Quotes on Therapy

[Daniel E.]

Since I was wondering what Solomon meant by no point of view:

"When you are depressed, the past and the future are absorbed entirely by the present, as in the world of a three-year-old. You can neither remember feeling better nor imagine that you will feel better. Being upset, even profoundly upset, is a temporal experience, whereas depression is atemporal. Depression means that you have no point of view."

- Andrew Solomon

 

[Daniel E.]

When you see your thoughts on paper, you’re more likely to recognize that they’re not all true—maybe they’re too global ("everything is falling apart"), or too dark ("this is the worst day of my life"). Realizing that your thoughts don’t match reality can help bring you back to reality.

- Cassie Shortsleeve, Your 4-Step Guide to Happiness

 

[Daniel E.]

"We may define therapy as a search for value."

- Abraham Maslow

 

[Daniel E.]

"Anything we do that sends the message to the fear instinct that we are not facing a present and immediate threat will cause the fear instinct to back down."

- Mark Tyrrell

 

[Daniel E.]

"All in all, different therapeutic modalities are like the difference between Advil and Tylenol. It's the relationship that heals."

- Anonymous therapist

 

[Daniel E.]

"Our lives are defined by the actions that we choose to take, not by the electrical storm of thoughts that flicker through our minds."

- Dr. Debra Kissen, How to Take the Power Back from Intrusive Thought OCD

 

[Daniel E.]

"To break our addiction to thoughts, we must first realise their impermanent nature."

- Tony Fahkry

 

[Daniel E.]

"...acquire the courage to be imperfect."

- Sophie Lazarsfeld

"We have to realize that we're good enough as we are; we never will be better, regardless of how much more we may know, how much more skill we may acquire, how much status or money or what-have-you. If we can't make peace with ourselves as we are, we never will be able to make peace with ourselves. This requires the courage to be imperfect; requires the realization that "I am no angel, that I am no superhuman, that I make mistakes, that I have faults. But I am pretty good because I don't have to be better than the others" — which is a tremendous relief. . . . If we learn to function — to do our best regardless of what it is — out of the enjoyment of the functioning, we can grow just as well, even better than if we drove ourselves to be perfect."

- Rudolf Dreikurs

https://www.adlerpedia.org/concepts/84

 

[Daniel E.]

 

[Daniel E.]

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."

- Albert Einstein, letter to his son Eduard

 

[David Baxter PhD]

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."

- Albert Einstein, letter to his son Eduard

...and sometimes you may need training wheels until you get used to it.

 

[Daniel E.]

Contrary to the stereotype of lazy people just looking for a handout, living in poverty actually requires a significant amount of self-sufficiency...These clients typically must navigate public transportation and assistance systems and may juggle multiple jobs with child care and other family responsibilities, all of which requires a great deal of planning...

Those affected by poverty may also acquire skills and strengths — including the ability to accept and handle difficult situations and live in the moment as needed — that aren’t readily apparent to most casual observers.

Stepping across the poverty line - Counseling Today

 

[David Baxter PhD]

That stereotype has never been accurate in any country for the majority. I suppose there will always be a few who are content to exist on welfare and don't want to work to change that but that is seriously a myth for most people living in poverty and/or on welfare or disability.

It makes me angry to see that myth perpetuated so frequently by the extreme right and by politicians pandering to the extreme right. We have that going on right now in Ontario by our new mini-Trump Conservative provincial premier, Ford. He is canceling any and all social welfare, progressive environmental, and human rights programs as fast as he can with no plan yet for replacing them with anything better, if they get replaced at all. Like Trump, he is also railing against immigration and accepting refugees, although thankfully that's a Federal matter so he can't change policies there unilaterally.

 

[Daniel E.]

"What do I want?" and "How do I feel?": Most therapy sessions boil down to these two essential questions. They can serve as a "home base" for you during sessions. If you reach a moment where you feel stuck and don't know what to say, you can always come back to these questions.

- Ryan Howes

 

[David Baxter PhD]

@Ryan Howes is a member here, although it's been a while since he posted.

 

[Daniel E.]

He's always up to something. Probably busy promoting for National Psychotherapy Day on Sept. 25th.

national psychotherapy day | 9.25.18

 

[Daniel E.]

From Ryan Howes' interview with David Burns:

[David Burns:] I ask patients to describe a specific moment when they felt upset, a moment they want help with. It can any moment, and any type of problem, but it has to be real and specific as to person, place, and time. A vague complaint, like the young woman who said, "Life stinks," isn't very useful. I might have to ask, "Where were you when you noticed the smell? What was going on?"

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-therapy/200901/seven-questions-david-d-burns

 

[Daniel E.]

Answer to Reassurance Seeking/Self Reassurance/Uncertainty | The Grayson LA Treatment Center for Anxiety OCD

Why would you want to cope with your worst possibility taking place? Because trying to not have it happen is robbing you of life. If it does happen, you will have lost the precious little time you have. If it never happens, you will have lost all. In life, the past is nothing but memory, the future nothing but hope and all we have is now. The goal of acceptance is to learn to enjoy the only thing we can have, the moment.

 

[Daniel E.]

"The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity."

"The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers."

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."

"Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality."

- Erich Fromm

 

[Daniel E.]

[Solution-Focused Brief Therapy] can be seen as a form of cognitive behavior therapy. Instead of reducing problems, the solution-focused question is: ‘What would you rather have instead?’

~ Fredrike Bannink