Answers at MyShrink...

Were you dumped by your therapist?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Therapists have a duty to avoid abandoning their clients. When I read Harold's story, I was aghast by the heartless treatment he received. Disappearing therapists are a no go!

Countertransference is part of the therapy business. It is up to the therapist to make sure that their own issues do not interfere with the client's work.

The tragedy is that this can be a bit of a slippery slope. Some therapists are overinvested in their "expertise" :-(

The good news is that others are skilled at checking in around the impact of their words and how things are going for you in the session. In this case, everything is up for conversation.

Sadly, clients tend to make it all about themselves rather than the therapist's own stuff (We're actually wired for this survival pattern.). Personalizing puts them at further risk of relapse or recycling old patterns aka triggers.

Ironically, that's what often brings us to therapy...we have a hard time advocating for ourselves.

Can we learn from childhood emotional meltdowns?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

You may have heard that everything we need to know in life is learned in kindergarten. And it's true. We can learn a lot about ourselves and what we need from the mouths of babes. Be kind. Listen. Play fair. However, there's much more and it has to do with how the brain learns in childhood.

These lessons play forward in so many ways as we enter into adulthood. I invite you to listen deeply into my conversation with Kathy. Our youngest teachers illustrate fundamental truths about the nature of our social brain.

...because it's all about connection!

Hugs in Therapy?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

It's been my experience that no subject strikes more fear in therapists' minds than the idea of physical contact in psychotherapy.

Sadly, few therapists are even familiar with the concept of therapeutic touch. There's virtually no standard training and the guidelines that exist are so intimidating that they easily discourage most therapists who would otherwise consider using touch therapeutically.

And what does therapeutic touch entail? Everyone imagines the worse. Is it shaking hands? Giving a routine hug at the end of a session? Is it a gentle holding during an intense emotional episode?

Yet, neuroscience reveals that the development of our lifelong emotional patterning is deeply impacted by physical contact in our earliest years.

Can we change fundamental aspects of our emotions without the use of touch? Should therapists be trained in the use of touch?

Will the day come when it'd be unethical not to be so trained?

Join the conversation. Click here to get the FREE podcast.

Free Shrinklady Teleseminar

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Every week visitors to MyShrink send me their most important question concerning issues related to being in therapy. So over the past several months, I collected a representative sample and included them for a special Teleseminar called, "Making Wise Therapeutic Choices".

Dr. Carole - MyShrink's resident therapy expert - joined me in covering 18 critical questions related to therapy. You can get the replay absolutely FREE.

Here's some of the issues that we touched on: Whether touch is appropriate in therapy; what happens if your therapist has poor boundaries; should therapists create transference on purpose; how do you open up to your therapist...and several more.

To hear the podcast and to learn more, click here Be an Active Participant in Your Psychotherapy.

Chronic Pain Blues?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Neuroscience has taught us a lot about the pain cycle and how it gets entrenched in the nervous system. Untold millions suffer the effects of a normal pain system gone awry, their lives truncated to the minimal.

So, how do you interrupt the pain cycle?

In this article, Erika Moore - MyShrink's resident Mind Body guru - explains how to avoid the "traumatic replay" and take "listening" to a new level.

It's an exciting look at the mind body connection in action!

Having an emotional meltdown?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

If you've ever been a student - and most of us have been - you've probably encountered this problem. You've got papers to write or exams to complete and your mind just isn't "with the program". You literally can't put two thoughts together, everthing's overwhelming and doing the laundry feels like a duty of epic proportion.

It could be a relationship problem, a family issue or a crisis in self-esteem. You feel like you're unravelling at the core...and you can't fathom an end in sight.

Here's how counseling can help ease off the torment of an emotional meltdown in ways you've possibly never considered. In fact, most people totally underestimate the value of how counseling sharpens the brain and soothes the soul.

The Brain Coaching Program is Live!

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Folks really identify with the idea of "cycling in and out the freeze and crisis modes". I know how it is - I lived that way almost all my life until I was pointed in the right direction. I explain all about it in one of my movies, "It's an Inside Job".

I can't tell you how much it has meant to have my life back...to finally feel like "myself". And as time goes on and I continue to grow, it just get's better.

That's why I feel so confident about offering my Brain Coaching Program (BCP). It outlines all the steps you need to take to restore your nervous system to health, to manage stress and your emotions in a balanced, natural way.

The BCP is totally unlike anything you've seen before. The principles discussed in the Program are based on cutting-edge neuroscience. Their effective application in hundreds of hours of clinical practice is leading more and more therapists to adopt them as the basis of their practice. Why? Because it's a faster, more effective way to change ourselves.

I'm opening the doors of my Brain Coaching Program for a limited time only. That's because some features of the Program are time-sensitive. So, if you think you might be interested - or even just a little curious, check it out here. It's literally a guaranteed No-Risk proposition.

Is your therapy over the top?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Does it take a whole week to pull yourself together after your therapy session?

It's possible you're going too far outside your zone of comfort. That seems to be the case for many folks who watched "It's an Inside Job".

Check out the first movie of the Brain-Wise Series and see what everyone's talking about.

Psychotherapy not going deep enough?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

You know, if you've been working on an emotional issue for what seems like eons and there's no end in sight, you migt consider what holistic massage therapy can do for you. I've been using body work to complement to my therapy for years, and I can't imagine doing without it.

Because of the way the brain develops and the way our emotions are wired in the first few years of life, it's sometimes hard to get "deep" enough in therapy. This is particularly the case with what are ordinarily called "talk therapies".

So I always recommend that clients consider body work. I've seen clients get some amazing results in their therapy work using an holistic approach such as this.

A while back I had the chance to interview Erika Moore who offers a mind body and holistic approach to massage therapy. Listen in as I interview Erika Moore on her unique approach.

By the way, Erika has offered to be one of our experts. So feel free to ask her a question. Scroll down to find the submission box.

Considering family therapy?

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Juggling the "air-time" needs of three or four people in a consultation room was certainly a daunting task for me during my early training in family therapy. So much so, I decided I wasn't cut out for it. And since that time, I have always been a little in awe of family therapists.

Corinne Scholtz MFT, one of our contributing authors, is an enthusiastic family therapist. And she's ready to jump in and answer your questions. She recently posted a couple more replies that illustrate how family therapists view the issues that bring families to therapy.

It's so interesting. Family therapists have such a unique perspective on presenting problems. I can certainly appreciate why they feel their systemic model could equally be applied to understanding organizational dynamics. But I'll let you decide.