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The Feeling Better Blog
- What does depression feel like?
- The importance of telling the difference between between reality and the negative voices in your head
- Anthony Bourdain’s suicide. Tears of a clown and the silent killer
- Mindfulness and meditation can help stop or reduce drinking or using recreational drugs
- Mini-panics
- Coping Skill 9: The news may increase your anxiety: Turn off TV, computer screen or any electronic screen.
- The Unreliable Narrator
- Body Scan your way to reduced stress (8)
- Cleaning: Coping Skill 6/100
- Soft Technique: Moving Into The Pain: (C.S.#7)
- You make me feel
- Coping Skill 5/100: Gardening (outdoor OR indoor)
- Coping Skill 4/100: Keep a Journal
- Play a musical instrument (Skill 3/100)
- Coping Skill 2/100: Music
- Coping skill 1/100: Do nothing
- 100 coping skills in 360 days
- “Self serve” therapeutic intervention: Coping Skills
- Mindfulness for Road Rage
- Meditation (The New and Improved Post)
- Strengthen the Observer
- Crying in the Dark: Why and How Psychotherapy Helps
- Mindful Rushing
- Can you Walk While Meditating? Can you Meditate While Walking?
- The importance of being ernest: Authenticity in therapy
- Mindfulness in stress reduction
- Maladaptive coping mechanisms: externalizing and internalizing
- Defense mechanisms Vs Coping Strategies
- Does anxiety make you angry?
- Germanwings Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz gives people with mental Illness a bad rap
Author Archives: marcalterlcsw
This may sound like a simple question. However the answer is quite subjective and can be different for any individual that experiences it. This is a very healthy inquiry to try and answer, leading you to a more mindful, present … Continue reading
The primary engine behind depressive/negative outlook is one’s own mind. A depressed or anxious person is very often thinking negative, pessimistic thoughts. A major difference between a depressed/highly anxious person versus a person who is emotionally stable is the ability … Continue reading
Many people struggle with drinking. Even those that don’t meet criteria for Alcoholism know that they drink too much but feel powerless to reduce their alcohol intake. As with any self destructive, addictive behavior, there is seemingly an auto-pilot that … Continue reading
People with anxiety, whether in a high pressured job, relationship or even those who are troubled by day to day “life stuff”, encounter what I call mini-panics. This is a state where you do not recognize all the details of … Continue reading
This is a similar concept to C.S. #1, but this skill starts with the ability to get up and turn the TV (or computer) off or reach for the remote and squeeze the off button. For many, these are troubling … Continue reading
Greetings and welcome back! It’s been a while. I have of late been very drawn to the area of Mindful Based Cognitive Therapy. One of the keystones of these concepts is the idea that your thoughts can be “extra” and … Continue reading
When we are utilizing mindful techniques, one thing we are to do is limit our prioritization of distress and instead put more of our attention onto neutral stimuli. One simple and effective way of doing this is through body scanning. No, … Continue reading
During a recent MBCT training, I learned of a strange and erroneous sounding coping strategy: moving toward the pain. In past posts, I wrote about how in mindful techniques, we focus subtly and nonjudgmentally on neutral stimuli, such as a sound, or … Continue reading
How often do you attribute your bad feeling to another? Have you ever uttered the phrase: You make me feel so (fill in the blank with “sad”, “mad”, “miserable” “irritated”, I think you get the idea). When we attribute our … Continue reading
One of the most tranquil and rewarding coping skills I have come across is gardening. What is more relaxing and pleasing to the mind and spirit than planting. Whether you’re planting new seeds inside or sustaining established plants and taking care … Continue reading
Recording your thoughts and feelings in a journal can be very calming. It is a great strategy for coping with stress, coping with fears, coping with sadness or depression.It is a good way to connect back with yourself when you … Continue reading
Not everyone has had a history of playing musical instruments. However, music is a universal phenomenon that most (if not all) human beings have a connection with. Even those who have never tried to play an instrument could try it. … Continue reading
Simple: Get your favorite music. Queue it up on your favored device, computer/laptop, smartphone, MP3 player, tablet or if you’re into the classic modes of music listening, fire up the old record player, Stereo system, CD player, etc. Music, as … Continue reading
Yes, that’s right, do nothing other than sit or lay in a quiet space. While you’re sitting or laying sedentarily, you may find yourself settling your mind, your emotions. This is potentially a good space to practice mindfulness and observe sensations … Continue reading
Coping skills or coping strategies can often be overlooked as quick treatment for the blues or anxiety. As a coping skill is a strategy, sometimes it takes some thought to plan or strategize what you’re going to do and how … Continue reading
Coping skills (AKA coping strategies) are the most important as well as taken for granted tool you can use to treat your depression, anxiety and other psychological symptoms. It is an important supplement in your treatment. Coping skills are the “self-serve” therapeutic … Continue reading
Keeping cool in the car is not always easy. With other drivers speaking around you, trying to get ahead of you, cutting you off, tailgating, honking, etc. The list goes on and on. Every time you get on the road, … Continue reading
I felt that meditation is such an important part of maintaining psychological and emotional wellness, that it warrants further explanation. Forgive me if any of this is repeated from last years meditation post. I decided to keep a lot in … Continue reading
A simplified way of understanding the mind in so far as it relates to our thoughts and feelings is a term called the observing self. This is the observance of the fact that you are observing. From a quote from The Happiness Trap by … Continue reading
My office is in the 10001 zip code, right down the block from Macy’s department store, down the street from the garment district. It is one of the busiest, most trafficked areas of Manhattan. Walking down 8th avenue in NYC, … Continue reading
No matter how much we try to live a peaceful, serene existence where you can always be easy, slow and deliberate, there will likely be exceptions – times when it seems there’s no way to slow down enough to be … Continue reading
Let’s talk about the highly unlikely prospect of being able to meditate while walking. One might assume that walking is an activity that needs full attention, lest one trip or slam into something hurting more than just one’s self-esteem. Well, as it … Continue reading
There is a certain something that enhances therapeutic relationship. It lets you know that what you have with your therapist is real, truthful, trust worthy. This quality is authenticity. The feeling of having a real connection with the therapist enhances rapport. … Continue reading
A good way of determining if you are engaging in healthy coping behavior (AKA coping skills or coping strategies) or if an unwanted defense mechanism, is regular introspective practice called mindfulness. Practice looking at yourself on a regular basis and being mindful … Continue reading
Externalizing or internalizing are mechanisms that can add to stress and generally bring you down. Internalizing occurs when you view problems that have very little or nothing to do with you and attribute them to yourself. When the world’s problems are … Continue reading
Defense mechanisms (or coping mechanisms are automatic ways in which we have learned to cope with the disturbing stimuli bombarding us throughout our days. We use these coping mechanisms automatically, without thought. They are often self-soothing, feeling good at the … Continue reading
Does anxiety make you angry?
Are you “uptight” at times? Do you get irritable, irate, frustrated when the stuff hits the fan? You could be suffering from anxiety related anger. This is a common occurrence for anxious people in tough situations. It is part of … Continue reading
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Tagged anger management, bad mood, irritability, irritable, irritable mood, snapping at people, uptight
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Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz, co-pilot of the ill fated Germanwings flight was no doubt an extremely troubled person. He had suicidal thoughts and impulses, but what’s more, he was homicidal. Homicidal thoughts and impulses are one of many possible symptoms … Continue reading
