Health & Family seeing a Psychologist?

I somehow have the impression that @Tim86 is in the building industry. Psychologist?

 

I love this

 

I think it's because @Tim86 do the extreme Reno on his houses

 

No, no, not just the renos @Tim86 is a psychologist for the children who attend school. School based psychologist.

 

Can anyone explain to me in plain english what "Acceptance and Committment" theraphy is ??

 

Totally agree with this - wish CBT was taught at schools. Not only for young kids but teenagers especially.
I found a 10wk outpatient CBT for Adolescents (15-17yo) for my eldest. Whilst he only did 5 weeks as he wasn't gelling with one of the group leaders he did find it useful and we will continue on with CBT for him.
The thing about CBT is actually it is often more helpful when people aren't in crisis and can think more rationally about past behaviour and their reactions to it. It's hard to realise the catastrophising (I know it's not a word!) that a reaction might be to a situation when you are having a depressive episode or anxiety based issue.
One of the things I laugh about now, but has an inkling of truth, is that we all felt that half (or more) of the students I studied Psych with, were there because of their own issues. I didn't go onto Masters because I worked out my issues

 

There is a pretty good write up of it on here @darlinghurstsboy
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy | ACT Mindfully | Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Training with Russ Harris

It is very similar to the CBT I mentioned earlier.

Excerpt (but there is much more)

 

Westminster, actually, you are correct to use 'catastrophising'--it is a word. I have found CBT so incredibly useful. Our thoughts are not always reality--just cos you think it doesn't make it so. But you're right: you need to practise it when you're well, so that when your brain gets into an amygdala overload, you can bring in your CBT. It's the same with meditation and mindfulness--need to practise it when we're not anxious and not when you're in the middle of the tornado.

My favourite though is DBT--it's like CBT on steroids.Teenagers have so much pressure these days and life moves so fast. Plus they have their hormones all over the place. Pity CBT and DBT are not part of the curriculum to improve emotional IQ.

I hope your son is okay. So many adolescents and teenagers have mental health issues--it's almost par for the course these days with kids--mine too. As parents you just have to be in it with them and stand by them, being the voice of calm even when they're not.

 

I've not read any definitions of ACT; I've only done it. For me, the best way to describe it in a nutshell is this. First, Acceptance of current circumstances in your life (a bit like Marsha Lineham's Radical Acceptance). The commitment part is working out who you are, and staying true to your ethics, morals and values, and continuing on that path.

Marsha Linehan suffered from borderline personality disorder. She spent a lot of time in psychiatric units when she was younger. Doctors said she had the worst case of BPD they'd seen. She decided to live with her suffering; she decided to 'accept' it. She studied psychiatry and developed dialectical behaviour therapy, now the standard and best treatment for BPD. She has created a series of videos. One of those is Radical Acceptance. In the video she describes how during her years counselling depressed and anxious people, she thought hard about what differentiated those who recovered and those who didn't. What she found was that those who 'radically accepted' their suffering, their circumstances, were those who healed the quickest. Those who stayed stuck in 'why me' and in denial did not move forward. I know its incredibly hard to do, especially if you've had trauma in your life which you have to process.

 

I think he'll be fine in the long run but he does have a genetic predisposition to anxiety and depression so when we weren't sure if it was just hormones or more we sought help. He has been diagnosed, we know CBT (but I'll check into DBT) is the way to go just got to find the right form of guidance.

 

"Radical Acceptance' sounds interesting.. I guess that maybe for people who have suffered permanent injury or similar.

Quite interesting is the Acceptance theraphy.

 

Radical Acceptance can be very healing for people that have suffered physical/emotional/sexual abuse too. Especially if there is no recourse available to have a person bought to justice etc.

I know 2 siblings. One committed to their own version of radical acceptance to draw a line in the sand and move forward. The other couldn't, concentrated on the thought they could only move on if the person admitted their wrong doing and couldn't get past the past. Unfortunately the one who couldn't ended up committing suicide.

 

It's a bit long, but well worth reading-Marsha Linehan and Radical Acceptance: Radical Acceptance Part 1

 

Honest question - what's the difference between ocd and addiction in this context?

 

Now you're in meditation territory. Sometimes sitting can be difficult - especially when there is some pain and you don't want to accept it. By allowing yourself the time and space to acknowledge the pain, you accept a whole lot of other stuff too. You can let go of the suffering and live with the reality as it is.
Sometimes, the pain then appears to go away. At some point it comes back again but you know that to deal with it, you look at it, feel it, break it up, hold it. Something amazing happens when you do that. Wow how lucky to have learned a skill like that.

 

Nope. Im on the phones. Its a head scratcher. Some sort of phone line that helps kids.... hmmmm lol

 

Thanks for the kind words. I never knew u were a psychologist. They're everywhere

 

Nah I just DIY reno projects/owner build. But I do have a day job. Next year it will be 50/50 though because Ive got to build a 250m2 extension on my house. Will be welding up posts tomorrow morning before heading off to work until 10pm at my "day job".

 

Look at all the Psych's come out of the woodwork.
Good job all of you for lending an ear and a brain to help people.

 

Well done. Inspiring. Talking about psychologist, the only time we came into contact with one is the school psychologist...he got my daughter doing some IQ stuff. He said some really good stuff that as parents, should take note. We made subsequent decision based on his view and recommendation.