By Dr. Neil Stafford
The podcast currently has 21 episodes available.
In this episode we continue our discussion of mindfulness. We start to delve into the details of how to begin the practice of mindfulness. This practice enables us to become more aware of our experiences, our feelings, and our thoughts. If we want to make changes for ourselves we must first become aware of the things we need to change. Increasing awareness is our first step to change. Mindfulness will help us with this.
Dan Siegel (www.mindsight.com) suggests we engage in a process of observance, objectivity, and openness. We observe our feelings and thoughts, we are objective about them, and then we are open to them. This will decrease our anxiety and our struggle to make them different. Acceptance eases our tension, and makes flexibility more available.
In this episode we also talk about the need for development as therapists. Scott Miller (www.scottdmiller.com) has great research on why we should engage in continuous development of our skills.
As always be awesome by being you. Connect with me at:
[email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/drneilstafford/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
In this episode we continue the discussion of prioritizing, but we shift to how the emphasizing of one thing over another can relate to our relationships. When make one relationship the priority, and focus our energy and efforts on one relationship over others we can improve all of our relationships one at a time. It is not possible to make significant improvements in relationships when we are multitasking people. We have to prioritize even for a short period of time to make substantial games in any relationship.
In "What's up with Neil?" I relate the water heater disaster at home, and how this brings to mind the situations of others. I am blessed, and how can I use my blessings to be there for others.
In "Did you see that?" we look at the dangers of opiates. The deaths of Prince and Chyna brought to mind the issue of opiate overdoses, and how prescription medication abuse is a major problem in the United States.
Connect with me at [email protected].
Dr Neil Stafford on Facebook
@drseab on Twitter
I'd love to talk with you. As always, be awesome by being you!
We are back from a 3 month hiatus with episode 19. Life's priorities moved me away from the podcast for a while, but now I am up and running again. I hope to keep the episodes coming every week to 2 weeks. The focus of the podcast will remain psychological in nature with a shift at times to the integration of spirituality and psychology.
In this episode I give an update on the APA accreditation process of our school district's internship program. We also consider the development of the 5th Circuit Appeals Court and their finding the Texas psychologist licensure law unconstitutional. Check out this link to the article about this:
https://www.cir-usa.org/2016/01/fifth-circuit-tosses-texas-psychology-licensing-law/
It's important to consider the impacts an unregulated field.
Finally, we discuss priorities. It is very tempting to become overinvolved. We fill our days with activities. We are afraid of missing out on the next big thing. So, we agree to everything. This multitasking and making everything equally important is a lie we tell ourselves. We need to focus to be more successful. Check out the One Thing by Richard Keller and Jay Papasan. They have great advice for eliminating distractions, and focusing on what's most important.
http://www.the1thing.com/
Connect with me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, or email me at [email protected].
Until next time, be awesome by being you.
Psychology is a part of the healthcare field. The healthcare field is oriented towards pathology. It is about what is wrong with us. When you go to your primary care physician they ask you what's wrong, you tell them the symptoms, they give a diagnosis a treatment. You don't go to the PCP because you're healthy. It's the same with the psychologist. Most people go because they have a problem. We diagnosis and provide a treatment. The focus is on what is wrong with individuals. We try to alleviate symptoms. We don't focus on what is right with everyone. What if we did? I believe we can make a larger impact if we can focus what makes us happy, and then find ways to replicate those experiences. In this episode we discuss the ideas and research of Martin Seligman. We talk about positive psychology, and what sets it apart as a distinct field within psychology. Check out the following sites from this episode, and connect with me at the places below to continue our discussion. Also, I'd love to know what topics you want to hear about next.
Be awesome by being you!
www.authentichappiness.org
https://www.ted.com/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology?language=en#t-1254075
www.drneilstafford.com
[email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/drneilstafford/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/drseab
Psychology includes a wide variety of types. One type of psychology is school psychology. The school psychologist primarily works at an elementary or high school. They provide various services including counseling, crisis intervention, consultation, and psychological evaluation. In this episode we talk about the roles of the school psychologist, and we focus specifically on the psychological evaluation portion of their duties. In the school world the evaluation is called a psychoeducational evaluation. We will discuss the process to have a student referred for an evaluation, and then what are the common outcomes of an evaluation. Ultimately each evaluation is about deciding if the student is eligible for special education services or not. We want to gather information about a student in order to help them maximize their academic success.
Connect with me at:
[email protected]
Dr Neil Stafford on Facebook
@drseab on Twitter
I'd love to hear from anyone about their topic of interest, or questions you might have about the show.
The fourth part of four episodes on anxiety. The workshop has wrapped up, and we are reviewing what was presented at the workshop here in episode 16. The workshop at St. Peter's Episcopal average around 25 people per week. There was a lot of positive feedback about the presentations. I hope to be able to do more workshops in the future. If your group is interested in a presentation on anxiety, depression, relationships, parent/child communication, or a wide variety of content about psychology let me know. I'd be happy to present depending on the schedule.
For our Did You See That segment we review the podcast by Michael Britt. Professor Britt does a podcast titled The Psych Files. He reviewed the Reproducibility Project. His take is that the project does more to bring to light the problems we have with the research culture in general rather than showing that psychological research is suspect itself. Check out his podcast at: http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2015/09/ep-245-the-results-of-the-reproducibility-project-incentives-out-of-whack/
Our main segment reviews what was covered in the fourth workshop. We have covered various practical techniques to manage anxiety, but what about living our lives to the fullest with or in spite of anxiety. In the episode I talk about that anxiety holds us in place or causes us to run away. We are afraid of change. The fear is because we are afraid of losing something, the process of change, or the outcomes. Facing our fears we can see that change doesn't need to be all in one step. It can be step by step. What is one small thing you can do to make a change today?
One of the major problems with facing our fear and making the change is not feeling valuable enough, or being willing to be vulnerable. I reference a Ted talk by Brene Brown to discuss how we can increase our sense of worth to be vulnerable to risk change. http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability
Finally, we talk look at Colossians 3:12-14 and Galatians 3:26-29 to explore how we are children of God. We are heirs of the process. You are worthy.
As always connect with me to continue the conversation at:
[email protected]
On Facebook at Dr Neil Stafford
Or Twitter at @drseab
Be awesome by being you!
We continue our discussion of getting to know our anxiety. This episode looks at anxiety as something to be embraced. The conversation starts with looking at the words of Jesus. He promises that life is full of trials, but that we aren't alone. We are to embrace the anxious experiences, and through those experiences we go through we will find success.
We look at the story of Joe Kowan from a TED talk about how he dealt with his fear of public speaking. Check out his story at:
http://www.ted.com/talks/joe_kowan_how_i_beat_stage_fright#t-457619
We talk about strategies such as Best, Worst, Most Likely to confront our anxiety. The primary method is to not hide from our fear, but to bring it our into the light to see what it really is. When we are aware of what we are actually anxious about we can devise a plan to solve our problem. Check out the episode, and connect with me at:
[email protected]
Dr Neil Stafford on Facebook
@dreab on Twitter
In this episode we continue the discussion of anxiety and how to manage it in one's life. We are keeping with the concept that we want to embrace our anxiety instead of deny it and ignore it. In the last episode we learned more about our anxiety to help it be our frenemy instead of our enemy. In this episode we start to look at some practical ways to manage the anxiety. We review the biological causes, and then cover three techniques.
This episode is connected to a 4 week workshop at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Litchfield Park. The workshop is from 3:30 pm to 4:45 pm. Join us if you like. Or you can download the workshop materials at my website www.drneilstafford.com.
As always please follow up with me at my website or
Dr Neil Stafford on Facebook
@drseab on Twitter
[email protected]
In this episode we are learning more about what is anxiety. Most of the time we see anxiety as an enemy. It lurks in the shadows. It's a monster that keeps up paralyzed, and holds us captive from engaging in our lives in a full and meaningful way. What we want to do is move our anxiety from enemy to frenemy to friend. This means we need to get to know anxiety in a more intimate way. We need to bring it out of the shadows, and see it for what it is.
What we learn here is that anxiety is designed to be a protective mechanism. It originates in the brain. Everyone experiences it, and it is an automatic process. We perceive a threat in the environment, and the brain triggers the sympathetic nervous system to release chemicals that stimulate our body to fight, flight, or run. It is a useful mechanism except when we see most everything in our environment as at threat. In the episode we learn that this is normal, and that we can then use anxiety as a signal. What are we perceiving as a threat, and then what can we do about it.
Also we look at an article from NPR.org on how to protect our children from anxiety found here: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/25/443444964/parents-can-learn-how-to-prevent-anxiety-in-their-children?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150925
This episode is a preview or a review of material presented at St. Peter's Episcopal Church on October 4, 2015 as part of a 4 week seminar on Embracing Anxiety. St. Peter's is found at: http://stpetersaz.com
Connect with me at [email protected]
Dr Neil Stafford on Facebook or @drseab on Twitter
Also check out my new volunteer effort at: http://www.azftf.gov/Pages/default.aspx
Episode 12 is focused on a question from listener. There was a request to follow up the spirituality in therapy discussion with, "what would I do with a client from something other than Christian?" My answer is that i approach therapy for each client in the same manner from a client centered approach. The focus of therapy is what the client wants to talk about. If they want to discuss religion that becomes the focus because they are steering the conversation that way. If they are going deep into the background of a faith I am not familiar with then I might refer to a therapist more knowledgeable. It is important for the therapist to know their limits.
I also discussed the works of Scott Mlller, and that success in therapy is hinged on the quality of the relationship between the therapist and client.
Finally, I talked about the Science Reproducibility Project, and the finding that it is very difficult to replicate research projects. Research needs to improve its process.
Links:
http://www.scottdmiller.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/28/science/many-social-science-findings-not-as-strong-as-claimed-study-says.html?ref=us&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/28/science/psychology-studies-redid.html
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Zoroastrianism/index.aspx
Contact me at:
[email protected]
Dr Neil Stafford on Facebook
@drseab on Twitter
The podcast currently has 21 episodes available.