After introducing the idea that we all have internal parts, let’s move on to consider working with parts, shall we? To this end, a classic Star Trek TNG episode – The Chase – offers some curiously helpful insight. During the episode, Captain Picard receives the gift of a rare alien artifact. The abstract humanoid-shaped outer…
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Well into my career, a stupendous idea crashed into my life as a therapist, with refreshing results. This serendipitous idea was and is: we all have different parts. I refer not to physical parts like hands, bellybuttons or spleens; but psychological parts. This is not a new idea. As this article explains, William…
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At 12:50pm, you walk out of the counselling office, feeling great. Back at work, an urgent message from the boss lies in wait to remind you about that 4:30pm project deadline. A small tendril of unease begins to worm its way through your gut, nibbling away at the post-therapy state of calm and confidence. …
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I’m increasing security at Chris Lindsay Counselling; not in a psychological way, but rather technological. As part of this, you will find a new email address on my contact page. People in my field get very concerned about confidentiality and privacy of information. The sheer volume of hours my poor bottom end has spent sitting…
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How To Do Progressive Muscle Relaxation… I Lost My Textbook I lost my textbook. The one from which I learned how to do progressive muscle relaxation back in grad school. I went to grab it in preparation for this blog post, and nada. Tsk. Ah well. I mean, after teaching PMR approximately 56 kajillion times…
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For many years I have been teaching people to use Progressive Muscle Relaxation, which might just be the oldest strategy used in counselling. Like 1908 old. OK, so I have not published a blog post in two years (less one day.) I’m not even going to try to make this post flow seamlessly from what…
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I promised in my last post to talk about the idea of “resistance” in more detail. We therapists often feel things like frustration, confusion and even helplessness when we run into it. We have been known to label resistance as bad. Worse, we have at times turned to criticizing and blaming “resistant” people. Not only…
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Time to finally pick up on the cryptic statement I dropped at the end of my last post. As it’s been awhile, let me re-cap: most of the problems which bring people to psychotherapy are not all negative. Oh sure, they are unpleasant or nobody would come for therapy. But they also have real benefits. …
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My last few posts contemplated psychotherapy itself. It’s probably time to switch over to the stuff which brings people into therapy. That which is loosely known as “mental health.” Here’s something which is obviously good for your mental health (and physical health, and any other kind health): dodging a nuclear blast. Image by Please Don’t…
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As described in a previous blog skiing was an ultimately disappointing experiment for me. I taught myself and didn’t do a particularly good job, learning some bad habits which limited my ability to ski well. Over several winters, these became entrenched in muscle memory and difficult to un-learn. Practice does not make perfect after all.…
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