Quote by a Psychoanalyst that survived Nazi Concentration Camp

Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. --Viktor Frankl

The writings of Viktor Frankl are classics in the therapy community, I highly recommend reading them.

Free parenting workshop in Renton

http://www.inittogether.org

A recent recommendation

Recently I received a wonderful recommendation on LinkedIn from my work at Fairfax Psychiatric Hospital. I was stunned and very grateful!

“I worked with Vera at Fairfax hospital. I was able to interact with her almost daily in her role as therapist and admissions triage coordinator. Vera is a exemplary clinician. Her ability to assess and triage difficult patients, formulate a clinical profile, and present those patients to the medical director and the hospital was highly valued. We could all count on Vera to accurately assess need and clearly articulate issues. Vera possesses advanced clinical insight and is able to communicate in a clear and concise manner. She was always upbeat and positive. Vera could put the most challenging patients at ease and make them feel welcomed and cared for. Our medical director continually praised Vera for her accuracy and speed in admitting highly acute clients, keeping him informed of critical clinical data. It was a pleasure working with Vera as her positive attitude, sense of humor, personality, and calm affect infected all around her. I would highly recommend Vera to any organization that desires a dedicated professional with a fantastic attitude and a work ethic that is rarely seen in today’s workplace.

Dan Munsey Director of Nursing Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center” March 11, 2011
Director of Clinical Services/Director of Nursing, Fairfax Hospital

managed Vera indirectly at Fairfax Hospital 

Thank you for visiting my blog http://www.counselingandemotions.com/ Visit my website to learn more about my counseling services http://www.veraakulov.com/

A quote by my favorite author

"Self-awareness is a supreme gift, a treasure as precious as life. This is what makes us human. But it comes with a costly price: the wound of mortality. Our existence is forever shadowed by the knowledge that we will grow, blossom, and inevitably, diminish and die." (Irvine D. Yalom "Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death" 2008)

Poem by Portia Nelson (1920 - 2001)

There Is a Hole in My Sidewalk
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
By Portia Nelson

Chapter One
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost…I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend that I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in this same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep whole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in…it’s a habit…but,
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately,

Chapter Four
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five
I walk down another street.

Quote you hang on your wall

"We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking only to learn it is God who is shaking them."

another one
"Nothing changes until we do." - Stanny B. (2004). Secrets of Six-Figured Women: Surprising Strategies to Up Your Earnings and Change Your Life." Harper: New York.

Self Improvement Classess

Are you facing a difficult time but cannot afford traditional therapy?

Here are several inexpensive options around Eastside and Renton area to look into for self-improvement, enrichment, and support classes.  I'm a strong believer in the importance of making our emotional health a priority especially during difficult time.  These places offer some great alternatives at a low cost:

North Campus at Bellevue Community college has some great career, self-improvement, conflict resolution, weigh loss classes anyone can take visit www.gotobcc.com

Evergreen Medical Center also offers great community classes from childbirth to stress management to weight loss to bereavement support at https://weblink.healthlines.org/web3/clSc.do

Another place to look for inexpensive community classes  is Valley Medical Center http://www.valleymed.org/Health_Info/support-group-patient-ed.htm 



Thank you for visiting my blog http://www.counselingandemotions.com/ Visit my website to learn more about my counseling services http://www.veraakulov.com/

"A sad person who says that the world looks dull and gray and that flowers no longer smell so sweet may not just be speaking figuratively. Two recent studies from Germany provide evidence that sensory perception is diminished in depressed individuals."

Interesting article examines the effects of depression on persons senses...  http://discovermagazine.com/2010/dec/01-how-depression-dulls-the-world-literally

How Depression Dulls the World—Literally

The condition seems to affect how our senses work, and researchers may one day use this to make an objective diagnosis of depression.

by Eliza Strickland

From the December 2010 issue; published online February 11, 2011

A sad person who says that the world looks dull and gray and that flowers no longer smell so sweet may not just be speaking figuratively. Two recent studies from Germany provide evidence that sensory perception is diminished in depressed individuals.

To determine if depression has an effect on vision, neuropsychiatrist Ludger Tebartz van Elst of the University of Freiburg hooked up depressed patients and control subjects to a pattern electroretinograph, a device that measures electrical signals in the retina. When viewing black-and-white checkerboard images, people with depression showed markedly reduced electrical responses.
 
The effect may originate in the retina’s amacrine cells, which feed sensory input to the neurons in the eye. Amacrine cells rely on the neurotransmitter dopamine to function, and mood disorders have been linked to dopamine dysfunctions in the brain. Tebartz van Elst believes the visual response test could serve as an objective measure for establishing a diagnosis of depression: “The patients don’t have to say anything at all—they just keep their eyes open,” he says.

Separately, otorhinolaryngologist Thomas Hummel of the University of Dresden Medical School explored odor perception in depressed patients. Compared with control subjects, he found, people suffering from depression were less able to detect weak smells; MRI scans revealed that they had smaller olfactory bulbs, the brain structures involved in odor perception. Both Hummel and Tebartz van Elst next plan to investigate whether the successful treatment of depression restores the richness of the senses.


Thank you for visiting my blog http://www.counselingandemotions.com/ Visit my website to learn more about my counseling services http://www.veraakulov.com/

Interesting finding about attachment. Most intriguing conclusion "This means that if your caregiver is better at regulating your negative emotions as an infant, you tend to do a better job of regulating your own negative emotions in the moments following a conflict as an adult."

Early Attachment May Predict Couples’ Recovery After Fights

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on February 21, 2011

Emerging research suggests couples’ abilities to bounce back from conflict may depend on what both partners were like as infants.
The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, is an outgrowth of studies on how couples fight.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have been following a cohort of people since before they were born, in the mid-1970s. When the subjects were about 20 years old, they visited the lab with their romantic partners for testing.
This included a conflict discussion, when they were asked to talk about an issue they disagreed on, followed by a “cool-down” period, when the couples spent a few minutes talking about something they saw eye to eye about.
Although the cool-down period was included just to make sure the researchers weren’t sending the couples away angry, Jessica E. Salvatore, a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota, noticed some interesting things about the couples’ communication styles during this recovery time.
“As part of another project where we looked at how couples fight, I would often catch a few minutes of this cool-down period,” she said. Salvatore noticed that some couples had intense conflicts, but made a perfectly clean transition to chatting about something they agreed on. In other couples, one or both partners seemed “stuck” on the conflict discussion and couldn’t move on.
Salvatore and her co-researchers embarked on a closer look at what happens after a conflict supposedly ends. By looking back at observations of the participants and their caregivers from the 1970s, when they were between 12 and 18 months old, the researchers discovered a link between the couples’ conflict recovery behaviors and the quality of their attachment relationship with their caregivers.
People who were more securely attached to their caregivers as infants were better at recovering from conflict 20 years later. This means that if your caregiver is better at regulating your negative emotions as an infant, you tend to do a better job of regulating your own negative emotions in the moments following a conflict as an adult.
The researchers also found that there is hope for people who were insecurely attached as infants.
“We found that people who were insecurely attached as infants but whose adult romantic partners recover well from conflict are likely to stay together,” remarked Salvatore.
“If one person can lead this process of recovering from conflict, it may buffer the other person and the relationship.”
The health of a relationship can be salvaged if one person can quickly disengage from conflict and avoid dwelling on negative thoughts and emotions.
This is some of the first evidence that romantic partners play an important role in buffering the potential harmful effects from poor experiences earlier in life.
“That, to us, was the most exciting finding,” Salvatore said. “There’s something about the important people later in our lives that changes the consequences of what happened earlier.”
Source: American Psychological Association 


http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/02/21/early-attachment-may-predict-couples-recovery-after-fights/23721.html

Thank you for visiting my blog http://www.counselingandemotions.com/ Visit my website to learn more about my counseling services http://www.veraakulov.com/

Interesting article how lifestyle changes can also effect mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/216903.php

Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Offer Many Mental Health Benefits

21 Feb 2011

Lifestyle changes - such as getting more exercise, time in nature, or helping others - can be as effective as drugs or counseling to treat an array of mental illnesses, according to a new paper published by the American Psychological Association.

Multiple mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, can be treated with certain lifestyle changes as successfully as diseases such as diabetes and obesity, according to Roger Walsh, M.D., PhD. of the University of California, Irvine's College of Medicine. Walsh reviewed research on the effects of what he calls "therapeutic lifestyle changes," or TLCs, including exercise, nutrition and diet, relationships, recreation, relaxation and stress management, religious or spiritual involvement, spending time in nature, and service to others. His paper was published in American Psychologist, APA's flagship journal.

Walsh reviewed research on TLCs' effectiveness and advantages, as well as the psychological costs of spending too much time in front of the TV or computer screen, not getting outdoors enough, and becoming socially isolated. He concludes that "Lifestyle changes can offer significant therapeutic advantages for patients, therapists, and societies, yet are insufficiently appreciated, taught or utilized," The paper describes TLCs as effective, inexpensive and often enjoyable, with fewer side effects and complications than medications. "In the 21st century, therapeutic lifestyles may need to be a central focus of mental, medical and public health," Walsh said.

According to research reviewed in the paper, the many often unrecognized TLC benefits include:

• Exercise not only helps people feel better by reducing anxiety and depression. It can help children do better in school, improve cognitive performance in adults, reduce age-related memory loss in the elderly, and increase new neuron formation in the brain.
• Diets rich in vegetables, fruits and fish may help school performance in children, maintain cognitive functions in adults, as well as reduce symptoms in affective and schizophrenic disorders.
• Spending time in nature can promote cognitive functions and overall well-being.
• Good relationships can reduce health risks ranging from the common cold to strokes as well as multiple mental illnesses, and can enhance psychological well-being dramatically.
• Recreation and fun can reduce defensiveness and foster social skills.
• Relaxation and stress management can treat a variety of anxiety, insomnia, and panic disorders.
• Meditation has many benefits. It can improve empathy, sensitivity and emotional stability, reduce stress and burnout, and enhance cognitive function and even brain size.
• Religious and spiritual involvement that focuses on love and forgiveness can reduce anxiety, depression and substance abuse, and foster well-being.
• Contribution and service, or altruism, can enhance joy and generosity by producing a "helper's high." Altruism also benefits both physical and mental health, and perhaps even extends lifespan. A major exception the paper notes is "caretaker burnout experienced by overwhelmed family members caring for a demented spouse or parent."

Difficulties associated with using TLCs are the sustained effort they require, and "a passive expectation that healing comes from an outside authority or a pill," according to Walsh. He also noted that people today must contend with a daily barrage of psychologically sophisticated advertisements promoting unhealthy lifestyle behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and eating fast food. "You can never get enough of what you don't really want, but you can certainly ruin your life and health trying" lamented Walsh.

For therapists, the study recommends learning more about the benefits of TLCs, and devoting more time to foster patients' TLCs.

The paper recognizes that encouraging widespread adoption of therapeutic lifestyles by the public is likely to require wide-scale measures encompassing educational, mental, and public health systems, as well as political leadership.

Article: "Lifestyle and Mental Health," Roger Walsh, PhD, M.D., University of California College of Medicine, Irvine; American Psychologist, Online First Publication, January 17, 2011.

Source:
Lisa Bowen
American Psychological Association

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Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/216903.php


Thank you for visiting my blog http://www.counselingandemotions.com/ Visit my website to learn more about my counseling services http://www.veraakulov.com/