Category Archives: Addiction

Fall Workshops

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I am pleased to announce the Fall 2020 Continuing Educational Workshops.  These classes will occur monthly from September 2020 -December2020.  The classes will be held  on the Zoom platform, which adds to the convenience of learning.    In addition, each class will be two hours long, allowing for smaller blocks of learning.  This will aid in retention and usability of the information.

1)Our series “kicks off” with a 2- part class on addiction.  As a therapist working in the  addiction field for most of my 35 years,  “ Hard to Handle”,  is an accurate description of dealing with addicted clients and their families.  This presentation will be broken up into two parts.  Part I, Assessment, will be held on September 16th from 9AM to 11AM.   Part II, Treatment, will be  held on September 23rd from 9AM-11AM.  Both parts will give participants many useful components in order to learn how to assess and treat addictive disorders.  The presentations will also include many case examples that illustrate these concepts.

For more information and to register go to   addiction workshop

THE ADDICTIONS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN POSTPONED

 

2)In the month of October,  “Making change:  Using Milton Erickson’s Hypnosis Principles Without Using Hypnosis” will be our topic. This workshop will occur on Wednesday October 14th from 9AM-11AM.   Erickson was a master therapist who worked uniquely with every client.  There was no “cookie cutter” or “one size fits all” approach. The best part of this class is that you can use hypnosis thinking and interventions without knowing how to do hypnosis! If you are interested in learning different therapeutic approaches using a hypnosis lens, please register for this class.

For More information go to Erickson workshop

THE ERICKSON WORKSHOP HAS BEEN POSTPONED

 

3)Wednesday November 4th from 9AM-11AM is the date for our next workshop.  Astute readers will note that this is the morning after Election Day and our workshop is aptly titled, “Winners or Losers: Use of Hypnotherapy for Anxiety and Stress Reduction”.    Regardless of the outcome of the election, can you think of a better time to learn how to use hypnosis in order to reduce stress and anxiety?  This class will have both didactic and experiential components to it.

For More information go to  hypnosis workshop

4)Our last class of the Fall 2020 workshop series may be the most important.  It involves ourselves.

  • How many times have we felt frustrated or angry when dealing with a client?
  • How many times have we hoped that this client would not attend the session?
  • How many times have we anticipated that the client would make a meaningful change after a particularly useful session, only to find out that the client has not progressed at all?

If you’ve answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, please register for “Therapist Self -Care: Work Smarter Not Harder;  How to use different models to produce change”

This class will be  held on Wednesday December 2nd from 9AM-11AM.

 

For More information go to therapist self care

 

 

Cost:

2)Using Milton Erickson’s Hypnosis principles without using hypnosis

Wednesday October 14,2020 9-11AM

Register by September 30, 2020

get early bird discount price $50

After September 30, Registration Price $75

3)Winners or losers: Using hypnotherapy for anxiety  and stress reduction

November 4, 2020 9AM-11AM

Register by October 19, 2020 for

get early bird discount price $50

After October 19, Registration Price $75

4) Therapist self- care : Work smarter not harder—How to use different models to produce change

Register by November  18, 2020

get early bird discount price $50

After November 18, Registration Price $75

 

 

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What is Sexual Addiction

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In this episode, we examine the most shameful of all addictions, sexual addiction. We will define addiction, identify how addiction impacts family members, and the addicted person. A case example is presented to highlight these issues

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Lois Wilson speaking at a convention 1982

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Did you ever go looking for something and can’t find it?  Of course you have!

How about in the process of looking for that other thing,you found something else?  Of course you have!(And didn’t find the  main thing I was looking for)

This is what I found:

 

 

if you unaware of who Lois Wilson is read this:

http://www.steppingstones.org/loisstory.html

change is possible

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No Detours

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Dedicated to LC who didn’t live very long but inspired many

Many years ago Linda was a client that I was working with. She was a very complicated young woman. She had chemical addictions, eating disorders and an assortment of other significant issues. Her chemical addictions were getting out of hand and she needed to go to detox. Linda agreed and assured me that she would go on Monday. On Monday, after she didn’t arrive at the detox, I called her and the conversation went something like this:

Me: What happened?
L :  You know
Me: You took a detour?
L:   Yes
Me: Ok, (pause, pause, pause,)but really you need to go to detox
L:   I know
Me: How about tomorrow
L:   Ok
Me: So you’ll call them now so you can get in tomorrow?
L:   Yes
Me: So you are going tomorrow?
L:   Yes
Me No detours?
L:  No detours

Linda did arrive at detox the next day, she looked like, someone who was on the highway to hell. She completed detox, but soon her multiple issues and continued detours led her to her final highway. She died way too young, unable to deal with many issues that she could not even speak about.

Linda’s detours sadly led to her undoing in a permanent way, but many people that I see don’t listen to their internal gps settings. They appear to be on the verge of getting better only to get off of “Healthy Road” and make several turns on to “Self-Defeating Avenue” or “Self-Destructive Boulevard”. These detours tend to last way longer than necessary and ultimately lead to lots of guilt, shame, remorse, and self-loathing. When people drive back and find “Healthy Road” they generally have to clean up the messes they made from their detour. As people start to clean up those messes they begin to ask themselves the following questions:

• Why did I do that?
• What’s wrong with me?
• Why can’t I succeed?
• Am I doomed to always do this?
• Can I be healthier?

When people bring these questions to my office, we need to do some probing for the answers. We need to look at how their detouring behavior is “wired”— that is what causes this behavior? Is it something from their past? Is it a long standing issue with their self –esteem? Is it from some traumatic event that has occurred? There may be hundreds of hypotheses about the reasons this behavior exists and the mechanisms that keep this behavior going. Once we have an idea about why a person may detour, then we need to identify how to change this. This can be a very painful process because some the issues have never been addressed. It takes great courage, patience, and trust to work through the pain.

Linda never got the opportunity to do this. Her detours to hell, ultimately led to her demise. Her fear and shame led her to take her secrets with her to her death.

As we head for the New Year, we can work to stay on “Healthy Road” with frequent turns towards “Self-Improvement Street” and “Feeling Better About Myself Avenue”. Whatever the issues are, they can be identified, and healed. No one needs to keep detouring from the right path.

Change is possible

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Manny Being Manny

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“…grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…”

 

It’s getting close to one of my favorite times of the year–the start of baseball season.  In order to get ready for the upcoming season, it’s important to have a historical perspective.  As a die hard New York Yankee fan, I am going to commit a blasphemous act–I am going to discuss a legendary Boston Red Sox player.  Manny Ramirez was their left fielder for 8 years, and was probably one of the Sox’ most popular player.  He had a knack of saying the wrong things at the wrong time, losing track of the game, and generally being on his own planet.  Redsox fans described this as Manny being Manny.This  video describes many of these Manny being Manny moments:

Wikipedia finishes our Manny Ramirez story:

In 2009 he was suspended 50 games for violating baseball’s drug policy by taking human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a women’s fertility drug.According to steroid dealer Victor Conte, hCG is often used to restart natural testosterone production after a steroid cycle.In the spring of 2011, Ramirez was informed by MLB of another violation to its drug policy, which could result in a 100-game suspension. He chose to retire on April 8 rather than face a 100-game suspension.

You would expect nothing different from Manny since he was a person who played by his own rules.  Although an exciting and charismatic player,  Manny was always being Manny.

In our daily lives, we are unlikely to find a Manny Ramirez.  We will however find people who are difficult to deal with.  When we encounter  these people, we  can  choose to either get upset or  accept them.  Let’s look at  these three vignettes, and answer the question that follows:

Vignette #1

Paul Maxwell is a 60 year old  man who happens to be your father.  Paul has an interesting character trait.  He likes to flirt, and make advances on all of your friends.  (These women are in their 20’s) One of them has described his behavioral eloquently  as being “PaulMaxwelled”.  When Paul Maxwell is your dad you have several choices:

A) Arrange a hit on his life (not a great idea)

B) Kill him yourself(a worse idea)

C) Become terribly depressed, anxious, ashamed, with no self-esteem and feel further victimized by Paul Maxwell

D) Accept that Paul Maxwell is being Paul Maxwell and get therapy for yourself in order to feel better

Vignette 2

Jenny Malone is your new boss.  Jenny is the company hotshot brought in from another state.  She is replacing your best friend who has left the company.  As a employee of the company for the past 10 years, you have given them your blood, sweat and tears.  Jenny decides to change all the things in the department that have worked for the 10 years that you’ve been there.  After massive frustration in dealing with Jenny you decide to:

A)  Punch her in the face(not a great idea)

B) March into the Vice-President’s office, shouting expletives, and describing in full detail her late hour escapades with other employees of the company(not a great idea)

C) Leave the best job that you’ve had with the awareness that you  will never get a job this good again

D) Accept that Jenny Malone is being Jenny Malone and get therapy for yourself in order to  feel better

 Vignette Number 3

Bobby and Janey Duncun  have been married for 5 years.  They have a child, Bobby, Jr who is  6years old.  Bobby Sr. drinks every day.  Sometimes while drunk, he has gotten angry with Janey and called her choice words .  Janey has tried to get Bobby to stop drinking.  She’s thrown out the alcohol, yelled and screamed at him for drinking, negotiated deals with him so that he wouldn’t drink.  She is angry and frustrated and feels unloved. At this point Janey’s best strategy is to:

a)    Continue to nag, scold, beg, cajole, scream in order to get him to stop drinking

b)    Have an affair with very interested neighbor Billy Washington down the street

c)    Take little Bobby and move back home with her  alcoholic parents

d)    Accept that Bobby is being Bobby(while getting therapy and attending Alanon)

The obvious answers to our quiz is “D” in all of these situations. The thing we learn from all of this is that Manny Ramirez, Paul Maxwell, Jenny Malone and Bobby Duncun are starring as themselves– They do what they do in ALL situations.  Manny is just being Manny, Paul is just being Paul, Jenny is just being Jenny, and Bobby is being Bobby.

When we encounter these people our best option is to ACCEPT them and their behavior.  In order to do that we need something that will help us–the serenity prayer:

serenityIf we ACCEPT what we cannot change, which are all other people’s behavior, and change the things we can, which is our reactions to them, then we can have serenity.  3 sentences can give us all the change we need.  Use them regularly and you will feel better.

Remember change is possible.

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