Shame is one of those words that elicits a strong visceral reaction from our body and mind. Probably just reading that one word you may have noticed yourself wanting to stop reading this blog (avoidance) or your stomach cringing (psychosomatic symptom expression). Shame is often associated with feelings and emotions we try to block from …
Both Sides of the Couch
What makes therapy difficult for so many people is this idea that you have to share some of your deepest and darkest secrets to a complete stranger. As someone who has sat both in the chair as the therapist and on the couch as the patient, I can tell you that I sincerely empathize with …
Types of Therapy
For some, going to therapy or counseling is an intimidating, and at times, scary process. We all have schemas of what a therapist’s office looks like or how he or she will act in the first initial encounter. One can imagine that there will be a bookshelf with lots of books on it; perhaps a …
Empathy that Cures
One of the key factors in any successful therapeutic relationship is the ability for the therapist to understand the patient; it is only then authentic safety and healing can occur. Regardless of one’s theoretical orientation or how one comes to understand psychopathology, this key ingredient makes the treatment effective. To gain a better understand of …
The First Session
Psychotherapy has come a long way in relation to restoring one’s humanity and the overall goal of improving one’s person life. From Freud who emphasized unconscious drives related to sex and death to the mindfulness movement that focuses on the here and now of the patient’s experience. Regardless of a clinician’s theoretical background or way …
The Secret Cost of Depression
In my clinical practice I see a wide array of mental health conditions that affect one’s life, but none perhaps is more common than depression. According to the Mayo Clinic, Clinical Depression is defined as, “A mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest.” These words cannot even begin to …
What do People Look for When They Come to therapy?
People have a variety of different experiences and serotypes of what takes place within the therapy hour. An ubiquitous, and perhaps the most dated idea of therapy, is a version of a clinician sitting behind a patient in his or her chair with a note pad and asking, “how does that make you feel?” In …
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Discover What you are Hiding From.
It is embedded in humans that we protect ourselves from both internal and external threats to our homeostatic state. This can be our immune system fighting off a disease or can be a painful memory that we do not think about. People who come to therapy are often looking to relieve a certain type of …
Imposter Syndrome: Do I deserve to be Here?
A lot of the work I do as a therapist is with highly motivated, reflective, intelligent and talented people. These individuals are parents, professors, students, business leaders, writers, and high achievers. Something they often display in the beginning stages of treatment is their own blind spots when it comes to recognizing their own talents and …
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Motivation: The Whip and the Carrot
What motivates you? Or more importantly, how do you motivate yourself to accomplish something you set out to do? Often we think if we are hard on ourselves or just keep pushing through, we will able to finish some objective we set out to do. This idea is the metaphorical whip that we think …
Dr. Alex Rowell- Licensed Clinical Psychologist 