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).

Antidepressant Cow

Posted on May 24, 2020

To find out how antidepressant cow works, you will need to read the article linked below. While antidepressant cows will not necessarily work for everyone, the good news is that there are other things– multiple things– that will do the … Continue reading →

Posted in Crisis survival, Depression, Distress tolerance | Leave a comment

Waiting

Posted on April 28, 2020

Many years ago when I was a college student, I went to visit a friend who lived in exurban Connecticut. My friend was the third of that name and was so called “Buddy,” the other names having been used on … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, choices, Crisis survival, Distress tolerance, Emotions, Feelings, Frustration, handling the unexpected | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Managing Health Anxiety

Posted on March 23, 2020

I am staying home like everyone else, surfing media like everyone else, most of it either humorous (my choice) or useless (most news as usual). But I ran across an item from someone who was writing as a self-proclaimed “recovering … Continue reading →

Posted in anxiety, behavioral health, cognitive therapy, Crisis survival, physical health | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Do Therapists Give advice?

Posted on February 29, 2020

I started off as a peer counselor in an outpatient substance abuse treatment program– I had stopped using mind altering substances in an addictive way for over a year and gave lots of advice to people who were trying to … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioral health, change, choices, cognitive therapy, dealing with change, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, mental health, Therapy processes | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A Ten Best List for Any Year

Posted on December 26, 2019

I have continued to be pulled into many things other than posting to this blog, but my New Year’s resolution is to get back to posting. In the mean time, I ran across something from the Center for Greater Good … Continue reading →

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Continue to Eat Right

Posted on October 10, 2019

Sorry to have been away for so long. I just had to come back with yet another study that showed eating a certain kind of diet can help depression. Hint: it isn’t the “day after Halloween” diet plan. One of … Continue reading →

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I’m Alive: Keep It Simple, Care for Self

Posted on August 4, 2019

Sorry for the long absence. When I find a good way to write about it while still maintaining appropriate professional boundaries (a good topic right there) I will. In the mean time, my basic approach is in the title, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments