Nothing is Important

0imWhen we make something important we attach meaning and value to it. Often, this leads to problems. Let’s say you feel it is important to work on your thesis, to exercise, or to spend time with your kids. What if that doesn’t happen today? What if you get bogged down with other stuff and it just gets missed? In steps guilt. Guilt is how primitive mind communicates “hurry up and do that now” even when there’s a timing glitch of “there’s nothing to do because that time has passed.”

So the next day,you assign even more importance to the thing. You say “today will be different because I really need to do…” whatever it was. So today comes and you spend energy thinking about that important thing. You think about doing it, but you don’t do it.

Do you know why you didn’t do it? You got blocked. Mind blocked the action because it seemed so important that it attached a value of danger. Continue reading “Nothing is Important”

Being Calm in Depression or Anxiety

DandelionI’ve been going through a depressive episode for some months now. I’m taking antidepressants because it feels chemical, like PMS, as symptoms come on in waves. I’ve been steadily seeing my doctor and we have upped my dosage once, about a month ago. It feels relatively stable, or it did, until the election, which put me into somewhat of a tailspin.

This morning, I was watching Netflix, and began to feel as if I could not get enough breath. I knew, logically, that I was breathing and was fine. But the underlying feeling of despondency was giving me that physical feeling. It felt different than anxiety (and I’ve had just 2 panic attacks in my life time), but had similar features.

Ever the scientific-minded me, I said, “What would you tell a client who came in with this item?” Continue reading “Being Calm in Depression or Anxiety”

Entrepreneurs face Anxiety, Fear

0plateIn September, 2013, Inc. Magazine‘s Jessica Bruder discusses the issues that entrepreneurs face with regard to mental illness. They often suffer from depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or bipolar disorder. Entrepreneurs are often swept up in new ideas and bouts of creativity that are actually mania or can mirror the symptoms of mania or hypomania. When followed by doubt in their business or product, failure to see growth, failure to make certain incomes, or not achieving certain markers of success, there can be depressive feelings. If these phases cycle, it can mimic bipolar disorder, or be an expression of bipolar disorder. Anxiety is often found in the entrepreneur as he/she worries about product launch, deadlines, and if the business is “good enough” to be a hit. The tendency to jump form one part of the project to the next is often a marker for ADHD and adults with ADHD will gravitate toward work that allows them to function in time with their brain chemistry. Continue reading “Entrepreneurs face Anxiety, Fear”

Plan your Success – Keep your Resolutions by Planning Ahead

0paLet’s think about the year that was and the year to be:

  • What goals did you set for yourself this year and how close did you get to meeting them?
  • Did you make some progress?
  • What were your obstacles?
  • Do you know how you can overcome those obstacles in the future?
  • What are your new or revised goals?
  • What’s the best way you see to get there?
  • How do you need assistance in setting your intention or cementing your target – what you might think of as “motivation?”

Continue reading “Plan your Success – Keep your Resolutions by Planning Ahead”

Entrepreneur Success

0clEntrepreneurs are faced with stressors that are uncommon among the rest of society. There is an ebb and flow of fear and excitement, worry about project failure and success, a feeling of being an impostor, anxiety over being in over your head, self-assuredness and self-doubt.

When explained to a 9 to 5 employee, these things make no sense as a pattern for every day living. People will wonder if you’re crazy for this emotional roller coaster – and so will you. It only makes sense that those who are up late and up early with ideas, who are perceiving the pressures of time and deadlines differently will be seen as different. You even see yourself as different.

Continue reading “Entrepreneur Success”

Multitask Efficiently without Comparison

0autWhen I meet someone new, inevitably, they ask “What do you do for a living?” There’s always a moment of awkward silence where I figure out what to state first – usually whatever has the newest project happening or what I think will resonate with the listener. My friends always laugh in that pause because they know there’s a litany of answers coming. My husband says he has the same pause when people ask “What does your wife do? Is she in software, too?” My husband has a 9-5 job, just one, but is also co-owner of our board game business.

I answer, usually all in one breath, and they squint at me with one eyebrow raised skeptically and look at our mutual friend for confirmation, who always nods enthusiastically. Continue reading “Multitask Efficiently without Comparison”

40 Minute Guilt Session

0womanWatching clients transform is my favorite thing!

One morning, I covered for a colleague who does talk therapy while that therapist was out on vacation. The clients cannot be rescheduled as they are court mandated to attend. I had an hour with a client whom I had never met, and thus had no rapport to begin with; we were starting as strangers. Having covered this population for the colleague previously, I expected that she would merely want to chat the hour down and get her credit for being where she needed to be; but I was wrong.

I introduced myself and asked if she had anything she wanted to get done or just wanted to kill down the clock. She said “actually, there is something.” “Oh, great! What’s up?” She discussed her feelings of guilt and shame over having been away from her children while incarcerated and feeling somewhat removed from them now that she was back in their lives. Continue reading “40 Minute Guilt Session”

Ethical Treatment is Confidential

hippa
This is a joke. HIPAA is no joke.

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and is what is in place to keep mental health professionals from discussing cases.

Ethical therapists like myself take this seriously. Things that are private:

  • The fact that you are a client.
  • Particulars of a case.
  • Particulars of a client.
  • Length or type of services.
  • Identifying information such as name, location, or details that may identify a client.

Ethical therapist can discuss a case with their peers without their peers having any clue as to whom the case is about. The less details given, the better. Only the details needed to get help with a case are discussed, and a clear goal in the consultation is established.

For example: This celebrity case Continue reading “Ethical Treatment is Confidential”

The Chiropractic Model of Therapy

0brainTherapy is best served in a model like that of chiropractors.

Imagine you’ve strained your neck.

  1. When you are in acute physical pain, you come in for several sessions close together until relief is gained, usually over a week or two. Let’s say this is 3 times the first week and 2 times the second week.
  2. Now that your pain is moderate, but no longer limiting your range of movement, you come once a week for a few weeks until the pain is minimal. Let’s say this is 3 sessions over 3 weeks.
  3. Once that neck pain is minimal, but still present, you come less often until it is gone. Maybe this is a visit every 2 weeks twice and then every 3 weeks once.
  4. Once the pain is gone, the injury may still be present in the form of swelling or a ligament out of place or some misalignment in the vertebrae, so you come once a month twice and then every 3 months twice to finish the adjustment.
  5. The body is adjusted, and you follow up every 6-12 months just to check that all is well, provided nothing new is hurting the neck. Of course, if you have a new injury, you begin again on that area of the body.

Continue reading “The Chiropractic Model of Therapy”

Easy & Secure Payments

0appleWe use technology for the most secure and convenient payment methods possible. We have a chip reader that protects you against the magstripe having fraudulent charges.

You can even pay with ApplePay or with AndroidPay.

And, as always, if you ever forget your method of payment, we can charge your card on file for you on the date of your service, or you can pay via Paypal.

Autumn Hahn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist practicing at Clear Mind Group in Weston, Florida. Call 954-612-9553 for a consultation. Follow Autumn on TwitterFacebook, and Google+. Sign up for the e-newsletter HERE.