Answers at MyShrink...

Refresh for a new look!

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Well, the birthing process took a bit more than than 9 months... but the revamped MyShrink home page - with its very own slider animation and a picture of yours truly - just went live. Come by for a visit.

Too much "self " in self-help?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The self-help phenomenon is as hyper-active as the diet industry. And you've probably already noticed that a new book gets published everyday. You might even agree that some of these books are stars and can help transform old ways of thinking. Yet I question how much lasting personal change is really happening.

Is the self-help approach based on a false premise? Are we even biologically capable of fundamental change on our own, in isolation? Neuroscience just might have the answer.

I know from personal and clinical experience there's a more powerful way to change that's a quantum leap above the old self-help routine. And you'll never guess where it comes from. Watch the MyShrink movie and discover the bright promise of the future of psychotherapy.

Craniosacral for your therapy?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

If this is a therapy site, then why am I talking about bodywork?

I often advise clients to get some bodywork in between sessions. You see, by calming the body, you calm the emotions. And while it can also be the reverse - you can easily trigger the emotions when you're working with the body - many forms of bodywork are ideal. One is craniosacral therapy.

Off to Family Therapy?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

I'm surprised how many of my client's first and only real experience of psychotherapy was with family therapy when they were kids or adolescents. To be honest, I don't think it worked out so well.

Yet, when I was in my doctorate training at a practicum site, I was blown away at the power of family therapy. Done well, it's an amazing way for change to happen. You see, it's all happening in the moment. You have three or four people in a room, all of whom are suffering and strongly motivated to get out of their current circumstance. It can make for some fairly tense moments but remember that it's perhaps the oldest "no-pain, no-gain" of human situations.

So if you're curious how it all works check out an article by family therapist, Corinne Scholtz.

Counseling for transformation?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Therapy has been an inspiration and a life-saver for me personally. And it's not just because I became a calmer person or felt less depressed or anxious. Counseling has much more potential than that.

Cause when you really get what it's capable of doing for you, you realize "wow" my life just keeps getting bigger. So, here's my take on counseling in the 21st Century.

Tapped out by the weekend?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

All week you feel stressed out by work. You're looking forward to the weekend when you can relax and get your personal stuff done. By the time the weekend arrives, however you've no energy to do anything but the minimum. You're tapped out.

Every nervous system regulates energy (stress, excitement etc.) in a cyclical pattern. It makes adjustments in the face of incoming stimulation with a compensatory "letting go" through discharge. This pattern is called the biphasic response and we feel its effects, going up and down all day long.

The problem is that some folks' up-and-down swings are too large. When stress hits them, their nervous system becomes too activated and they experience the stress in a heightened way. When the time comes for the nervous system to let go, it dips too low.

Now, here's the thing. You can modulate those swings. You can train your nervous system in much the same way that you train your muscles in a gym. Amazing eh!

The Blooper Snooper Contest

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The "Blooper Snooper" Contest has arrived. Find bloopers on MyShrink and enter to win a MyShrink Squeeze Ball!

I know what you're thinking...this is a cheap trick to get free editing. Well, you're right!

Enter as often as you wish. We'll host a new contest each month. Get your super snooper in gear and Good luck!

Emotions in little bits?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Does this describe you? You've been thinking all week about your next counseling appointment. You arrive for therapy, plop down and start right in on the latest event in your life. You're worried you won't get it all in.

If so, I have some news for you. Sure it feels good--temporarily--to launch into the "crisis du jour". But it's far more effective to "process as you go", than to cover every detail. In other words, it's in the experience of being in different states and attending to those states that our emotional brain learns new ways of being.

One way to make this process easier is to titrate emotions in little bits. And, amazingly, we'll get farther with less than we will in big, cathartic moments with a puddle on the floor!

Looking for a therapist?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

I was a complete washout at finding a therapist when I first began looking years ago. I mean, how can you choose the 'right' someone when your emotional baggage shapes how you perceive the world? If you habitually expect little from others, chances are you'll expect little of your therapist. It will certainly affect how you choose one, in any case.

And that's exactly what I got - therapists who were more concerned with their techniques than with me. They all needed to fit me into their therapeutic boxes, whether it fit my needs or not.

So bottom line, the more information you can get from a potential therapist up front, the better your odds of finding a good one. One question you might think of asking, for example, is whether your therapist receives on-going supervision.

Counseling supervision for a therapist is all about maintaining and increasing professional competence. The more a therapist stays in a learning mode the better it will be for clients. With ongoing supervision, whether in a peer supervision format or one-on-one, your therapist stays fresh, and hopefully immune from taking clients for granted.

You might find these two sources useful: Allenia's question on finding the right therapist in Emotional Intimacy and Finding a Therapist thread in the Counseling Psych Cafe.

What makes counseling effective?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Here's one part of the "counseling effectiveness" equation that you may find interesting. I was blown away by how large it is.

And while you're at it check out a new feature called the MRV. It tells you what other folks are reading in the last hour. It's also a way to find new content on the site when you're in a surfing mood.