Place your hand on your chest. Breathe so that you feel your chest moving in and out against your hand. This is chest breathing, a shallow form of breathing that often occurs as a response to stress. Rapid chest breathing quickly gets oxygen to the muscles so you can fight
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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 29, 2019
Have you ever been totally absorbed while reading a book, cooking or watching a movie? Did you zone out to the point you didn’t notice what else was going on around you? If so, you’ve experienced a trance-like state that’s similar to what happens to you during hypnosis. Hypnosis, also
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 29, 2019
Why does anger escalate and damage relationships that did not need to be damaged? Why are some relationships stormier than they need to be? Why is it so hard to be happy these days? The problem is that we all feel vulnerable. Bad things happen to good people. You can
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 23, 2019
Anger is like fire: it cannot survive without fuel. Like fire, unchecked anger can grow out of control and cause enormous damage and pain. But also like fire, anger can be recognized, controlled and managed in our lives. The fuel that keeps anger burning can come from many sources –
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 14, 2019
The Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center, examined 28 mass shootings, which claimed nearly 150 lives and wounded hundreds. Between January and December 2017, 28 incidents of mass shootings, during which three or more persons were harmed, were carried out in public places within the United States. The assessment discovered
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 8, 2019
I had a client named Jack, who couldn’t see why he shouldn’t be “hard” on his wife and kids. It was for their own good. “I’m no harder on them than I am on myself,” he would say. In reality, no good could come of his critical and blaming approach to
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger August 2, 2019
The moment your body perceives a threat, the brain undergoes striking changes. Communication breaks down between the prefrontal cortex, where rational thought and judgment reside, and the amygdala, where fear rules the day. Your brain gets pumped up on hormones like testosterone and noradrenalin and epinephrine. It’s the latter two that pack the real emotional punch. But they
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 24, 2019
We must allow children to experience the consequences of their choices. A consequence is defined simply as “the natural outcomes of behavior”. Consequences teach a valuable lesson: we make a choice/take an action or we do not, either way there is an impact on the outcome of events. Logical consequences
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 24, 2019
Most people are responsible. Some go a step further and are excessively responsible. If someone is sad, those who take excessive responsibility feel it’s their obligation to make them happy. If someone is upset, they feel it’s their responsibility to calm them down. If two people can’t get along, they
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 24, 2019
When you’re learning to manage your anger in a nonaggressive way, the first steps consist of recognizing how anger feels for you, and getting to know the situations that produce it. It’s easier to take these first steps if you can become aware of your anger’s symptoms. Cognitive Signs Cognitive
Read More Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger July 24, 2019