elotz@westsidedbt.com

Are you stuck on an embarrassing comment you made the other day? Or maybe you’re having an imaginary conversation in your head with someone who has been upsetting you. Or, maybe you fumbled at work and you can’t stop thinking about it. Rumination is when we spend time obsessing over negative thoughts, replaying them in

Compassion is a non-judgmental emotion that we practice to ease pain and showgenuine love to one another. Here are 8 ways you can positively impact someone’s day using skills like empathy, patience and understanding. Be considerateBe equally considerate to friends, family and strangers. Listen fully without judgment, and give each person your full attention (no texting, no phone calls, no seeming to be bored!) – use direct eye contact and keep your ears open to their needs.  Be affectionateSometimes all people really need

By Jeremy McAllister, MA, LPCI, Hakomi Experiential Psychotherapy Topic Expert Contributor Trauma dysregulates the body. It moves energy levels away from baseline to extremes of hyperarousal (“too much,” panic, overwhelm) and sometimes hypoarousal (“low,” lethargy, emptiness), not only alternating but sometimes getting stuck in either extreme. When we experience overwhelm in the body, one natural response to this

By Britt Rathbone Interpersonal exchanges can trigger strong emotions. Just as the skills we learn through personal mindfulness practice can help us cope with things that trigger us in our daily lives, those same skills, when applied to our relationships, can be very useful in navigating relationships and building respect between two people. If you

Mindfulness-based interventions, therapeutic approaches grounded in mindfulness, promote the practice as an important part of good physical and mental health. Mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), dialectal behavior therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are some mindfulness-based interventions currently utilized in therapy.  Designed to deliberately focus a person’s attention on the present experience in a way that

By Manuel A. Manotas, PsyD, Mindfulness-Based/Contemplative Approaches Topic Expert Contributor Psychotherapy can be about more than treating symptoms; it can be a path to living a more fulfilling life. People often begin therapy to alleviate symptoms—a worthy goal, to be sure. But perhaps even more compelling is the ability of psychotherapy to help us counter our tendencies to stay

By SAKYONG MIPHAM RINPOCHE A month or two after returning from a trip to Tibet, I ran into Aaron, a physician who had traveled with me. I asked him how it felt to be back in the West. He said that he felt as if he were winding up and getting speedy. I reminded him of

By Joel Wong and Joshua Brown     Evan Kirby/Unsplash With the rise of managed health care, which emphasizes cost-efficiency and brevity, mental health professionals have had to confront this burning question: How can they help clients derive the greatest possible benefit from treatment in the shortest amount of time? Recent evidence suggests that a promising

By MIndfull Staff Laughter is very serious business. Just ask John Cleese, who sings the praises of spontaneous laughter—“he who laughs most, learns best”—and believes “true laughter… destroys any kind of system of dividing people.” The Mayo Clinic is also big on laughing, since it not only “lightens your load mentally, it actually induces physical