Where Did the Time Go? How Internet Addiction Steals Your Life
You know you have a problem when during your stints on the internet: day turns to night…or vice versa. you see the remnants of your meals scattered around you and your computer, but you don’t remember eating… or, worse, you never got around to eating. your family knocks, begs, yells, cajoles, pleads for your attention and you never made yourself unplug… or, worse, no one comes around anymore. your personal life choices are centered around how much time they take away from your screen time. the sense that you’re missing out is excruciating...
read moreTherapy for Sex Offenders: Which Treatments Are The Most Effective?
If you are convicted of a sexual offense, you’re probably feeling all kinds of emotions: Shame about the public revelation of your actions Fear of what will happen Despair that there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation People often judge sex offenders by their title. In addition, no investigation of what actually happened takes place. And the criminal justice system can make things worse. Here’s how Roberto Di Fazio of Collins Bay Institution’s Program for Violent Offenders puts it: “Incarceration, or any other penalty the criminal...
read moreWays a Lack of Empathy Can Hinder Your Addiction Recovery
Sometimes it takes every ounce of energy you’ve got just to drag yourself out of bed in the morning. You count all the empty bottles and your head reminds you what was in them the night before. You firmly resolve it will be the last time that happens. No matter what which drug or activity you prefer, you probably already know what’s going to happen next. If you’re struggling with addiction, you’re going to go right back to those bottles. The next morning, they’ll be empty again. That’s the story of addiction. However, what you might not know...
read moreSomeone You Love is a Convicted Sex Offender? 7 Things You Should Know
Finding out that someone you love is a sex offender can turn your world upside down. Maybe you’ve been dating for a while, and your love interest breaks the news before things get too serious. Or maybe you find out through public notices in the paper or state registries. Whatever the case, you might feel angry, scared, confused – or all of the above. But you can turn your world upright again. Here are 7 things to know if someone you love is a convicted sex offender. 1. Sex offenders are people, too Everyone has a dark side. No, we’re not...
read more7 Benefits of Brainspotting as an Addiction Therapy
An addict knows trauma. His or her brain is usually soaked in it. The agony of past hurts, cravings, and dependence cannot be undone on his or her own. Wound tightly in his or her brain and body, is harmful, unprocessed emotional pain. Some recognizable and some hidden from their conscious selves for far too long. Whatever the addiction–internet gaming, gambling, or porn; drinking too much; drugging dangerously; or sexually acting out–the root and results are the same. Trauma that won’t let go. An addict also knows overwhelm. His or her life...
read moreYou, Me, and Our Phones: How Screens Are Damaging Our Relationships
We’ve all gotten used to a certain glow on the faces of our significant others. Not the glow of happiness and contentment. Not the glow of intimate connection and fulfillment. No, this glow is blue-ish, maybe green. Emanating from the palms of their hands, and accompanied by the occasional vibration, beep, or buzz. But who are we kidding… they aren’t the only ones to succumb to it. We’re drawn in too. We keep on smartphone clicking, posting, and sending. And, too often, we miss the longing on each other’s faces and the increasing discontent...
read moreAddiction Recovery: 5 More Activities to Help You Develop Empathy
You’re in recovery. Congratulations. That’s amazing. You’re on your way. Where? Back from despair, desperation, maybe even the brink of death or losing it all. Back to life. You are working on becoming a whole person again. How? Through caring and accountability. Through intentional steps toward self-awareness and selflessness. And by allowing a lot more humanity bloom in yourself and in your life. That humanity is actually a relationship skill: Empathy. It’s been buried for too long. And your willingness to recover empathy or even build it...
read moreStress Kills! Take These Steps to Live a Longer, More Relaxed Life
So, how are you doing? Before you answer “okay,” take a minute to come up with a more accurate answer. A truer answer. One that reflects the tension in your shoulders, that sense that you’ve forgotten how to breathe deeply, or that it seems so difficult lately to really focus in on anything. What’s that not okay feeling about? That’s stress. That’s how you’re really doing. And living with stress, on an ongoing basis, does a real number on your body and mind. In fact, living with unchecked stress actually kills. Realistically, no one can live...
read moreAddiction Recovery: 5 Activities to Help You Develop Empathy
Addiction can cause you to look at another human being and see very little, feel nothing much, and hear only the nagging whine of your own need. That need has no empathy. Addiction wants to drag you down to that lonely, selfish place forever. And it does a heartbreakingly good job of destroying your life and relationships along the way. So, when you decide to recover, you must also recover a deeper emotional connection to those around you. If you don’t, you will not have recovered all that addiction has stolen. Empathy is that ability to...
read moreWhen Grief Turns Into Depression: How to Stop the Suffering
Sometimes loss hurts so much that the pain becomes perpetual and unbearable. It begins to change the way you see yourself, your future, and your relationships. All you know is that something needs to change. You need relief. Grief can complicate things internally, rearrange your thinking, and leave the door open for deep hopelessness, persistent joylessness, and prolonged sadness. Sometimes grief can turn into depression. While it is common for most people to experience depressed moods following loss, some people actually experience clinical...
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