Mental Health Counselling

Why do we do the things we do, think the thoughts we think, and feel the ways that we feel? Dr. Andrea Bonior has spent more than 15 years in the field of psychology helping people discover "what makes them tick". In her clinical practice, as well as various mental health agencies and counseling centers, she draws upon sound psychological principles to address anxiety disorders and depression, relationship issues, grief and loss, and other issues. As a mental health columnist and public speaker, Dr. Bonior encourages people to fuel their energy by connecting with themselves and cultivating the relationships around them.

Therapeutic counseling in a Christian context can be highly effective when it maintains narrowly focused goals in a time-limited setting. The details of this proven model of pastoral counseling are described in this practical guide. This second edition of Strategic Pastoral Counseling has been thoroughly revised and includes two new chapters. Benner includes helpful case studies, a new appendix on contemporary ethical issues, and updated chapter bibliographies. His study will continue to serve clergy and students well as a valued practical handbook on pastoral care and counseling.

The act of caregiving is physically exhausting and emotionally draining, yet caregivers describe it as rewarding and gratifying. Prolonged exposure to human suffering, however, is not without risks - caregivers report high rates of burnout and poor quality of life.

Many of us believe that the best way to treat crises and challenges is to process them: to mull over and analyse the stresses, anxieties and traumas we face. But this perception is misguided. Instead, we should think of our mind as a sieve through which everything slips unless we choose to hold on to it. But how do we let go of those negative thoughts we’ve held on to which are weighing us down?

Have you ever had a conversation with a friend or relative that’s hit a nerve and you can’t figure out why it bothered you so much? Over the course of her 15-year career, Emma has discovered that the root of this pain and confusion often lies in a blind spot: a gap in our awareness that distorts how we perceive ourselves and our loved ones which, left unchallenged, can leave us feeling unloved, insecure or overwhelmed. Emma reveals the four blind spot profiles along with client case studies to demonstrate how they show up in daily life, and exercises to help us see past them.

Adult children of narcissists have been conditioned to downplay, dismiss, and ignore their experiences. This survival skill of staying below the radar can cause even very skilled clinicians to miss subtle opportunities to connect. It is paramount that clinicians understand the scope of these clients' experiences in order to support their healing—and to avoid the common clinical mistakes and pitfalls that often lead to inadvertently repeating harmful cycles.

Que se passe-t-il dans la tête d’un psy ? Ce journal croisé entre Irvin Yalom et sa patiente éclaire les mécanismes de la thérapie et le chemin de la guérison. Lorsque Ginny Elkin, jeune écrivaine prometteuse mais très perturbée, vient le consulter, le Dr Yalom, pour encourager sa patiente à écrire, trouve une tout autre approche de la thérapie que ses confrères : Ginny, qui n’a pas d’argent, paiera ses séances avec des écrits, tandis que le thérapeute consignera, lui aussi, ses notes impressionnistes et non cliniques après chaque séance. Guérir à deux voix est l’aboutissement littéraire de ce pacte.

Children and families burdened with attachment disruption, emotional distress, or psychological disorders need effective and immediate assistance. They do not have the time to wait for long-term interventions or developmental changes to improve the parent-child relationship. Here, psychologists Elizabeth A. Sylvester and Kat Scherer provide the most effective approach in such situations: interventions that impact the entire family at relational, emotional, and cognitive-behavioral levels.

Human brains and behavior are shaped by genetic predispositions and early experience. But we are not doomed by our genes or our past. Neuroscientific discoveries of the last decade have provided an optimistic and revolutionary view of adult brain function: People can change. This revelation offers hope to therapists and to couples seeking to improve their relationship. Loving With the Brain in Mind explores ways to help couples become proactive in revitalizing their relationship.

Understand how psychotherapy works, build more resilience, and overcome negative cycle of self-sabotage with this ultimate guide to building brain strength and self-empowerment. Learn how to use cognitive behavioral therapy to reshape your life and stay on the path for a complete change in your outlook and emotional state.

Peter Fraenkel presents a practical, creative, integrative approach that combines action- and insight-oriented techniques to help last-chance couples manage conflict, modulate intense negative emotions, address power struggles, develop mutual compassion, and restore emotional intimacy and pleasurable connection. Special attention is paid to developing a collaborative therapeutic alliance when partners have little motivation for therapy or faith that it can be effective. Through engaging in "nonbinding experiments in possibility," partners can then better evaluate whether to "stay or go."

Dr. Bob Beare’s book is a framework and a guide to emotional freedom. It provides powerful insights on how to go beyond therapy and create a meaningful and purposeful life—a reminder that, with support, we can transcend the patterns that keep us stuck!

Yoga for Trauma Recovery outlines best practices for the growing body of professionals trained in both yoga and psychotherapy and addresses the theoretical foundations that tie the two fields. Uniting recent developments in our understanding of neuroscience and trauma recovery with ancient tenets of yoga philosophy and practice, this foundational text is a must-listen for those interested in the healing capacities of each modality. Listeners will come away from the book with a strong sense of how to apply theory, philosophy, and research to real-life complexities.

In the popular imagination, hypnosis is misconstrued as something done to people, as if the hypnotist hypnotizes them. And hypnotherapy is similarly misconceived as something done to clients' problems, as if the therapist could unilaterally counter or cure them. In a refreshing departure from conception-as-usual, Douglas Flemons offers another view. He explains and illustrates how hypnosis, like meditation, is invited, not induced, and how hypnotherapy entails the altering and unraveling of knotted strands of experience, not the controlling and abolishing of labeled afflictions.

We have learned how to suppress our pain and deny its presence, but when we fight against our internal turmoil, glimmers of peace are short-lived. Rejecting our suffering is not a sustainable solution because trauma is held in the body. In this book, Nityda Gessel invites listeners on a journey toward lasting freedom, with insights and experiential practices that marry the wisdom of Buddhist psychology, yogic teachings, and Indigenous understanding with somatic psychotherapy and neuroscience.

Death is the last taboo in our society, and grief is still profoundly misunderstood. So many of us feel awkward and uncertain around death and shy away from talking honestly with family and friends. Grief Works is a compassionate guide that will inform and engage anyone who is grieving, from the expected death of a parent to the sudden unexpected death of a small child, and provide clear advice for those seeking to comfort the bereaved.

An essential defense of the people the world loves to revile - the loners - yet without whom it would be lost. The Buddha. Rene Descartes. Emily Dickinson. Greta Garbo. Bobby Fischer. J. D. Salinger: Loners, all - along with as many as 25 percent of the world's population. Loners keep to themselves, and like it that way. Yet in the press, in films, in folklore, and nearly everywhere one looks, loners are tagged as losers and psychopaths, perverts and pity cases, ogres and mad bombers, elitists and wicked witches.

Why does an international footballer with the World at his feet decide to take his own life? On November 10, 2009, the German national goalkeeper Robert Enke stepped in front of a passing train. He was 32 years old. Viewed from the outside, Enke had it all. Here was a professional goalkeeper who had played for a string of Europe's top clubs, including Jose Mourinho's Benfica and Louis Van Gaal's Barcelona. Enke was destined to be his country's first choice for years. But beneath the veneer of success lay a darker story.

This groundbreaking text goes to the very heart of the therapeutic meeting between therapist and client. Focusing on the concept of "relational depth", the authors describe a form of encounter in which therapist and client experience profound feelings of contact and engagement with each other, and in which the client has an opportunity to explore whatever is experienced as most fundamental to her or his existence.

Those who struggle with disordered eating often find themselves in an unrelenting cycle of harsh self-judgment, painful emotions, and harmful behaviors. Seeing the body as an adversary, these patterns can lead many people to become withdrawn or isolated. Ann Saffi Biasetti’s powerful holistic approach to liberating people from disordered eating focuses on growing self-compassion and embodiment. This insight, informed by yoga and mindfulness meditation, views the body not just as something to be healed or restored but as a source of great wisdom and knowledge.