Until recently, in our society, we seemed to equate getting older and retiring as slowing down. We expected that as a person would age, they would slow down, sleep more, go into retirement and just fade into the background. That is not the reality today. Seniors are living longer, are in better health, and seem to be able to conquer …
Depression: Is it Really a Disease?
Melancholia, the word written in the engraving by Durer shown here (1514), is an old name for what we now call Depression. The word originates from the Greek, meaning “Black bile”. People thought that this “bile” was the bodily cause of depressive states. But bile was not the only supposed cause of this mysterious disease (Disease is from the old …
It's 2015, Where's My Happiness?
There’s plenty to say about Freud’s mistakes. He was as faulty and confused a pioneer as any. We do, of course, also owe him a great debt, and do not dismiss the totality of him lightly. One of his better works, brilliant in many ways, is “Civilization and its Discontents”. Written in 1930, it is as relevant today as it …
Robin Williams: Genius and Depression from the Same Well?
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychologically-minded/201408/robin-williams-genius-and-depression-the-same-well
How to Choose a Therapist
Look for understanding, not hype Published on September 30, 2013 by Jonathan Shedler, PhD in Psychologically Minded www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychologically-minded/201309/how-choose-therapist
1 in 3 Canadians suffered some form of child abuse; linked to mental disorders
http://www.canada.com/health/Canadians+suffered+some+form+child+abuse+linked+mental+disorders/9763094/story.html
Anxiety and Momentum
We live in a world of quick “fixes”. Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with who you are in the world, real change is usually quite gradual. That is not to say that we don’t have epiphanies, realizations, surprising moments in the process of change: the clock ticks after all, but movement (when we notice real difference in the hour …
Demystifying Therapy
A few months ago, Toronto psychotherapists had a booth at a large trade show in Toronto; thousands of people attend this particular venue. What I found, and this has astonished me ever since we exhibited, is that many people have very black and white ideas about therapy. There were people who saw our banner, and reacted with “I’m not crazy, …