Monthly Archives: May 2013

Memorial Day

Posted on May 28, 2013 by jamesmatter

To those who’ve been so generous as to follow me, I apologize for being offline due to technical problems, as well as, quite frankly, having taken the holiday weekend COMPLETELY off, which I recommend for mental health reasons to anyone. … Continue reading →

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Might as Well Screw Up

Posted on May 24, 2013 by jamesmatter

I remember back when John Bradshaw was all the rage– Healing the Shame that Binds You, and so on. He  got to be one of those speakers that they put on Public TV during pledge. One of the things that … Continue reading →

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Happy, Shmappy

Posted on May 20, 2013 by jamesmatter

I just read a guy’s post from LinkedIn, where he quoted a lot of the research on happiness. The results are much as you’ve heard in folk sayings– wake up and smell the coffee, stop and smell the roses, happiness … Continue reading →

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Smile– with your eyes

Posted on May 16, 2013 by jamesmatter

I was at a training not long ago, and the trainer told a tangential story. When he was in graduate school for psychology, he and a few of his fellow students decided to do a little behaviorist prank. It wasn’t … Continue reading →

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The most sophisticated defense

Posted on May 15, 2013 by jamesmatter

It is said that humor is the most sophisticated defense. I would also like to suggest that we use the term coping mechanism rather than defense. I think we can link it to a lot of other things, but the … Continue reading →

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Recovery Choices

Posted on May 14, 2013 by jamesmatter

In the last post, I gave my burning building scenario of choice, which applies to lots of situations in life. All choices basically boil down to one of three kinds: 1) choices among possible good outcomes– do I want my … Continue reading →

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House on fire choices

Posted on May 10, 2013 by jamesmatter

There’s good news, and there’s bad news…. The good news is, we get to choose, no matter what. The bad news is, we have to choose, no matter what.  In a previous post I related the phenomenon of really clear … Continue reading →

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Mindfulness & cognitive therapy

Posted on May 9, 2013 by jamesmatter

One of the cognitive distortions that we’re encouraged to spot and re-think when using cognitive therapy techniques is the “should” statement– ” I should feel better,” “They shouldn’t treat me like that,” and others of that type. In rephrasing something, the goal … Continue reading →

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“I like it TOO much”

Posted on May 5, 2013 by jamesmatter

The pictures on my web site are pictures of places I’ve been. I love backpacking and mountain climbing. One year I went with my regular backpacking buddy and an old friend of his from back in Western Massachusetts where they … Continue reading →

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“Behavioral” versus “mental” health

Posted on May 3, 2013 by jamesmatter

In the last post I talked about shorter term versus longer term therapy. The short term version is about fixing particular problems in coping as opposed to the longer term “inner voyage” kind of therapy. Perhaps considerations like this are … Continue reading →

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