Even If You’re Not Ready to Quit, You Can Get Ready to Quit

Get some paper and a pen. Put it by the substance you are thinking of quitting. Even if you are not ready to quit yet, do this one, little thing. Before you use the substance, mark on your paper the time and the date. Write a line or two about why you’re choosing to useContinue reading “Even If You’re Not Ready to Quit, You Can Get Ready to Quit”

Help is Closer Than You Think

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, part 4 It is a whole lot easier to get substances that will addict you than it is to get into treatment for addiction. In many localities, there are drug dealers at every corner, but to get to a clinic, you have to take two buses.Continue reading “Help is Closer Than You Think”

Why You Don’t Take Care of Yourself

You care for yourself. You care whether you live or die. You want to prosper, thrive, and flourish. You have sympathy for your point of view. You defend yourself from those who would malign you. You are your own main guy, without whom, you’d be sunk. You may not be the center of the universe,Continue reading “Why You Don’t Take Care of Yourself”

Venting

I lot of people mistake venting for therapy. They think that if they can say what’s on their mind, they’ll feel better and get that problem off their chest. They will, up to a point. If you have something you’re trying to figure out, or something you need to be honest about, then vent away.Continue reading “Venting”

Burdens and the Peddlers That Traffic in Them

If the inside of my own head is any indication, we all carry psychological burdens. If that’s not bad enough, we try to trade one burden for another and end up carrying them both. I got one of my burdens when I was about eight years old, riding the school bus. No one would sitContinue reading “Burdens and the Peddlers That Traffic in Them”

What’s the Best Form of Psychotherapy?

The easiest method of doing something is not always the most effective; but it is the easiest, so that’s saying something for it. Easy is more effective than the most effective if the most effective is impossible for you to do. When it comes to treatment for mental illness, if I were to rank theContinue reading “What’s the Best Form of Psychotherapy?”

The Rebel’s Constituency

Part 7f of Meeting the Voices in My Head and Searching for an Inner Adult Like any oppositional leader, the Rebel claims to speak for the marginalized, in this case, the Innermost Child. If you remember, the Innermost Child is the original part of me, but it’s still there. It feels things that are notContinue reading “The Rebel’s Constituency”