Category Archives: Counseling
10 Steps to Good Self Care
THE PHYSICAL 1. Have a balanced diet; avoid tobacco and processed foods; avoid excessive alcohol or caffeine consumption. – Maintain your weight at a level that is healthy and feels good to you. 2. Exercise 3 – 5 times per week, both aerobically and with weights. 3. Get adequate sleep and rest. The amount differs …
Keeping Secrets in Couples Therapy
Every couples therapist has to decide whether or not to incorporate individual sessions. Whereas there are many benefits to doing so, such as gathering information more quickly and thoroughly, special consideration must be given to confidentiality. Specifically, how should a couples therapist handle a secret? What if one partner tells the therapist something in confidence …
How To Handle The Office Bully
Corporations have come a long way in developing policies for dealing with sexual harassment. But what about office bullies? Isn’t that also a form of harassment? Similarly to sexual harassment, office bullying can create a hostile work environment that not only makes it difficult for people to function, but also has a detrimental effect on …
Cyber Affairs: Yes! It’s Cheating
Facebook is a wonderful thing. With 845 million active monthly users, it’s also a very popular thing. But danger lurks behind the fun logo. Many of us are one “friend request” away from an online affair. Yes, it seems quite innocent at first. Oh look! There’s an old friend from high school! I think I’ll …
Meditation Myths
There is a lot of research showing the benefits of meditation. I generally recommend that my clients meditate as a great adjust to therapy to help them relax and focus. Meditation techniques can also be useful in addressing inorgasmia, because these techniques help you to focus your mind on your genitals and not your to-do …
The Stealth Killer Of Relationships: Emotional Affairs
Yes, having an emotional affair is cheating! Some may argue that emotional affairs aren’t as bad as physical affairs, but I think that depends on your perspective. What is an “emotional affair”, you ask? Well, the answer may surprise you. A emotional affair is anytime that you take intimacy out of your relationship by sharing …
How ADD Can Destroy Relationships
ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, and it’s cousin, ADHD, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, can wreak havoc on intimate relationships. We read a lot about how ADD or ADHD affects people, but we don’t get to read a lot about how it affects relationships. And we should. Being married to someone with ADD is sort of …
Why Being Perfect Isn’t Great
We think of the word “perfect”, and we think of the optimum, the ultimate, the absolute best. So, it follows that when we think of “perfectionists” we think of high achievers, high performers…you know, successful people. Nobody thinks of perfectionism as negative. But it is. Perfectionists exhibit many self-defeating behaviors. They think that unless they …
Stop Fighting About Money
It’s common knowledge that the top two things couples fight about are money and sex. Well, this post isn’t about sex…sorry! Money is a topic that can cause trouble for even the most well-adjusted couples. So many of us have emotional issues about money we aren’t even aware of, and these can rear their ugly …
How To Nag Successfully
According to a recent study from the University of Southern California, men shut down emotionally when arguing with their significant other. Any wife or long-term girlfriend will tell you they didn’t need a study to tell them this. But, what is newly discovered is that when men are under stress, the regions of the brain …
How You May Be Sabotaging Your Mental Health
Congratulations! You have made the brave and potentially life-altering step of getting some counseling. Good for you. But did you know that some very simple things you are doing right now could be sabotaging your progress? When people come to see me, naturally the focus is on whatever relationship, sexual, or emotional issue they are …
Optimize Your Counseling Dollar
Have you been to a counselor lately? That’s OK…don’t answer out loud. But if you have, or are considering visiting one in the near future, and want to make sure you get the most for your money, this blog post will be of interest. As a private practitioner, I see many different people with many …
How Life And Weight Loss Coaches Can Be Bad For Your Health
Look around- life coaches, weight loss coaches, beauty coaches, nutrition coaches…everyone wants to “coach” you on something! And congratulations to you for wanting to improve your life. I’m not here to rain on your parade- I just want to hand you an umbrella so you don’t accidentally get drenched. See, none of these coaches are …
What to Look for in a Counselor
So, you’ve decided you’d like to see a counselor. Now what? Do a google search and you are faced with what seems like hundreds of counselors. Actually, there are about 400 licensed mental health counselors in Florida alone. So, how to pick one? What most therapists won’t tell you, probably because they don’t keep …
CounselorBarb 