Don E. Gibbons, Ph.D., NJ Licensed Psychologist #03513
This Blog is published for information and educational purposes only. No warranty, expressed or implied, is furnished with respect to the material contained in this Blog. The reader is urged to consult with his/her physician or a duly licensed mental health professional with respect to the treatment of any medical or psychological condition.

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Sunday, December 24, 2017

Defeating Obsessive or Racing Thoughts

Behind all humor there is frequently a grain of truth. I occasionally tell my clients that If their mind leads them in unwanted directions, picture a stop sign and try the following technique of thought stopping, and then go back to  the auto suggestions they were using originally.





My co-author Kelley Woods suggests the following:

"A bit gentler technique comes from mindfulnesss meditation,Imagining those thoughts as like leaves...drifting from a tree...into a gently flowing stream of water...going to wherever thoughts go when we don't need them anymore.
If more is needed, we can focus on the colors, shapes, smells, sounds, textures and even count those damn leaves!
If even more is needed, I may ask a client, "What would you like to do with those leaves?" I've received some novel suggestions!"

Whether you are trying to fight intrusive thoughts during hypnosis, or when you are trying to go to sleep, or if you are obsessing over a lost relationship, the harder you try to fight such thoughts the more power they have over you. The author of one book on intrusive thoughts put it this way. Try to go for five minutes without thinking of a carrot. Don't think of carrots in a salad, don't think of carrot juice -- and especially, don't think of Bugs Bunny! See how far you get!

Thought stopping will often be effective when you can replace the brief interlude of quiet it provides to turn to more pleasant alternatives as you lose yourself in hypnosis, or in sleep, or in your daily activities, and it is used for such purposes in cognitive-behavioral therapy. But if it doesn't work for you, then stop it and use Kelley's technique!


Friday, December 22, 2017

Friday, December 8, 2017

Surviving Rape, Emotional, and Sexual Trauma




This tape and those which follow at the end of it feature survivors of sexual abuse, rape, and other forms of emotional trauma. Painful as they are, it is useful to hear these stories first-hand from survivors themselves, not only for tither survivors, but also for parents, friends, and relatives of people who have undergone this type of abuse, in order to help to better understand how to deal with it constructively.




When there is adequate family support, survival and recovery are much easier. In the following tape, Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped and held prisoner for several years, tells the story of her ordeal and her recovery from it..



See also the following book, which is available here as a pdf file at no cost:

A Parent's Gide to Helping a Daughter Who Has Been Raped