Online Counseling, Therapy & Life Coaching

Recently, Dr. Phil interviewed a woman with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Although this condition is considered rare, it is also often overlooked or misdiagnosed. Many children who have been severely abused or neglected have no other recourse than to remove themselves from frightening, destructive situations. If they cannot do so physically, they withdraw into different “places” within the mind.

In my book, Tango from Chaos to Creativity, my patient shares his most devastating childhood memories of abuse as poems, along with his complex way of coping, which helped him to survive ongoing abuse. His poetic description of the abuse and the development of his multiple personalities become a beautiful story about his journey to find healing.

Read more about how multiple personalities emerge and can be treated: http://emdrcoach.com/buy-my-book/

How many nights have you struggled to fall asleep so you turn to sleeping pills? Depending how often you use them, you could risk relying on sleeping pills too often, which potentially could lead to an addiction.

According to the American Psychological Association, “at least 40 million Americans suffer from over 70 different sleep disorders and 60 percent of adults report having sleep problems a few nights a week or more.”

Yet, most experts agree, the best way to resolve insomnia or sleeping problems is to figure out the real reason why you can’t sleep. Instead of taking pills, sleep doctors help modify your behavior and figure out what’s keeping you tossing and turning at night.

The World Sleep Foundation was founded by professionals who are resolving sleep issues from insomnia to sleep apnea. There are many ways to learn how to sleep naturally, which for the long-term will strengthen your health much more than relying on pills.

Read more about naturally improving your sleep here.  Or, if you can’t fall asleep, watch this video:

If you are deciding whether or not to divorce, there are abundant questions to ask yourself. Are the children going to suffer? Will I be able to manage financially? Have I done everything possible to keep this relationship together? In fact, answering these questions may lead to more questions until you feel plagued by stress and uncertainty.

This is a stressful time. Mediation and a collaborative approach can make this process much easier for everyone involved.

Mediation is the first step in discussing the present situation and the desired outcome with a neutral party, the mediator. The mediator will review the options with the party, then ensure that there are no barriers to the process such as abuse, safety issues or mental health concerns that may require further evaluation.

What is Collaborative Divorce?

Collaborative divorce is a new method of alternative dispute that focuses on reaching a fair solution for both parties. This choice is for people who want to reach an amicable agreement, and achieve peace and harmony as quickly as possible to move on with their lives.

If the couple agrees to respectfully agree, or to settle out of court, they will each be referred to a collaborative attorney who will provide the parties with information about how to proceed with collaborative divorce.

If you decide to divorce and want to maintain a friendly, respectful environment: schedule mediation first, then contact a collaborative attorney. This way you have discussed and solidified your goals with a mediator before involving costly lawyers, which may seem confrontational and create more argument than resolution.

The advantages of the mediation and collaborative divorce approach are:

• You have more control over your divorce’s outcome.
• You are encouraged to compromise instead of having a judge make decisions about your life and family.
• Mediation is less expensive and takes less time.

By being a part of the process, you will feel less stress and anxiety during the divorce itself. You will be working together to make your life and your children’s lives easier and better for the years to come.

Learn more about conflict resolution on the Innovative Counseling Services website.

*Copyright Jean Pollack

People’s lives are increasingly busy. Life is filled with meetings, travel for work, vacations, kids, and partners. Days race by into weeks, leaving less and less time for self care. With work, children, caring for sick family members, working out, buying healthy groceries, attending school meetings, how do you find time for therapy?

Sometimes everyone feels overwhelmed and needs to talk to someone who is objective. Someone who is not a friend or even family member. Yet, calling a therapist may feel like it requires you to schedule yet another appointment. Brief focused therapy is the best type of therapy for busy people because it is short-term and can even be done from a distance.

Living in the Present

Many people don’t have time to spend years in therapy rehashing and analyzing their past. Brief therapy is for those people who want to put the spotlight on the present and future, with less emphasis on the past, making it briefer than most traditional therapies.

Where do you want to be and what is keeping you from reaching your goals? Whether communication problems, relationship issues, addictions, organizational conflicts, or your children’s behavioral problems, this therapy focuses on the here and now but also how to improve your life right away. It is positive and solution focused.

How Brief Therapy Works

In brief therapy your resources, strengths, and passions are identified. During sessions, barriers are identified while your therapist provides accountability and support as you redesign your life one step at a time. As you improve one area of your life — such as your health by improving your sleep patterns and initiating exercise or a lost hobby in your life — you will see a positive change in other areas like self-esteem and interest in socializing (relationships). Improvement in the relationship area with your partner may have a positive effect on your work productivity and increase your confidence to make a change in your work or career as needed. Change brings about more change and it continues until your aspirations are met.

If barriers or self-sabotaging behaviors arise in therapy, other types of therapy such as EMDR or hypnosis can be used as an adjunct to brief therapy. Brief therapy continues until you are more satisfied in all areas of your life.

Traditional therapies focus on the past and the reasons for your problems; brief therapy focuses on your current situation, your resources, and accomplishments. In partnership, you and your therapist create an individualized personalized plan for the future you desire.

According to Wikipedia, the concept of brief therapy was independently discovered by several therapists in their own practices over several decades. By the 1950s, psychologists such as Milton Erickson and Haley began writing about brief therapy, but it became popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Richard Bandler, John Grinder, and Stephen Lankton have also been credited, at least in part, with the inspiration for and popularization of brief therapy, particularly through their work with Milton Erickson.

Brief therapy occurs in the present and is about your learning to appreciate being in the moment. The fact that you are breathing means that you are alive and change is ongoing. A brief focused therapist helps you to live your life now, moment by moment. This is a core trait of positive psychology and one of reasons I practice it along with brief focused therapy.

Learn more at www.emdrcoach.com.
Copyright *Jean Pollack