The feelings associated with low self-esteem are often depressive feelings, and at times could even develop into a proper clinical depression. Often, people will seek relief from medication and that could be a good idea.

Generally speaking, SSRI’s will be prescribed by your doctor which are first line medications (antidepressants) in order to help you get relief from the depressive symptoms. Many people feel that this has been very helpful, and a lot of people will say that it has absolutely saved their lives. Some of my patients would not be able to focus without them. Having said that, it is not always such a smooth ride.

In about 30% of the population, the antidepressants don’t work. In another significant percentage, there are side effects that don’t subside, and people tend to give up on the medication. There are also people that simply don’t want to be medicated and prefer to go through the psychological therapies in order to deal with the...

As a psychotherapist I know that a lot of people are looking for help with their low self-confidence/self-esteem. What this essentially means, is that they have this voice inside of them, telling them that they are not good enough or even worse, bad people at the core.

Some signs and symptoms of people with low self-esteem

• Keeping away from socializing
  
• Emotional dysregualtion (lots of ups and downs in mood, related to people’s remarks)
  
• Feeling uncomfortable upon receiving a compliment
  
• Taking criticism very badly
  
• Being overly harsh with yourself
  
• Being preoccupied with what others think of you
  
• Treating others very nicely but yourself not so
• Excessively apologizing
  
• Avoiding challenges and hence self development in many areas
• Trusting others much more than yourself
  
• Being addicted to love
  

Why have I got low self-confidence?

Some causes of low self-esteem and self-confidence is rooted in...

In the last couple of years in my private practice I have gotten to know this wonderful drug a little better. As of recent, more and more psychiatrists are prescribing Lyrica, also known as Pregabalin for General Anxiety Disorders (GAD). (Brand name: Lyrica. Generic name: Pregabalin).

Lyrica is not your general SSRI which has commonly been prescribed until now and still is commonly prescribed for anxieties. Lyrica belongs to a group called anti-convulsant which really means that it is an anti-epileptic drug. But you don’t need to be suffering from epilepsy in order to take Lyrica. One of the effects that Lyrica has, is that it soothes the mind of anxieties.

Side effects?

In my experience, I have not seen people suffer from side-effects from Lyrica at all. In fact with SSRIs I have seen many side effects and I am very pleased to see that this is not the case with Lyrica. Of course, if you do think that you are having side...

Side effects of Sertraline and other SSRI’s

Many people are very concerned about side effects of sertraline or other SSRI’s in the treatment of their depression, OCD or anxiety disorders. I will cover here some information on Sertraline and then recommend an alternative method to treat depression.

Sertraline is sold under the trade name Zoloft among others and is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is very often the very first medication that your health practitioner would prescribe for your depressive symptoms.

There is good reason why they would recommend it. That is because it has some mighty good benefit for depression and even major depression. In 2016, it was the most prescribed medication in the United States with over 37 million users.

What your health practitioner is unlikely to tell you is the Sertraline side effects or potential side effects. They include:

1) diarrhea

Mindfulness and therapy

Mindfulness has recently become a very accepted form of therapy for various psychological and psychiatric disorders and challenges. In this post I’d like to explain in simple language what mindfulness is and why mindfulness and therapy have joined forces. I’ll also add a mindfulness exercise that you can start practicing and some resources where you can get more information and guidance on how to incorporate mindfulness into your life.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a way of resting your mind. Basically, our thinking is on auto-pilot all day long. At times, you are aware of what you are thinking and at times it is in the background (subconscious) part of your brain. The way thinking works is through associations which means that one thought leads to the other and onto the next. Have you ever wondered ‘how did I get to think about that?’ and then you try to pick up the thread and...

Let’s start with a brief outline of what Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is and how it could help you.

Cognitive behavioral therapy was originally developed by Aaron Beck. In a nutshell, here is the idea – If I was to ask you whether you agree that your brain provides you thoughts all day long, would you agree? Probably. That’s because to some extent we are thinking machines. We can think deliberately or we can freely associate and thoughts would come to us anyway. At times, we are aware of what content our thinking gives us and at times not. An example of that, is that you sometimes wonder when you have a thought ‘how did I get to this?’ and then you try to follow the thread from the last thought that you were aware and remember and try to see how you got to where you did. Bottom line: We are always thinking and in cognitive behavioral therapy we call these thoughts automatic...

DNMS – Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy

The DNMS is by far the very best and most powerful type of therapy that I have come across to help you heal from painful childhood wounds and traumas. Shirley Jean Schmidt developed the DMNS therapy model.

The therapy is based on something therapists call ‘ego states.’ In simple language, it assumes that a person is made up of psychological parts.

Just like when you say ‘a part of me wishes X and a part of me wishes X (=conflict), so too the DNMS assumes that there are child/wounded parts and adult parts inside of each one of us.

But these things happened in the past, now what?

True, we can’t turn the clock back as much as we wish we could. However, in DNMS language, a child part can be stuck in the past due to unmet developmental needs. It looks like this: you experienced something negative in your childhood, and it still hurts when you think about...

Why marriage counselling often doesn’t work

I agree that this is a bold statement. But reality remains that the numbers of success regarding marriage counselling are very low. Many argue that by the time a couple comes for therapy, it is already basically over and thus the chances of saving the relationship are already very minimal.

But others point to the concept and methodology itself. In marriage counselling, a couple is typically asked to describe their problems. The problems can vary but generally they will revolve around:

• We fight a lot
• He/she is so engrossed in other things and doesn’t pay me any attention
• He/she doesn’t listen to me
• We can’t discuss difficult topics without it erupting in some form of disagreement

Marriage counselling

The marriage counsellor will now focus on understanding the couple’s cycle (often from an attachment perspective). Seek to understand why one often withdraws as a defence and the other pursues more....