Jun
11
Language and Becoming Stuck
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The various psychotherapies that fall under the rubric of post-modern and post-structural psychotherapy have become more and more numerous over the past decade. For example there is solution-focused, narrative therapy, collaborative therapy, social therapeutics, brief therapy, etc. What they all have in common is a dedication to the way we use language. Language to tell a story, to re-story, for telling preferred stories, to deconstruct the language that is being used, to the use of language and generating meaning in the present moment, and to the changing nature of language. There is a dedication to finding out how our problems are described and through the language we use how we bring them alive.
Sometimes we become stuck in the running story that we tell others and the same story plays out in our own minds. We seem to not be able to get out of the quicksand of the story and so we become stuck. That is where psychotherapy could be useful. To have someone who cares, who can be empathetic, and to help create a safe place to help brainstorm ideas to start to become unstuck. Sometimes all it takes is to be able to voice what we are feeling and thinking. To bounce ideas off from another person. To create the new ideas into tangible and realistic ways of making our lives better.
If you live in the Twin Cities area and are looking for a psychotherapist please call 612-501-6807 or send an email to jeffjones@phoenix-mental-health.com Together we can discover new solutions to your present problems.
Apr
7
Performance Anxiety
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It has been a while since the last time I wrote a blog. When I first started writing this blog I had hopes of keeping up with it at least once a week. Now that months have passed I can safely say I broke that promise. This leads me to think of a common problem in therapy: anxiety. Anxiety tends to be future orientated, a fear (and even a fear of the fear) of the unknown future. This fear seems to manifest in different ways for different people, it could be fear of other people, or fear of public places, or even the fear of losing ourselves into the great unknown. This fear typically has to do with a postmodern “performance”; the wanting to live up to an ideal way of being. Maybe this is the idea of a public speaker who is polished and laid back and has no worries or the idea of entering a school and being “just like every other” student. This performance is a cultural trick because no one really knows what performance is always and in every situation the correct “way of being”.
We are all just pretending to know the “right way”. The question should be asked what is better, a performance or authenticity, and does it matter? And to whom? And why?
How does this help with beating back anxiety? It helps to shift our perspective on our fear. It helps us to question the object of our fear. It does not get rid of the anxiety but helps change the magnitude of the power that we have given it.
How does this relate back to not writing a blog for the past few months? I believe that I had envisioned myself as a person who was a prolific writer, a writer who was admired, perhaps even a future of having one of the best awarded blogs around. That would be quite the performance to live up to. So I have created this fear of being anything less than that, but by questioning this performance and assessing what it is that I could actually accomplish I have helped change my perspective and have thus lowered my performance anxiety.
Sep
4
Narrative Group Therapy
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I an offering a free group therapy class through EXCO Free School. The title of the class is “Changing the Narrative of our Mental Illness”.
Details:
Through the use of storytelling we will explore our experiences with mental illness. Then with the group process we will explore the individual and collective meanings that uphold the meanings of our mental illnesses. We will then be listening for an alternative story that can tell us about our preferred way of being.
This class is both a self healing class and an exploration of social justice issues through the eyes and minds of those of us coping with mental illness.
I will be listing the readings here as they become available:
1. Trafficking in the World of Possibilities
2. The Narrative Construction of Reality
September 28, 2009 – 6:30pm – October 19, 2009 – 8:00pm
Jun
24
Genetics or Life?
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The Alliance for Human Research Protection has written an article about the gene theory for depression. The article can be read here, http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/610/9/, titled” Gene Theory for Depression is Now Discredited”. It is an interesting article because one of the main reasons given for taking psychotropic medications for depression is due to the serotonin gene that one is born with. This article debunks the myth that one is born with a gene that causes an “imbalance” in their serotonin levels. Consequently, there has never been to my knowledge, a study that proves that depression is caused by an imbalance in serotonin levels. What the debunkers claim is that if there is an imbalance then one must prove the right balance, but at this time there is no known test for this. Is it all guess work? The article goes on to say that depression is caused not by biological factors but by situations in life, personal, interpersonal, and I would argue community and society wide also.
I am not for or against psychotropic medications. I realize that they have been very beneficial for some people, but I am advocating for more information on the risk of side effects before taking the medications. This is where psychotherapy can be useful to someone experiencing depression. In my opinion, psychotherapy should be the first line of defense against depression. I would bet there are fewer side effects. If therapy is not working then please go see a psychiatrist.