Counseling

Problem Solving For Stress Reduction

February 21, 2015

Stress kills. This has become commonly accepted and is generally agreed on by experts and laypersons alike.  A major source of stress for people these days is worry which can be defined as the process of repeatedly asking yourself, “What if …?”  Fill in the blank with any bad thing you can imagine.  For some people, asking “What if?” can be a good motivator but for most, it is the doorway to sleepless nights, chronic anxiety and an increased likelihood of developing health problems.

Worry focuses the ... Read more

Grieving a Disability

May 29, 2015

Are you often sad or angry about your disability? Do you ask yourself: am I ever going to get the ability back? How am I going to adapt to this new stage in my life? And most importantly, how am I going to continue engaging in the same activities that I have already started doing? For people with disabilities, learning how to cope with the loss of an ability or acquiring a disability can be very difficult. Some find the task of learning how to cope with an inability to be so overwhelming that they give up on other aspects of their lives. However, with the help of... Read more

Parenting (a most natural state of near constant anxiety)

October 8, 2015

BY: Alexandra Shanklin LCPC

In a previous blog I discussed the differences between stress and eustress and how they contribute to anxiety disorders. You can read that blog entry here: . Today’s blog topic is a discussion about parenting. Which means it’s about stress and anxiety again.

I never had problems with anxiety until I had my children. I could handle pretty much anything life threw at me (and life threw A LOT at me) with relative ease. There wasn’t much a yoga class and some meditation couldn’t cover. But then came the c... Read more

That Darn Straw

September 22, 2015

By: Alexandra Shanklin

Stress. Everyone has it. Everyone feels it. Everyone needs it.

You were with me until that last sentence right? Don’t worry. I’ll explain.

Let’s begin at, well the beginning. Every living animal on this planet experiences anxiety. Someone actually won a Nobel Prize for giving sea snails an anxiety disorder. His name was Dr. Eric Kandel, M.D. and he proved he could cause sea snails to have anxiety to the point that they would stop eating. You can find out more about his work here if you feel so inclined. ... Read more

Empathy: What is it and how we get it?

January 13, 2016

Empathy is a hot topic right now.  At least two new books are devoted to empathy.  Many articles have recently been written about it. Radio talk shows have discussed empathy with authors who have studied and worked with identifying and defining it and callers who often weigh in on the subject.

On-line dictionary definitions of empathy state it is the ability to understand and share the emotional feeling of another.  Another states it is shared experiences, values, ethics and beliefs. ... Read more