Combating Depression

Combating Depression

Feeling alone during the holidays can easily trigger one's depression.  When this happens the individual can begin producing self-defeating thoughts (i.e., I don't want to get out of bed.  I don't want to hang out with family.  These people don't want me around anyway.)  A person in this state may not need a new family but perhaps just some help developing healthier thinking patterns.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy is a therapeutic technique used to help the client combat irrational thinking and develop new skills.  Once the CBT technique is learned, one can also utilize its principles at home.  If you have depression you may not need a life long battle in therapy but just sixteen sessions or so to learn the technique for yourself.  If a person is struggling with low self-esteem he might be experiencing negative thoughts about his/her abilities and/or appearance, Due to these negative thinking patterns someone may pass up a promotion at work or avoid social situations with friends.

Challenge: Exercise with others

In order to relieve the client of these destructive thinking patterns, the therapist helps the client identify the problematic beliefs. This stage of the therapy is called functional analysis, which helps with learning how feelings, thoughts, or situations can contribute to maladaptive behaviors. This can be extremely difficult for clients that typically refuse to look introspectively.  The difficulty is exacerbated by not only asking the client to look deeper into situations differently, but when the client's mind is obsessing about one particular perspective (aka: tunnel vision).

The next part of CBT focuses on the maladaptive behaviors. Through psycho-education the client begins to learn new ways to manage his/her emotions in a healthy manner. If a person is struggling with depression there might be a chance that he/she is compounding the problem by self-medicating with alcohol or other drugs. This would be the step when the client practices new coping skills to use in real world situations to avoid a relapse or digging deeper into depression. The client would point out anxiety-provoking situations and then practice those social situations with the new skills.

The goal of CBT is to help a client gradually change his/her behaviors over time to produce a more healthy lifestyle, whether it is better managing emotions or developing healthier relationships.  Homework may be used in CBT such as exercise (to release those feel good endorphin's) or socializing with others that you may not engage with otherwise, as practice.

Practice makes perfect!

Tony Nichols

--I find joy in helping other's experience hope and peace in their life.         

Addiction Recovery: Stages of Change

Thinking of Change?

Giving up an addiction is the hardest obstacle in life to do.  The addiction is such a struggle to give up because we like the substance or thing we are addicted to.

I love the way coffee makes me feel in the morning when I drink it.  The smell of it brewing, the taste, and then the tingling feeling in my brain after gulping down the first drink.  I continue to drink coffee because I love it!  Using alcohol, marijuana, consuming excessive amounts of fried chicken, or winning lottery tickets feel good to those who engage in those substances, activities or eat certain foods.  Why would we give up something that feels so good?  This is why it is so hard to quit a substance or behavior that we love, but sometimes it is necessary for our health, financial situation, relationships, etc.  We need to ask what is the cost or risk of continuing the addiction or behavior?  Good thing my coffee addiction doesn't present too many risks!-- That's easy to say with all other addictions too.

Though addiction/behavior-educational material is important through this process, this isn't a treatsie on the dangers of your addiction, but only some ideas to think about if you are wanting to change (i.e. contemplation stage).  Inevitably, it is your choice and your life anyway.  DiClemente and Prochaska's (1983) Stages of Change model shows how an addicted person recovers.

1. Precontemplation (unaware of the problem)
2. Contemplation (becomes aware of the problem and the desired behavior change)
3. Preperation (intends to take action)
4. Action (practices the desired behavior)
5. Maintenance (works to sustain the behavior change)
  
Relapse can occur at any stage (drinking a beer after a year of sobriety or smoking a cigarette after six months of cessation).  A person can also sit on one stage longer than the others.  It may take an individual six months to decide that he is ready to take action after deciding he needs to put the booze down. The diagram above helps one to think about what step he or she is facing next.  Due to excessive stress around the holidays, should a coping skill be developed to sustain the behavior change?  Due to a court hearing one may need to start practicing the desired change to avoid more issues.  What's next?

Which step are you on?  Are you aware there is a problem?  Use the beginning of 2015 to make a change for the better!  

Tony Nichols

Seeking a Healthy Marriage?

Marriage Defined: work. play. co-habitat. enjoy. disappointment. frustrating. exciting. confusing. difficult. breath-taking, dysfunctional, conflict. interesting. curious. unconditional. non-compatible. pleasurable.

These are all words that can describe a marriage.

There is plenty that is written and explored within the topic of developing a healthy marriage and loving relationships.  The English word "love" may be the most sought after or awkwardly used word in the beginning of a relationship (we've all been there), but often times isn't specific enough in expressing one's true feelings.  One's love for tacos isn't the same love that one possesses for his bride (if it is, maybe that's the problem).

Journey- Nine More Months!!

It's been a while since I have posted anything.  This summer I was able to take a deep breath and relax a little from school.  It felt really good!  Camping trips, long family walks, a wedding in KS, a romantic summer night in Chicago at a play, and time at the park and playing in the yard with the kiddos have been wonderful.  I began my educational journey in August of 1986 as a Kindergartner in Avon, IN.  I will be ending that journey this year at LCU in Lincoln, IL in May of 2015.  God willing, this will be my last year!  Fortunately, I just need to complete a two-semester internship and one more class for licensure.  I love setting and meeting goals!  It has taken a lot of dedication and sacrifice to keep the target in site; props to my wife for putting up with me and a very chaotic schedule!  My prayers and positive self-talk will be screaming this year's motto: Nine more months-we can do it!!! 

It's nearly time to start working on new goals.  During that latter half of my educational journey, I also began building an awesome family to share my life with.  I actually like these people that I'm sharing a roof with.  Which is why my goals for the next era of my life include becoming a more enjoyable and involved family man, strive to be a more successful counselor, and having more fun- like this summer.  I'm also lucky to have great co-workers which helps encourage the "more successful counselor" part tremendously.  Hopefully, I can sleep some time in-between.  The camping, vacations or relief trips abroad, times at the park/ymca, and just goofing off with friends, new or old, brings relief to my soul.  Thanks be to God for blessing me with the life that I have.  Just nine more months!!!  :)