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But there’s no room for emotions inside this white coat
Published in Barry Bub, Communication Skills that Heal, 2020
The more your emotions become yours, the less likely you are to project them onto others. You can only know how you feel; you cannot assume to know how others feel. Take a few minutes to ask yourself the following questions. Do I welcome my feelings as an aid to my relationship with myself and others or do I experience them as getting in the way?Do I judge and label my emotions as being good or bad, positive or negative?Do I only have an inner critic or do I also have an inner supporter?Do I acknowledge the need for compassion for myself, or do I displace it onto others?
Treatment for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: Navigating the Transition Through Depression and Menstrual Cycles
Published in Laura H. Choate, Depression in Girls and Women Across the Lifespan, 2019
Incorporating and extending from the mindfulness literature, self-compassion is a research-based concept that might be helpful to women with PMDD, as it has been demonstrated to foster resilience by moderating an individual’s reactions to negative events (Germer & Neff, 2013). Neff operationalized self-compassion (broadly defined as compassion turned inward) as comprised of three elements: (1) self-kindness (e.g., being warm and understanding to ourselves in a moment when we are suffering rather than engaging in self-criticism); (2) common humanity (e.g., taking a broader perspective, remembering that we are not alone in our pain); and (3) mindfulness (e.g., becoming aware of and tuning in to painful thoughts and emotions without suppression or avoidance) (Neff, 2011). Formal Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) training involves an eight-week group practice in the areas of self-compassion meditation, mindfulness training, and distinguishing one’s “compassionate self” from our “inner critic” (Germer, 2009). While no direct applications have yet been applied to PMDD treatment, it follows that learning to practice self-compassion in moments of psychological or physical PMDD-related pain will help clients in accepting any situation as it is, and rather than fighting or blaming themselves for symptoms, they can ask, “What do I need to take care of myself right now?” “What is the most compassionate response I can take?” “Given that I am in pain right now, how can I comfort myself the best I can?” See Box 3.7 for some highlights from Candice’s PMDD care plan she developed with her therapist.
Dealing with psychological issues
Published in Cate Howell, Keeping the Blues Away, 2018
A technique that has proved useful over many years in clinical practice comes from a book by Hillman (1992) called Recovery of Your Self-Esteem. This technique involves three steps. Recognise your positive points and strengths by making a list of ‘What I like about myself: my positive points’. Reflect on this list and add to it over time; maybe ask others for ideas. Read the list regularly and acknowledge your positive points. Contemplate them when you meditate.Recognise the ‘inner critic’ or the inner negative voice and make a list of ‘Things I do not like about myself: negative points’. Consider whose voice is being critical – has the criticism been internalised from other people?Then reassess these negative things and be fairer on yourself. Are the statements too critical? Can they be re-worded so they are less harsh? Try reframing the statements into goals – an example would be ‘I tend to be quiet in front of others, but I am working on talking with people more’. Remember that our positives and negatives can be like two sides of a coin. A strength, such as being determined, can also be a negative at times – determination might be interpreted as stubbornness. Reinforce your strengths with positive self-talk such as ‘This is a strength’ and ‘I can manage this’.
Introducing compassion focused psychosexual therapy
Published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2023
Jane Vosper, Chris Irons, Kathy Mackenzie-White, Felicity Saunders, Rebecca Lewis, Stuart Gibson
Future exploration of CFT for psychosexual problems could also consider some of the complexities around experiences of compassion and self-criticism for some people. For some people compassion from others can be experienced as unfamiliar or even aversive (potentially due to childhood adversity; Gilbert, 2010). For these individuals, a compassionate stance from a practitioner and/or encouragement to build on compassion may be extremely difficult. Some people can find it very difficult to give up their inner critic, as they may have found it protective (albeit with unintended consequences) (Lawrence & Lee, 2014). Typically a CFT approach would work in a medium term way with people, gradually exploring and building compassion and giving time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of compassion (e.g. Kolts & Gilbert, 2018). For psychosexual therapists introducing CFT to clients, this potential should be acknowledged and considered in supervision.
Efficacy of two-way prayer meditation in improving the psychospiritual well-being of people with substance use disorders: A pilot randomized controlled trial
Published in Substance Abuse, 2021
Audrey Hang Hai, Bill Wigmore, Cynthia Franklin, Clayton Shorkey, Kirk von Sternberg, Allan Hugh Cole, Diana M. DiNitto
The present study’s hypotheses were informed by the only existing study on TWPM, which found that practicing TWPM was associated with an increase in some dimensions of spirituality and positive self-appraisal among a sample of youth engaged in a peer-support recovery group for substance use disorders and their parents.26 In this previous study, most participants acknowledged having “heard an addict’s voice” in themselves speaking words that coaxed them to relapse to substance use. They also identified an “inner critic voice” that often judged them severely and thus caused psychological distress resulting in a desire to use substances to cope.26 Practicing TWPM may help those in recovery find a positive and loving inner voice, and as a result, overcome self-defeating inner voices as well as the psychological distress they cause. Therefore, this study hypothesized that practicing TWPM will be associated with (1) lower psychological distress, (2) higher self-esteem, and (3) higher spiritual well-being.
Shame and the Developmental Antecedents of Enduring, Self-Critical Mental States: A Discussion and Some Speculations
Published in Psychiatry, 2020
We can make use of Trumbull’s astute observations about acute shame as a traumatic stress, replete with unacknowledged self-state experience, to open a window where the reader can notice the presence of chronically shame-laden states of being, self-states. These underly many presentations of severe depressions and other diagnostic categories where relentless self-criticism or the experience of an inner self-critical commentary may signify the presence of self-state activity. Not all self-state activity is about the complexity of DID. Not everybody with an inner-critic also has depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration typical of DID (Steinberg, 1993). If clinicians relegate thinking about self-state activity only as an outlier of extreme dissociative experience, then the clinical utility of recognizing the activity of self-states grows fallow. It behooves clinicians of any stripe to recognize the advantages that a multiple self-state psychology may provide for understanding the cumulative effect of repetitive states of acute shame in the treatment of chronic shame and associated shame-laden states of being. These may be experienced as having a kind of “mind of their own,” an additional internal sense of agency that is highly self-critical and predicts relentlessly brutal and debilitating experiences of chronic shame.