You can improve your communication skills by recognizing these four common mistakes. 1) We talk too much! When we talk about something that is sensitive, personal or difficult, we may talk around the subject. We may avoid being specific, trying to be polite, hoping the other person will somehow pick
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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 17, 2018
Therapist: “Besides angry, how else do you feel when people disrespect you?” Client: “Sad.” Therapist: “Where does that sadness come from?” Client: “It’s always been there.” Therapist: “What’s the worst part?” Client: “Like I don’t count, like I’m not important.” Therapist: “Like you were invisible? Some use anger to get
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 17, 2018
One day a king decided to humble his most trusted servant. He said to him, “There is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to give to the queen for her birthday, which gives you six months to find it.” “If it exists anywhere
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 9, 2018
Clare had a big fight with her boyfriend Tom. She wanted him to come to dinner with her passive aggressive, dysfunctional family. Tom, understandably, did not wish to subject himself to this torment. Tom’s own family was critical and demanding. He had few happy memories of his family growing up.
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 1, 2018
“For me, it didn’t feel like mom was really dying, until I saw her dead.” ”I felt her hand. I touched her face. She had been dead for a few hours.” Guest blogger, Laura Brownstone, LCSW has been a grief therapist for over 15 years. Her mother passed over seven years
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 22, 2018
Anger is a healthy emotion in everybody’s life — when it’s expressed in an appropriate manner at the right time. Anger can help to energize and motivate us to work to address problems with another person or to change our life situation. However, there are potential negative consequences of anger when
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 20, 2018
If we have committed a crime, then it makes sense to feel guilty. The rest of us wallow in guilt that we have not earned and do not deserve. Guilt is the perception that we have done something morally, legally, or ethically wrong. Many of us perceive ourselves as guilty
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 20, 2018
Demeaning women is caused by patriarchy. In a patriarchal structure, men are supposed to be the bread winners (which is seen as more important) and women are supposed to take care of children (which is seen as less-important). To promote gender equality, parents need to deconstruct the propagation of patriarchy.
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 11, 2018
The feeling of alienation is a very painful one. People in pain want to relieve their discomfort. The trouble is that they are not qualified to diagnose the origins of their pain nor to prescribe an appropriate course of treatment. This is not a DIY situation. They will misdiagnose the
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 6, 2018
For as long as America has been a country, men have been king of the hill. However, many men have had difficulty adjusting to relatively recent societal shifts from the increasingly powerful role of women in the workplace to the acceptance of same-sex relationships. With globalization, automation, the decline of
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 2, 2018