Author Archives: jamesmatter

About jamesmatter

Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) in private practice in San Francisco. I work with adults, adolescents, and couples, with focus on substance use and abuse and co-occurring disorders (having both a mental illness and an addiction).

Pay Attention When I’m Talking to Me!

Posted on September 17, 2018

Just want to follow up on the last post, because I met with a client earlier a couple of weeks ago who specifically wanted to start working in a cognitive way. The hardest part of doing cognitive therapy, I’ve found, … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, change, cognitive therapy, mental health | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Power Tool Safety

Posted on August 20, 2018

A theme that I come back to again and again in my work with clients is that one’s mind is powerful. My joke about that is that you need to use such a powerful tool safely. Another thing to keep … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, cognitive therapy, mindfulness, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Life You Save May Be Your Own

Posted on July 11, 2018

My apologies to those who have been waiting. Someone who I see personally reminded me that I hadn’t posted anything for quite some time, and I reiterated that I first started this with the avowed intention of creating only original … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, Depression, Distress tolerance, Emotions, Grief, mental health, suicide, Suicide prevention | Tagged | Leave a comment

May Is Mental Health Awareness Month

Posted on May 18, 2018

Just wanted to give that shout out to Mental Health Awareness Month before it’s over. Before looking it up, I didn’t know that it has been going on in one form or another since 1949 . This year the theme … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, mental health, mental health awareness month, physical health, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Anger…

Posted on May 1, 2018

…is not necessarily bad. The two best things I try to remember about anger come from the Seeking Safety book and from a training I attended some years ago on facilitating anger management groups (which tend to be mostly mandated … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, mental health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Grief and Depression…

Posted on March 24, 2018

Are not the same. I remember a client once saying that she had broken up a longstanding relationship and her parents were worried about her becoming depressed. She was, in fact, on antidepressant medication and had been having problems. However … Continue reading →

Posted in Depression, Emotions, Feelings, Grief, Sadness, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Therapists Are Not Thought Police

Posted on February 26, 2018

After yet another school shooting, some conservatives  are calling for better mental health care. What they really mean is that mental health providers should be on the lookout for potential shooters & should then intervene to prevent them. Consider this … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, mental health, Violence | Tagged , , | Leave a comment