By: Dore E. Frances, M.A.

The following article was solely written and edited by the author named above.  The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by GoodTherapy.org.

Teenage Cutting and Other Self-Harm Often Done to Control Emotions, Draw a Reaction

Teen self-injury, such as cutting, may be more common than previously thought. Cutting is the practice of teens who purposely injure themselves by using a sharp object to scratch or cut their skin deep enough to draw blood. It’s a type of self-injury behavior typically seen more often among younger teen girls, although older teens and boys can also engage in cutting. (more…)

By: Teresa Ann Foxworthy

There are so many profound reasons to hire a Professional Life Coach today. As our global reality becomes increasingly complex, men and women from every walk of life are juggling a myriad of tasks and aspirations as they take on their pursuit of happiness. A proficient life coach will not only help with the mundane logistics of goal management, he or she will also guide you through the inner landscape of values clarification, emotional intelligence, and spiritual awakening. A really great life coach will give you the basics on sorting out the current dilemmas of transitional tasks, but also connect the dots between where you have been, where you are, and your ultimate destination. (more…)

By: Melissa C Miller, LCSW

“Back to school” means a lot of things to parents – getting the kids used to going to bed earlier, saying ‘no’ to extra TV and computer time, giving older kids weeknight curfews again, arranging after school day-care. For some parents it means packing up hopes, dreams, clothes and dorm room furnishings and taking a child off to college. (more…)

By: D.J. Diebold, LISAC

Did you know that 70 percent of those incarcerated in state prisons and local jails have abused drugs regularly, compared with 9 percent of the general population? Would you like a workable, common sense alternative to paying an arm and a leg to incarcerate these individuals? Here are some facts. Drug abuse is involved in more than half of all violent crimes and 70 percent of child abuse and neglect cases. (more…)

By: Beth S. Patterson, MA

Click here to contact Beth and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

“The only way to get to the other side is to go through the door”

–Helen Keller

Feelings of pain from the loss of a loved one can be hard on our emotions, but are a normal and healthy part of life. Feelings of grief from even small losses in day-to-day life transitions at home or work can also make us feel overwhelmed, but are also normal. The hard part is to get through the door that leads to a place of healing and peace. (more…)

By: Sam Schaperow, MSMFT, LMFT

Psychotherapy has some of the highest no-show and cancellation rates in the healthcare industry. People often have anxiety going to therapy because they fear being judged, or they feel that they can or should solve their problems on their own. It may take a major crisis or many years of problems that won’t go away before making that initial call to a therapist. Many people then will go only if the therapist can accommodate special times, such as only early evenings, and take their insurance, even if it means that the quality of service might be compromised by the insurer’s policies. Additionally, the therapist’s location, gender, phone friendliness, and age can be factors that people use to determine who to see. All these criteria can severely limit the prospective client’s chances of even starting therapy, never mind continuing. (more…)

By: Sam Schaperow, MSMFT, LMFT

Because getting a divorce will end a marriage, but not a family, some divorcing couples with children are opting for couple therapy. Often one spouse is interested in keeping the marriage together, while the other has a sliver of hope for the marriage, but both want to enhance the quality of communication for the sake of the children after the divorce. One of the biggest challenges with such couples comes from the level of anger stemming from months, years, or decades of dissonance. Often one or both spouses come in expecting the therapist to fix or show measurable progress within a matter of several sessions. The reality is that it takes time for trust to develop amongst the three people in the room, and only when trust is there can the most significant progress be made. This leads to the question of what can you request and do to increase the odds that you will either help the marriage or help the communication for the child(ren). (more…)

By: Debra L. Kaplan, MA, LAC, LISAC

A glance at many magazines today will offer practical advice and “how to” strategies for the pursuit of the man or woman of our dreams. Let’s face it—sexy tag lines and catchy subtitles make for good print copy but do little for building healthy and sound relationships. Projecting our wants, expectations or intentions onto our partners-to-be only serves to foreshadow the inevitable relational demise. It is as if we build in our own obsolescence from the very start. (more…)

By: Debra L. Kaplan, MA, LAC, LISAC

Not too long ago, a client who I was treating for prescription drug abuse, looked at me and said, “It’s my desperate need to silence my feelings that drives me to want to use.” She went on to describe what it felt like to live in her skin. “It’s as if the people in my life are at the controls of this rollercoaster called my life and I’m trapped and I can’t get off. I like or hate the ride based on how I feel about them at that moment; in my mind you’re either with me or against me. But I can’t fire them from the controls!” (more…)

By: Justin Tobin LCSW

A lot of clients come to my office saying, “I need your help! I need you to get rid of my anxiety!” I explain that I cannot get rid of anxiety or that even if I could, it would be quite unethical for me to do so. Our body needs the ‘fight/flight response’ in order to participate in healthy daily functioning. That is, if someone did not have any anxiety or could not recognize the symptoms of anxiety, then they would never know not to walk down an alley at 4am by themselves, get too close to a barking dog, or put themselves in any other type of harmful situation. The truth is we all need our anxiety. We just don’t want anxiety that we can’t control and we want to be able to control the anxiety within us. (more…)