Stanislaus County Social Service News


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Coping with Anger from a Loved One’s Mental Illness

Dr. Aimee Daramus shares her insight and expertise in this guest blog about managing emotions when someone you care about has a mental illness. When you have a loved one with a mental illness, you’re going to have a lot of thoughts and feelings, and you may not feel that

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger January 24, 2020

How to Make Changes in the New Year

When we find the causes of our problems, we don’t find “sick” inner parts; we find old assumptions, old beliefs, old expectations, old commitments, or old goals that we now see as limited. We feel excited about finally finding the inner sources of our problems, and we want to change

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger January 2, 2020

Does Suffering Make You Stronger?

We are surrounded by material things designed to give us the good life, a life of pleasure. We have medications to relieve the suffering of our aches and pains. It is ironic that we still find ways to suffer, to hide from the possibility of happiness. Our possessions are supposed

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger December 27, 2019

Helping Someone Who May Be Suicidal

Guest blogger Aimee Daramus wrote this post to promote awareness of suicide prevention resources. For anyone who feels at risk of hurting themselves or otherwise feels triggered by the holidays, please surround yourself with the safest people you know, on and off-line, but protect yourself from any voices that are mocking you,

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger December 27, 2019

Separating What We Do from Who We Are

In the farthest reaches of the desert there was a city in which all the people were blind. A king and his army were passing through that region, and camped outside the city. The king had with him a great elephant, which he used for heavy work and to frighten

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger December 17, 2019

Understanding Why You Argue with Those You Love

We all have triggers, blind spots, or vulnerabilities that fuel conflict. The best thing we can do is be aware of them, take responsibility for them, and learn how to work with them effectively. We can’t avoid conflict, but we can learn how to handle it better. Rather than viewing

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger December 17, 2019

Do Women Need Anger Management?

Stereotypically, women are thought of as emotional and men as logical, but biology reveals this is false. Curiously, the inverse in true. Researchers have discovered that men have a larger part of their brain devoted to emotional responses and a smaller region for logical thinking than women. This makes sense

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger December 12, 2019

Taking Control Over Your Choices

An old Cherokee chief is teaching his grandson about life. “A fierce fight is going on inside me.” The chief said to the boy. “It is between two wolves. “One wolf is evil. He is guilt, anger, envy, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt and

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger December 8, 2019

Freeing Yourself from a Dsyfunctional Family

Ann came from a wealthy family in the suburbs. Behind the walls of her expensive home, her stock broker father was an abusive drunk. Her mother was a submissive victim. Her older brother was a sadist and her younger brother was a psychopath. As a child, Ann used her innate

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Shared by Aaron Karmin, LCPC, Contributing Blogger November 29, 2019

This Under-Utilized Drug Is Actually Critical for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Many people with clinical depression have tried an array of medication and still feel sick. Maybe they’ve tried different selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Maybe they’ve taken these antidepressants along with an antipsychotic (a common strategy to boost effectiveness). Either way, the lack of

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Shared by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., Contributing Blogger November 27, 2019