Psychology Articles

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – often shortened to CBT, is a directive form of counselling and psychological therapy that focuses on understanding how our thoughts affect our behaviour.  It is based on the belief that feelings result from our thoughts and if dysfunctional or negative, result in conditions like anxiety, depression and related self-destructive action behaviour.

We all experience times when we are worry about something and go over and over it in our minds.  We know how this makes us feel emotionally and in our bodies.  The negativity spreads.  When these associations are so strong or a person’s behaviour is destructive, self-deprecating or simply undermining us having a great life because we feel negative all the time, CBT can help.  If this is what is happening to you, CBT can help you identify your typical thought patterns, challenge them and help you develop new connections.  Thus, new thoughts can be established.  For example, You can be helped to look for solutions rather than saying ‘I have no choice’ or ‘This always happens to me’.  New thoughts can be encouraged such as ‘What do I need to do now to change this?’  ‘How can I look at this differently?’  Asking more positive, solution-focused questions results in a greater sense of emotional wellbeing.  Over time, this will become a more natural way of thinking, resulting in more positive feelings and subsequent actions which serve you more effectively.

Many psychodynamic psychotherapists balk at CBT, believing it to be too technique-driven with scant attention paid to the lived experience of individuals. Constant re-framing of an individual’s thought patterns might be considered by more phenomenologically-oriented therapists to ignore the value of the inter-subjective interaction between psychotherapist and client. The focus on ‘doing something to’ the client’ through re-framing of thoughts and intentions, rather than ‘being something with’ the client, is seen as limiting in helping clients understand their worldview. However, upon closer examination, CBT has associations with more existentially- oriented therapies in that it acknowledges the choice of the individual in creating and changing their worldview. Despite the seemingly, technique-driven approach to re-framing and re-directing a client’s thoughts and therefore feelings and behaviour, it has the potential to empower the individual to see their part in creating their world. Thus, CBT and more existential-phenomenologically-oriented therapies might be closer in orientation than at first assumed. By allowing an individual to sufficiently explore their lived experience and offering pathways to experience change through CBT interventions, clients are empowered to move forward and engage with the possibilities of being and doing something different. That is the role of all psychotherapies; to increase an individual’s choice and wellbeing beyond just acknowledging, experiencing and reflecting on their behaviour.

I often include elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in my work with clients.  I include this within a philosophical way of working based on the belief that life is challenging and we have choice of how to respond – often we deny we have choice or fail to see where it exists.  CBT works well within this because it puts you in the driving seat – you can become the captain of your own mind – and literally ‘You become what you think about’.

Clare Mann, is an existential psychotherapist and psychologist and the author of the “The Myths of Life and The Choices We Have”, an Existential Philosophy-based self-help book . She runs a psychology practice in Sydney Australia Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Systems theory suggests that families are systems in which individuals are interconnected and interdependent on one another. Thus the understanding of an individual can be analyzed by the prevailing reflection of how the individual’s family functions.

In the systems theory, the first of which is that a family is an interconnection of family members. In a family environment, it means that actions by one family member will affect the rest of the members in the family and vice versa. This also suggests that change in one part of the system will reverberate throughout the other parts.

The second feature is that a family is greater than the sum of parts. This means that it would be more accurate to assess an individual by looking at their interactions within the family rather than focusing on the individual’s personality as per se. This is because it is believed that individuals are what they are based on their interactions with family members. The start of society begins in each family unit.

Thirdly, it suggests that a family is in equilibrium. This means that the family will generally resist change in such a manner that if any parts within the family tries to change, the rest of the parts in the system will try to pull the individual back to their original state. This is also true even if the change is something positive. However, despite being resistant to changes, the family also constantly adapting itself to its members and the changing environment.

A system can also be flexible or rigid, depending on the boundaries set within a family. Boundary is also a key element of the family system, there can be both emotional and physical boundaries. For families which are flexible, it means that they are “open” and accepts certain changes. On the other hand, a rigid family means that it does not accept any changes at all. In order for a family to function effectively, members should have flexible boundaries, as the family will be in equilibrium without forcing states of change.

Lastly, the system theory suggests that in a family, there are rules and roles made by the family itself and hence, are unique to each and every family. Rules can be spoken or silent and are self regulating within the family. On the other hand, roles are also present in the family, where each individual plays a part in maintaining the family.

Example

A mother who is a vegetarian can possibly influence her family to be more vegetarian even though the other family members may not by their nature, like to eat vegetables. Normally when there is dinner together the whole family had to eat vegetarian meals with her. Over a period of time, the family members individually may develop a habit to vegetables not because they like it, but rather because they are used to it. In this example, the family has open boundaries which potentially save the family from arguments.

All it takes is perhaps the rest of the family to protest to eating vegetarian meals on a constant basis and the mother may stop becoming a vegetarian due to inconvenience and the fear of domestic arguments. When that happens, it is not the mother who does not have the personality to become a vegetarian but rather is forced by the family to dilute away that part of the personality, in order for the family to function well. This phenomenon can be seen in group think as well whereby a group makes a decision not because everybody is readily in for it but rather maybe two dominant characters decide and the rest of the group consent to it.

Dias Lu is an aspiring entrepreneur who is pursuing his dreams as well as helping others in their quest for their dreams. While not actively pursuing his dreams, he will be practicing his martial arts, reading and writing articles. He believes that everyone has a right to their dreams and that perseverance and helping one another will achieve exactly those dreams.

He continues to blogs and shares his ideas at http://www.diaslu.com

All dreams you see in the same night explain to you exactly the same things but from different points of view, and give importance to other characteristics.

You see around five dreams per night even if you don’t remember them. All these dreams give you the same lesson with different examples, focusing in other matters and showing you all the consequences of your actions.

The unconscious mind is your psychiatrist and teacher. You may ignore this fact, but you indispensably need psychotherapy, even if you believe that you are normal and nothing could ever make you behave in an absurd manner. Unfortunately you inherited a content which could only be named craziness, in the wild part of your conscience. This is your primitive conscience, which is still alive inside you.

It is schizophrenic and it has too much power and energy, like all wild animals. The unconscious mind sends you protective dreams everyday exactly in order to show you how you can tame this absurd part of your brain and transform it into a sensitive and sensible part of your human conscience.

This is why all dreams you see in the same night are like variations of the same pattern, with different scenes but similar messages.

For example, you may see in a dream that you are flying in the air. This means that you are far from the objective reality, lost in your own fantasies, which is quite dangerous because if you don’t examine reality as it is, you will certainly fall into many traps in your way and suffer very much.

Then you see another dream where many people are trying to reach the top of a mountain, but there is too much fog and they never manage to go up.

The people you see are parts of your own personality; the different parts that have different characteristics and are trying to achieve a goal. The top of a mountain is a place that represents victory. When you see in a dream that you are at the top of a mountain this is a very good sign, because it means that you reached a higher level of knowledge with your achievements.

However, in the dream all the people that were trying to go up were unable to, therefore the dream has a negative meaning.

The fog prevents you from seeing everything clearly around you, which means that the parts of your personality that were not able to attain the top are not able to see reality, blinded by many obstacles.

As you can see, the meaning of both dreams is the same: you are far from the objective reality, and you are not able to do what you must, because you cannot see all dangers.

Both dreams are trying to make you understand that your position is very dangerous and you must pay attention to the reality in which you live, otherwise you will have to face many sad experiences.

Write down all the dreams you remember every day, and try to find out what the relationship is between them, because they are all connected.

There is a relationship between the dreams you see in the same night and the dreams you see during certain periods of time, because the unconscious mind gives you lessons gradually, showing you all the existent dangers, all your mistakes, and how you can protect yourself not only from the cruel world, but also from your own wild side.

Christina Sponias continued Carl Jung’s research into the human psyche, discovering the cure for all mental illnesses, and simplifying the scientific method of dream interpretation that teaches you how to exactly translate the meaning of your dreams, so that you can find health, wisdom and happiness.
Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com
Click Here to download a Free Sample of the eBook Dream Interpretation as a Science (86 pages!)

Motor Intelligence

During the first year of your child’s life you will see a change in their actions towards objects. Up to about 8 months sucking on an object is done simply as material for their own actions. From that time forward a child seems to become more curious about objects, looking at them longer, feeling them, exploring their surfaces and edges and turning the object around and around.

Here is a summary of the timeline of various motor intelligence stages:-

For the first 6 weeks of life,the ready-made reflexes of sucking, grasping, swallowing, etc. Basically infants acts first and thinks later.
Then for the next 4 months actions are coordinated into primary circular reactions i.e. habits or routines.
Up to about 9 months infants seek ‘to make interesting sights last’. For example, if an infant notices that waving their arms about makes a string of rattles shake and sound, they will continue waving their arms.
In the last few months of their first year, infants begin to take more notice of the connection between a specific action and a specific effect. They will now actively search for an object when it goes out of sight.
Infants become mobile at 12 to 18 months and as such become active investigators of anything interesting that is going on. Novelty is now sought for its own sake.
Finally between 18 months and 2 years, infants think before they act and are able to think about a sequence of actions in their minds before carrying the action out.

PLAY

In play, assimilation is the most predominant intellectual process since it involves the child taking in information about their environment and modifying it to fit with their own knowledge and experience.

During the motor skills stage of development (0-2 years), the type of play is largely repetitive with the infant attempting to master and control their movements. They explore their environment with all of the available senses and note what effect their behavior has on objects around them.

During the pre-operational stage of intellectual development (approximately 2-7 years) a child enacts make-believe play. At this stage the child can use symbols to stand for things in play – for example, a box can be a boat or a space rocket. Basically, in this type of play the child has the mental ability to change themselves or an object into something else.

Finally the operational stage of intellectual development (7 years onwards). A child’s thinking is now more logical and this is reflected in his play so that games with rules take over from games of make-believe.

If you would like more information on techniques described in this article please explore this Child Psychology Course

Nigel Arding is business owner of a private vocational college, CanAm College located at http://www.canamcollege.com and writes articles in support of the many unique courses available at the college.

When Hollywood casts the right person into the right role you can feel it come through the screen. A movie is a huge success when the right person is placed into the perfect role – the same holds true in other areas of life where Energy Profiling comes into play.

Energy Profiling is a very simple process in which we can categorize people into one of four groups with a simple reference system of referring to Types.

The beauty of Energy Profiling is it does not just look at a person’s personality; it also includes behavior tendencies, thought and feeling processes, body language, and physical features.

The Rachael Ray show is a huge success. Rachael Ray is a dominant Type 1 energy. At a time when there is so much talk about economic uncertainly, terrorism, challenges in families and personal lives, the public is looking to be uplifted and laugh over things that are not too deep and are eager to add more light and fun to their lives. Rachael Ray is the gal that brings that to us every day of the week with her buoyant, radiant nature. Her animation is not an act. Her enthusiasm is legitimate. She truly loves her job and loves putting a smile on your face.

American Idol is very popular and the judges are worldwide celebrities due to the success of this show. Each of these judges provides an example of the four Energy Types.

Paula is a Type 1. She wants everybody to Win! Her comments are always about how great they did, how wonderful they look, how they should never give up, and that they can make it in their careers. She is the consummate cheerleader, emitting a nature of “You can do it!” and “Believe in yourself!”

Randy is a dominant Type 2 with a secondary Type 3. He is the nice guy of the group who attempts to throw in some edginess once in a while, but typically falls back into the nice guy role.

Kara, the new girl on the block, is a dominant Type 3 energy. Kara describes herself as feisty and unpredictable. Kara’s physical features reflect her Type 3 movement with her deeper smile lines, lump of clay nose and exotic, angled eyes. Her bone structure is more angled and chiseled.

There there is Simon. There couldn’t be a more perfect example of a Type 4! You always know where Simon stands and what he really thinks about each performance. He says it like it is. His black and white thought process and keen ability to notice any flaws allow him to quickly assess a performance and give authoritative feedback to the contestant.

Everyone has a dominant Energy Type that does not change in his or her lifetime. When you innately know who you are and you take ownership of this you give yourself permission to be yourself.

Carol Tuttle is an energy psychologist, best-selling author, and very successful speaker. She has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and many television appearances. She and her husband, Jon, reside in Draper, UT with their 5 children. Carol’s book, Remembering Wholeness and It’s Just My Nature can help you to find your true self. Visit her at http://www.myenergyprofile.com Learn about your true nature and who you were truly designed to be! Then learn how to dress, do your makeup, style and color your hair, find your career and live in this true self for the rest of your amazing life.

I’m used to translating a series of dreams from the same dreamer, providing him or her full psychotherapy. I didn’t think this would be possible online though, because there are too many internet users that are curious about the meaning of their dreams: I have to translate their dreams alone without anyone’s help, and the price of my professional dream translation cannot be cheaper than a professional translation from one language to the other, especially due to my responsibility. I give the dreamer advice, really helping him or her solve their personal problems based on the information given by the unconscious mind in their dreams.

I have offered my instant professional dream translation on the internet for those who don’t have time to study dream interpretation according to the scientific method but who have serious problems that no one can solve, or are very curious about the meaning of a dream. I do this in the hope that many people will begin to care about learning how to translate their dreams alone after seeing in practice how helpful this knowledge is, since only one or two dreams are not enough for someone’s psychotherapy, and most people cannot afford paying for a series of translations.

However, I saw in practice since last year, when I started offering this service to the public online, that even by translating only one simple short dream for someone I’m helping many people, and this help is very effective.

There are many short dreams that are revealing, and most people are too ignorant concerning their psychical world. This is why they make too many mistakes in their lives.

Therefore, only by showing them the points of the objective reality that they are despising, and by explaining to them why their thoughts and behaviors are wrong, I’m already helping these people very much.

Many times they don’t agree with me in the beginning, because my advice is based on the vision given to me by the messages contained in their dreams, which may be totally different from what their conscious mind believes, however, as we talk about their lives and their problems, they understand that the unconscious’ guidance is correct, and that my advice is saving them from suffering.

For example, one lady wanted very much to have a second child, but could not become pregnant again after having her first child. When she sent me her dream and I translated it, I had to tell her that she had to forget the idea of having another child, because this wouldn’t be good for her.

Only by analyzing her short dream and a few details about her biography, it became very clear to me why she should not insist on trying to become pregnant again.

She didn’t want to accept this truth though, and we had to exchange many messages with her questions and my answers, until she understood why it was not wise to insist on her plan. In the end she agreed with me, embarrassed for insisting so much on her opinion…

Another example is the case of a dreamer who sent me a short nightmare, irritated because he could not understand why he had such negative dream. He didn’t believe that my translation would be accurate and really helpful, but asked me to translate his dream only because it was a horrible nightmare that left him quite thoughtful.

My translation helped him understand that he could make a very serious mistake that would ruin his entire life.

When he understood from what the translation of his dream saved him, he thanked me many times, abandoning his initially suspicious attitude and becoming very friendly…

Yes, the translation of only one short dream can save you from a lot of trouble, changing completely your life.

Imagine now how many advantages you can have if you learn how to translate alone your own dreams everyday!

Christina Sponias continued Carl Jung’s research into the human psyche, discovering the cure for all mental illnesses, and simplifying the scientific method of dream interpretation that teaches you how to exactly translate the meaning of your dreams, so that you can find health, wisdom and happiness.
Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com
Click Here to download a Free Sample of the eBook Dream Interpretation as a Science (86 pages!).