BLOG
40th Birthday Speech (2022)
Just for fun - my first-ever birthday speech. A poignant and vulnerable set of remarks on why I'm happy to be alive, which is why I decided to throw a birthday party---which I have never done before. I based my brief speech on on Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not lay up...
The Traditional Triage of Mental Disorders
OR, Disease, Disorder, or Demons? There is a popular idea out there that historic Christianity considered all mental illness a result of diabolic activity. This notion is mistaken. The Orthodox or traditional Christian triage of disorders recognizes a three-fold...
Archived BLOG (from the private-practice days)
Antidepressant Lies
I am reposting an article from the popular consumer advocacy site, Mad in America, which serves as a catalyst for rethinking psychiatric care in the United States (and abroad). This is a crucial topic that not only does not get enough attention, it is often willfully...
Mental Filtering
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. Mental Filtering is a concept in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), one of the most time-tested and...
Victim or Victor?
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. Which are you? Which do you want to be? You can choose. It’s all about mindset. Yes, there are...
Tame Animal Emotions
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. The same analogy appears in different places throughout history. The elephant and it’s rider, the horses...
Too Religious, or Not Religious Enough?
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. In 2019, I was devouring my books at an indy coffee shop in downtown Phoenix, my favorite at the time....
Anxiety: Order vs. Chaos
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. The words and concepts of worry, anxiety, and fear are often interchangeable both in ancient and modern...
It’s All About Mindset
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of Grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis,...
Depressogenic “Freedom”
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. I wrote this on July 4th to carefully consider how our thoughts about freedom affects our individual and...
A Clean Bill of Mental Health
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. A Spendthrift, who had wasted his fortune, and had nothing left but the clothes in which he stood, saw a...
Dream Interpretation
For those who remember their dreams (not everyone does), they can be a hack in therapy, a shortcut. Well, there aren’t really shortcuts in therapy, but dreams can feel like shortcuts when interpreted appropriately. Dreams often propel personal insights forward in the...
Faith-full Security
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. Are you a perfectionist? Do you or someone you love always demand perfection? A chronic demand for...
Wisdom vs. Worry
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. In Logic-Based Therapy and Everyday Emotions, Elliot Cohen identifies Dutiful Worrying as dutifully...
Common Sense Virtue therapy
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. Peace in Greek means the opposite of war. War is division, dissention, discord, hatred, factions,...
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies of the Ego
In these articles, I explore the wide realm of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and delve into how our thoughts shape our inner worlds, external behaviors, and moods. We all form an ego as we grow. Let's reflect briefly on our ego "map" or template and how it results in...
Our Common Psychosis
A Man and his Wife had the good fortune to possess a Goose which laid a Golden Egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it in order...