The Art and science of living well blog

Pain and values: two sides of the same coin

 “Where there is love there is pain” –Spanish Proverb

 

I’ve known and lived with many amazing dogs and cats in my life. Each animal I’ve known has been special and wonderful in their own way. But then there is Dalai. She is my lifetime dog. When we adopted that scared little dog all those years ago, I could never have imagined how she would change my life. She’s the canine version of my soul mate.

 

The problem is Dalai is growing old

Dalai

We’ve shared many, many years together, and unfortunately the fact of nature is that our canine companions’ time on this earth is way too short. Dalai (pictured to right) is somewhere between 16 and 18 years old now. Gone are the days when we would end our early morning walks by chasing each other outside of the ...

posted in inspiration | values

A Call for More Services for Families with Loved Ones with Serious Mental Illness

With all the talk about healthcare reform and budget cuts to healthcare programs, my colleague, Jerome Yoman, PhD, and I were inspired to write an editorial about the need for more family services for The Oregonian, our local newspaper. We just found out that the editorial was published in the April 10, 2012 edition!

 

You can read the editorial by clicking on the linked title below:

 

Plans for Treating Mental Illness Should Encourage Family Involvement

posted in addiction | schizophrenia

What Questions to Ask When Looking into Addiction Treatment

In late February the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a government agency dedicated to studying addiction, published a free resource on what to ask when looking into addiction treatment programs. This short booklet, which can be viewed online or downloaded for free, lists 5 questions to ask any addiction treatment provider you are considering seeing and offers the reasons why it is important to ask these particular 5 questions. As part of the description of their reasoning the booklet’s authors provide useful information about the types of available addiction treatments, as well as the important elements of effective addiction treatments. In looking over the booklet I began to think about additional questions that might be helpful to ask when pursuing addiction treatment. In no particular order, here are:

 ...

posted in addiction

The myth of security-- Embracing vulnerability, uncertainty, and ambiguity in our relationships and in our world

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. “– Helen Keller

Something many of us yearn for in our relationships is a sense of security. We long to feel certain and secure in our relationships, to feel like no matter what, we will not be hurt in this love.  Where there’s doubt or insecurity, we view it as a sign that something is wrong—that something needs to be fixed.

 

And our desire for security extends beyond our intimate relationships. On all levels, our world appears to be increasingly focused on trying to ensure we won’t be hurt. Our federal government even has an entire cabinet department dedicated to trying to help us feel secure—Department of Homeland...

Help! How Do I find Resources for My Loved One with an Addiction?

Recently a colleague alerted me to an article in the Chicago Tribune about CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training). A few months back I wrote a blog post about CRAFT that described the research support and basic ideas of the treatment. Briefly, CRAFT teaches family members with loved ones with addictions how to non-confrontationally change their loved one’s substance use. Additionally, CRAFT helps family members learn skills to improve the quality of their lives by breaking free of the cycle of their loved one’s addiction.

 

First, I think it’s awesome that CRAFT is getting noticed by the mainstream press and that people may learn about the treatment and, as a result, get help for themselves. The article...

posted in addiction

Exposure Therapy on TV – “My Extreme Animal Phobia”

Not long ago my girlfriend stumbled across a YouTube video from Animal Planet’s show “My Extreme Animal Phobia.” It features a segment from the show involving a tough-looking, heavily tattooed man who is terrified of pit bulls. The fear is so intense the man breaks down in tears when a psychologist takes him to a park and confronts him with a pit bull puppy.

 

Since then, I continue to see the video pop up in unexpected places and thought I’d comment on it.

 

What Kind of Therapy is THAT?!

The man’s name is Marvin. He’s 47 years old, and according to his interview, he’s been terrified of pit bulls since he was a young child and he watched a neighbor friend viciously attacked.

 

The man in the video received some form of what’s called...

Is K Okay? Using Ketamine to Treat Depression

There’ve been some articles on the National Public Radio (NPR) website about the use of the drug ketamine as a fast acting treatment for depression (See here and here). Originally developed as an anesthetic, ketamine is better known to the public as the club drug Special K. Beginning with a study published in 2006 from a group of researchers with the National Institute of Health (NIH), ketamine has been explored as possible treatment for depression, and researchers are currently looking for chemically similar alternatives to ketamine with less potential for abuse.

 

A shortcoming for current antidepressants such as a Prozac is that it...

posted in depression | medications

Can Light in the Ears Cure the Winter Blues or Do You Need a Hole in Your Head?

Here in Portland, seasonal depression, commonly called the Winter Blues or Seasonal Affective Disorder, is relatively common. Up to 20% of the population in the rainy Pacific Northwest may be impacted. I’ve written more extensively in another blog about the Winter Blues and how light boxes are an effective treatment. Unfortunately, as my colleague Jason Luoma has written, there are a number of sham treatments for the Winter Blues. I learned about what appears to be a new one on a psychologist listserv recently.

 

It’s not available in the U.S. yet, but a Finnish company is marketing a new device called “Valkee.” It looks like an iPod, except instead of digital music, the headphones shine light into your ear. Yes, that’s right, the Valkee has small ear buds that shine light into your ear...

posted in light therapy | sad

Less is More: Improving your relationship with the “less stuff, more experiences” strategy

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

Hans Hofmann

Oversaturated. That’s how it can feel once the holidays have ended. And now that the last gift has been unwrapped, the last big meal cooked, and the relatives have gone back home, you might want to ask yourself this question… “What, of all of that, helped me be more of the person I want to be and helped me have the kind of meaningful relationships I want to have?” Did that one extra present you raced around to get really bring you and your loved one closer? Did that pricey bottle of bubbly you bought bring lasting happiness as you ushered in a new year? When you look back on it all, what is it that you’ll remember from the holidays?

 

I know for me, I’ll remember my little niece climbing into the small bed in the tiny cottage we rented at the...

posted in relationships

Home for the holidays—Tips for surviving the holidays with relationships intact.

 

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

                          --- Dr. Seuss

 

The winter holidays are quickly approaching. For many, it’s a time of celebration and excitement. And, for many, it’s also a time of stress and pressure that can take a toll on us and our relationships. There’s party schedules to be juggled, travel...

posted in holidays | relationships