PsychSense: Sensible Psychological Solutions

Today The World Lost a Caring Man Way Too Soon.

Michael White formalized and introduced the idea of using storytelling as healing in psychotherapy. He introduced the idea of Narrative Therapy to many professionals who needed to be reminded of the power of stories and the importance of helping patients tell their stories in a therapeutic way. Of course people have also been telling their stories to therapists for a long time. The stories of their lives, of their pain and joys and of their healing.

The NY Times Had a Great magazine issue This Past Sunday on Environmental Issues.

In it there was a brief mention of “eco anxiety”. This is identified as a “generalized worry about the environment”

Eco anxiety is not new, it is just reaching a threshold where it is becoming recognizable. People are talking more about the environment and realizing the importance of protecting it, even if they don’t believe in global warming.

The question is what do you do about Eco-Anxiety and about protecting the environment. Many people feel powerless to do anything or and don’t know what to do, they become immobilized.

About once a week I will be choosing a question from my readers to answer on this blog.

I will try to answer those that I believe will interest the most people. Send your questions to me at Dr.Duffy@PsychSense.com

Here is the first question/ Answer. Let me know your comments, follow up questions.

I was hospitalized under the Mental Health Act in 2003. Where are Mental Health records kept and by whom, for how long, and who can access them? Are records accessible by Companies, as I am concerned about my career prospects in the future?

The old saying goes that money can’t buy happiness.

Some don’t seem to agree. Some recent work from the Brookings Institute and from Harvard seem to question this old addage. An article in the NY Times recently discussed this issue and gives links to research that is beginning to question this old addage. There is also some recent research telling us that giving your money away makes you happy

In previous posts we talked about communication especially during times of stress.

One of the best ways to encourage communication and calm emotions is with the use of empathy.  Empathy may be called by different names but it follows the same principle.

Learning to make empathic statements is important to anyone who works with people in distress.

• Health Care Workers
•  Emts
• Paramedics
• Police
• Fireman

and even customer service representatives are learning about empathy, it makes their job much easier. It is also helpful in everday life, for everyone.

We generally think of choices as good, as a way to assert our independence and our free will, it’s about making a statement. While this is certainly true, when are choices just too many? Sometimes I just want Vanilla.

Too many choices can be stressful, even overwhelming and lead to no real choice. Sometimes choices made to assert ourselves can be less then free. Often we believe we need to exercise our “free will” just to prove we have it. Think of the teenager (or adult child !) who does the opposite of what her parent does, even though this may not be what she really wants to do. It appears that a choice that is made just to prove something, is really a restriction on free will.

Remember the four major coping styles I identified in my last post?

•1.    Aggressive

•2.    Regressive

•3.    Withdrawal

•4.     Repressive 

I also posed some questions to stimulate thought about coping and to encourage you to identify your particular style. I believe self-awareness is the road to mental health.

Let me try to answer these questions in the manner of a professional therapist.

• Is one style more effective then another?
  Hmm, it depends, what do you think?    

Here in Mental Health Hints, we have been talking some about coping with stress in our lives. As you may remember coping mechanisms are specific techniques everyone uses to deal with stress. They are also called “defense mechanisms”.

 Today I want to say a little more about styles of coping.  A style is a particular way something is expressed or said or done.  Each one of the defense mechanisms we have discussed (and will discuss) fit best with  a certain style of coping.  We all tend to  have a  most  comfortable  coping style, the one we use most often. This is especially true in very stressful situations or crisis.