By: Dennis Gowin. LMHC NBCC and Cheryl Gowin

Click here to contact Dennis and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

Many of us have times when we feel out of control and unsteady. The problem is to determine how we got there – stuck – in the first place and then to find the solution to getting out of the pattern – or unstuck.

So how do we get stuck? (more…)

By: Cynthia Peikoff, LCSW

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Are you feeling like a rat caught up in the rat race?

As a counselor I see clients in my office for one hour of their busy lives per week. They come to me with worries, dilemmas, in moods of all type. What amazes me about them is how accomplished and hard working they are. Most enjoy their chosen work. Many have lovely homes in beautiful Orange County, California. A lot of them workout regularly. On weekends, their productivity continues by taking care of shopping, cooking, cleaning, making house repairs or driving to Costco to save money buying in bulk. (more…)

By: Imam Arthur L. Farahkhan

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Dear Honored Guest,

Thank you for reading these few words about gang violence. It seems that we are hearing a lot in the media recently about gang violence, and that is why we are writing this newsletter. We have asked a question of gang members for many years. This question is, “ why don’t you get along with each other”? The overwhelming answer is, “yall don’t get along “. (more…)

By: Lynne Angela Santiago, MS, LMHC, Certified Sex Therapist

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To live authentically means to be the author of ones own life, to live based on one’s own truths about self, honoring your true nature and expressing it to the world.

For many of us, this is our life challenge. Influenced by the should and the should nots of our external world, we may make life decisions that are not really in congruence with our true self. Careers, relationships, life styles, religious and political beliefs, are just a few of the things we may choose to own, in an effort to gain approval from others or keep the boat of life steady. Yet they may be choices made and lived that do not truly reflect our inner being. (more…)

By: Mary Ellen Barnes, Ph.D.

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Effective help with alcohol abuse and dependence is hard to come by, despite large numbers of treatment programs. The problem is that a majority of these programs have grown from a single - and ineffective – male model whose business success has long overridden client needs despite dismal outcomes. The result, for women, is that most options omit a number of the research based components that include: (more…)

By: Edward W. Wilson, Ph.D., MAC

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As the treatment of alcohol related conditions has become more sophisticated, the use of medications has too. Until recently the only commonly prescribed adjunct was disulfiram (Antabuse), an aversive drug whose use resulted in violent illness when combined with even trace amounts of alcohol. That worked for those willing to risk the results and fit well with the frequently punitive nature of many treatment regimens. (more…)

By: Edward W. Wilson, Ph.D., MAC

Click here to contact Edward and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

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It is difficult to make a decision to seek treatment for alcohol abuse, dependency, or addiction. But having made that choice it becomes even more confusing when seeking an appropriate type of program. Essentially the first decision comes down to opting for either Inpatient or Out-Patient. (more…)

By: Mary Ellen Barnes, Ph.D.

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Whether as drinkers or not, or as wives, mothers, sisters or friends, employers or employees, all of us have experienced alcohol’s destructive intrusion into our lives or the lives of those around us. Perhaps we have felt our own use slipping out of control, or been affected by others, or tried to figure out what we might do to help others. Regardless of our involvement, most of us have felt confused and uncertain about how to help ourselves or anyone else. (more…)

By: Edward W. Wilson, Ph.D., MAC

Click here to contact Edward and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

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Generally we tend to think about treatment for alcohol abuse, dependence, or addition as falling into one of two categories: inpatient or outpatient. However, just as there is enormous variation in inpatient or residential treatment styles, so too are there differences in outpatient offerings. Most of these differences - beyond the obvious 12-Step or Alternative orientations and frameworks - boil down to intensity, duration, and communication preferences. (more…)

By: Edward W. Wilson, Ph.D., MAC

Click here to contact Edward and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

It’s not unusual for people to know that they need some help in getting over their alcohol abuse and dependence, but not know how to start. They look at residential and long for the escape – isn’t that what really fuels the alcohol abuse anyway? – but shudder at the cost and disruption. Then they look at outpatient and that seems like too little help for so pervasive a problem. So they do what we all do, sit back, sigh, and wait until the next crisis to go through the whole non-decision process all over again. (more…)