myHope Therapy Services, LLC

Angie LeVan is becoming one of my favorite reads. She wrote this gem on visualization in December and followed up with a great article on thriving this month.

Don't get me wrong I'm not one of those "positive thinking" people. That is to say, I don't think of positive thinking as it's interpreted by many of those who claim to be disciples of the silly “if you think it, it will happen” commune.

It has been my experience, however, that many people get held back by negative thinking not based in reality, they avoid good risks because of catastrophic thinking grounded in haywire logic. We've all been guilty of this, in fact it is the sort of thing phobias are made of.

One method of overcoming irrational thinking is to simply have a debate with it. State the fear, determine whether it is reality based and if it's not, challenge it. Allow the fear to counter with a “what if” or alternate scenario and respond again until you've uncovered every irrational thought driving the fear and defeated it in argument.  All of this should be in writing. Once you've accomplished this, practice the argument over and over again in your head until its' memorized.

Another approach is visualization, which involves actually developing a mental image of achieving your goal. A pretty simple, easy to use example from Angie's post:

It may seem corny but I found this to be highly effective particularly with folks who suffer from anxiety disorders or chronic pain.

I've been reading a great deal on Imago the past 6 months and I found it does a very good job of applying standard interventions in a way that enables couples to implement change quickly (under the right circumstances).

The nice thing about Imago is that even if it's not your primary model, everything it offers can complement your work. The most effective tool is the dialogue – at worst you can say it is a superficial exercise meant to teach empathic communication. Quite frankly, I think if most people got this part of Imago down they would be well on their way to getting their marriage back on track (assuming it was off track).

That being said, the theory behind it and some of the following can be a bit much. Also, its not for everyone- I would never consider this approach if domestic violence (as one example) were an issue. Lastly, the potential for the therapist to lose control of the session is a bit greater than with other approaches in my opinion.

Despite some of the drawbacks, I look forward to integrating a good deal of Imago in my work. I found Wade Luquet's book to be both very digestible and practical.

I've been reading up a lot about marketing and psychotherapy and quite frankly I'm finding the whole thing a bit weird. When did we all turn into Matthew Lesko? 

I do think that assertive marketing is key to any business and in some ways it removes the stigma of seeking help for the client. On the other hand, basing your site and approach on the “5 easy steps to making your first million selling 2012 survival gear” business model brings the profession down a notch. The question I have is whether it's successful. I've asked a couple of folks who went this route to get back to me with some results. If it works you may see me on T.V at 3am speaking to a crowd who can't help but clap and cheer every time I push my book and free set of allen wrenches.

Other thoughts...

About 80% of my wardrobe consists of sweatshirts from various colleges that my family members either attended or have close affiliations with. My family recognized this, and bombarded me with adult clothing for Christmas. I still plan on wearing my green Notre Dame sweatshirt everywhere.

Having four other people eat the hottest wing on the "hot wing scale" with you does not make the idea any better or the act any less painful.

Eating 4 pounds of really salty pistachios is a good way to get rid of those unwanted lips.

My nine month old daughter runs into the dog with her princess car on purpose. I think it's funny.

I decided that I don't have quite enough to do and that adding one more thing (this blog) on top of what is an already impossible list would be a great idea.  It's been two months since I began trying to get into a private practice. Now that I'm here I find it is definitely a lot different than working for an agency. The great thing about this opportunity is the ability to be creative and the kind of freedom you're given to make your own way.

Don't get me wrong, I think everyone who is a therapist should work for an agency at some point and even maintain some sort of relationship with one throughout their career, it's the best way to stay on top of best practices.

I started working on something today that I think will be a pretty exciting initiative – if it gets off the ground to a point where I feel confident enough that it won't be a miserable, embarrassing failure, I'll write a little more about it.