Posts

Diagnosis: Labeled for Life?

Image
Diagnosis: Labeled for Life? By Anthony Botrus, LMFT In the Information Age, it has become so easy to access content on any topic you can imagine. One of the most helpful and harmful type of information that millions of people look up on a regular basis is medical information. Countless people are googling mental illness information everyday, trying to understand their own behaviors and symptoms or to seek help for their children or loved ones. These are people that suffer in silence and what to know more about the often misunderstood topic of mental illness. They are our family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are searching for resources to help them deal with stress, depression, and anxiety. Unfortunately, even with the incredible volume of information available, mental illness is still stigmatized in the culture at large. When the media showcase irresponsible mental health professionals that claim that certain politicians or public figures are mentally ill or have pe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Appreciating Sorrow?: How Adversity Can Be A Path To Happiness

Image
Appreciating Sorrow?: How Adversity Can Be A Path To Happiness By Anthony Botrus, LMFT Early 20th Century poet, Khalil Gibran, once wrote “Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.” Many readers might be puzzled about the meaning of this. How can you compare sadness to something so benign? Those of us who have struggled with a period of depression, adversity, or hopelessness might be able to see the profundity in these words. Like a garden, life can be full of beauty. It can be peaceful and satisfying, and we often believe that it should be this way all the time. And then...we walk right into a wall. The wall can be that turning point in life where we have lost that sense of peace. Beauty fades and we see nothing but the drab stone of obstacles that block our journey. Depression, anxiety, fear, and loss all give us the sense of despair and hopelessness. We can’t see the beauty of life, only the tragedy. When we become stuck in these uncomfortable emotions, they become ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Positivity

Image
Positivity By Anthony Botrus, LMFT What does it mean to be “positive?” We often think of the idea of being positive in terms of it’s antonym, “negative.” To be negative is to focus on the worst aspects of a particular person, situation, or even life itself. People often have a tendency to gravitate towards a negative bias, and that can cause problems. We can become undesirable to those around us and drain the energy out of a room by constantly pointing out the bad and neglecting to recognize the good. We can also create a detrimental pattern of negative thinking that obscures how we analyze the world around us and makes us less happy. Since we often think of positivity as the opposite of negativity, we can rethink how we see and experience the world by getting into the habit of doing the exact opposite of the natural tendency of leaning toward a negativity bias. We can teach ourselves to correct the errors in our thinking by practicing pointing out the best, rather than the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Self-Medicating: The Link between Depression & Substance Abuse

Self-Medicating: The Link between Depression & Substance Abuse By Premier Forensic Dream Team Member, Anthony Botrus LMFT, with Dr. Alex Avila Originally published in OFFICES OF DR. AVILA: PREMIER FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY EZINE, # 103   on 4/1/17 When faced with a psychological trauma, injury, or stress, our clients often face some form of depression.  A serious form of depression is known as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), in which a client has a period of at least 2 weeks in which they have a depressed mood or the loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities.  When evaluating a client, it is important to determine the extent of his/her depression, and if there are any co-morbid (additional) mental health issues. One of the most common co-occurring disorders for someone who has MDD is Substance Abuse. Research has shown that many of the factors that cause depression may also play a role in the development of addiction. A nationwide study of 43,093 adu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grounding Yourself: Mindfulness & Meditation for Treatment of Victims of Trauma and Stress

Grounding Yourself: Mindfulness & Meditation for Treatment of Victims of Trauma and Stress By Anthony Botrus, LMFT, Evaluator for Dr. Alex Avila’s Premiere Forensic Dream Team Originally published in OFFICES OF DR. AVILA: PREMIER FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY EZINE, # 102   on 2/28/17 As things heat up in the legal world due to recent (proposed) changes, both attorneys and clients are under increased stress and pressure. In our therapy with clients (and attorneys), we use a very valuable technique known as Mindfulness Meditation that can be beneficial in decreasing anxiety and sadness and increasing self-esteem and relaxation. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, instead of being overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. Mindfulness training has been shown to promote cognitive resilience in high-stress patients by curbing attentional lapses over high-dem...
Post a Comment
Read more