Healthy Living Library


F E A T U R E D    A R T I C L E

Using Mindfulness to Approach Chronic Pain

May 9th, 2013
When we’re in pain, we want it to go away. Immediately. And that’s understandable. Chronic pain is frustrating and debilitating, said Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and Psych Central blogger. The last thing we want ...

Living with Chronic Pain and Depression

Living with Chronic Pain and DepressionAbout 50 percent of people who have chronic pain also have depression, according to Robert D. Kerns, Ph.D, National Program Director for Pain Management for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Director of the Pain Research, Informatics, ...

Therapists Spill: My Thoughts On Change And How I Help Clients Get There

Therapists Spill: My Thoughts On Change And How I Help Clients Get ThereChange is pivotal in therapy. In fact, it’s the reason people seek professional help in the first place, according to Deborah Serani, Psy.D, a clinicial psychologist and author of the ...

Improving Your Emotional Health Through Healthier Eating

Improving Your Emotional Health Through Healthier EatingMany people do not realize it, but you actually are what you eat. Scientific research shows that eating healthy can drastically change your mood and improve your way of life. Food allergies or intolerances can have a great effect on ...

Relaxation: Make Time and Take Time for Self-Care

Relaxation: Make Time and Take Time for Self-CareRelaxation is defined as the act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed. It is also defined as the refreshment of the body or mind/recreation. My favorite definition of relaxation comes from Wikipedia. It defines relaxation as ...

Obesity, Genetics, Depression and Weight Loss

Obesity, Genetics, Depression and Weight LossThere are a lot of different opinions and strong emotions when it comes to the topic of obesity and weight loss. This article is simply another opinion about obesity in America. By writing this article, I am ...

Understanding & Recognizing Stress

Understanding & Recognizing StressEveryone has experienced stress. We all have demands and we all respond to those demands differently. How we respond to those demands determine our stress level. Life is full of stress. Sometimes it comes and goes and sometimes it lingers. Sometimes our stressors are ...

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don’t, and How to Make Any Change Stick

BOOK REVIEW.
Mixing roughly three parts information with one part practical technique for yoking habits to the service of self-improvement, Jeremy Dean’s Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don’t, and How to Make Any Change Stick tours the last hundred years of psychological research on habit and synthesizes an impressive amount of insight into human habit formation ...

Maximum Brainpower: Challenging the Brain for Health and Wisdom

BOOK REVIEW.
Increasing brainpower is about "changing the inherent way we perceive and respond to the world," Shlomo Breznitz and Collins Hemingway write. Their recent book, Maximum Brainpower: Challenging the Brain for Health and Wisdom, is an in-depth look at that marvelous mass of tissue between our ears, how it works, how it responds, and what affects it in both ...

Reinventing the Meal: How Mindfulness Can Help You Slow Down, Savor the Moment, and Reconnect with the Ritual of Eating

BOOK REVIEW.
I've heard a lot about the philosophical zombie lately. My favorite science fiction author is writing a book with a philosophical zombie premise. Every time I was in the vicinity of a political ad this past October, I couldn't help but be reminded that many politicians think we are all zombies. Finally, reading Reinventing the Meal: ...

When You Can’t Afford Psychotherapy

When You Can't Afford PsychotherapyYou know you’re in trouble. Maybe you’ve been depressed for what seems like ages. You can’t get motivated to do things. You don’t enjoy doing the things that used to give you the most pleasure. Your sleep and appetite are off. Sex? ...

The Inner Life of the Counselor

BOOK REVIEW.
Most counselors, psychologists, and therapists have bookshelves filled with ways to help their clients: volumes on dealing with certain disorders, using certain therapeutic techniques, or improving cultural competence. For the helping professionals among us, continuing our education in these areas is necessary if we want to ensure effectiveness. Yet rarely do we find a book ...

Use Your Body to Heal Your Mind: Revolutionary Methods to Release all Barriers to Health, Healing and Happiness

BOOK REVIEW.
In his latest book, Dr. Grayson articulately explains holistic healing, where a person can control reality through their thoughts and feelings to promote wellness and heal illness. This approach is supported by ancient wisdom as well as modern discoveries in physics, biology, and medicine. This worldview underlies many healing methods that seek to release energy blocks, limiting ...