Online…Seriously? Exploring the Validity of E-counseling
As the world shifts more and more toward functioning in a virtual reality of internet based communication, the impact is also felt in the area of the helping professions. While the idea…
Essential Advice for Long Term Relationship Satisfaction!
Have you ever stopped to consider what you would want written on your tombstone? Have you ever taken a moment in your time of grief visiting a cemetery to cast your eyes…
Manage Stress and Feel Your Best!
Stress is an everyday part of all our lives. If you consider the amount of stress you go through on a regular morning – waking up to the sound of a screeching…