April 2020 Update
Dear Clients, I wanted to write a few words of support during this difficult time. Although it’s difficult to give one-size-fits-all advice, I’ll do my best. By the way, my family and I are currently well, as I hope you are. How do we maintain good emotional well-being with all of these new stressors? My…
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy | Anger Management | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression | Committed Action | Defusion | Mindfulness | Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Self As Context | Uncategorized | Values
The Sushi Train
Ride the Sushi Train of the Mind My daughter used to love those restaurants where sushi dishes paraded past on a little train track. Long-time Edmontonions may remember that there used to be one in WEM. In this new video, Russ Harris uses the sushi train as a beautiful metaphor for the relationship that we all…
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy | Anger Management | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression | Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Uncategorized
The Difficult Art of Self-Compassion
The Difficult Art of Self-Compassion “To survive in this high-pressured, crazy world, most of us have to become highly adept at self-criticism. We learn how to tell ourselves off for our failures, and for not working hard or smart enough. But so good are we at this that we’re sometimes in danger of falling prey…
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression | Uncategorized
The Grizzly Momma
Grizzly Momma Imagine that a mother grizzly has five cubs, conveniently named Cub Number One, Cub Number Two, Cub Number Three, Cub Number Four, and Cub Number Five. At first they don’t do much. They stay in the den, where they nurse and sleep and their mother cleans them. After their eyes open, they start…
Anger Management | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression | Uncategorized
Why Long-Drawn-Out-Therapy (LDOT) is not the way to go
Have you ever thought about trying therapy but been concerned about getting drawn into a long-drawn-out therapeutic process? Well it turns out that your instincts are probably correct. There is now a body of evidence to suggest that Long-Drawn-Out-Therapy (LDOT) is not especially effective. Most gains (including lasting gains) come in the first few sessions of therapy. This…
Poison Ivy
Poison ivy is a plant that produces a strong skin irritant. Most people avoid touching the plant because they know what theyʼll get: a nasty, red, blistering rash that itches like hell. If youʼve been unlucky enough to have been exposed, then you know what this is like. Youʼve got the strong urge to scratch….
Switchbacks
An Acceptance and Commitment metaphor Suppose you are taking a hike in the mountains. You know how mountain trials are constructed, especially if the slopes are steep. They wind back and forth; often have “switchbacks”, which make you literally walk back and forth, and sometimes a trail will even drop back to below a level…
Fish on a Hook
An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Metaphor Your feelings about this person/situation is like having a fish on a hook. As long as the person/situation is there in front of you, you can see that he/she/it is wriggling and in pain. But the only way to make sure that he/she/it stays on that fishhook is to…
Dead Man’s Goal
An Acceptance and Commitment Metaphor Many of our goals involve getting rid of something or stopping something. We might call these “dead man goals” because a dead man could achieve them perfectly well. What would it be like to have goals that required us to be alive?