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Understanding Parts

September 8, 2022
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As a father, and former child myself, I’ve been exposed to many animated movies. Some stand out for their entertainment value, while others stand out for their accurate, and oftentimes humorous portrayal of reality. Of the latter, one such movie stands out above the others as a mental health counselor: Inside Out (Disney/Pixar, 2015). While many may be familiar with the film, I have attached a YouTube video of the opening scene; whether or not you’ve seen the movie, I’d encourage you to watch the clip now before reading on, as we will be doing a brief analysis of the clip.

Meet Riley's Emotions

Okay, now that we are all on the same page, let’s get into it. What should be clear at this point is that the various characters—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger—are anthropomorphic representations of their namesake emotions, each a part of Riley’s internal syste ...

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Parts

Tags:

childhood
emotons

Global Trauma

September 1, 2022
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It’s abundantly clear the world does not look or feel the same as it did two years ago. I’ve noticed that people tend to refer to time as “before 2020” and “after 2020”. With my clients, I have referred to the pandemic and quarantine as a global trauma. I don’t know if anyone has coined that term yet, but I have seen some reference to it as a “global mass trauma”. I would describe a global trauma as a catastrophic event that has affected the entire population of the planet in some way, shape or form. It’s something that has transformed life as we once knew it.

I think it’s fair to say the pandemic in 2020 has done just that. It’s easy to say “well, it’s over. Just let it go”. When the reality is, it’s not over. And the repercussions aren’t over. If we take what we know about trauma and apply it on a global level, what do we know?

We kn ...

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Trauma

Tags:

anxiety
change

Core Emotional and Relational Patterns

August 28, 2022
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The two biggest factors that influence your present day relationship patterns are:

How you experienced conflict in your family of origin.
How/if you received comfort in your family of origin.

Let me illustrate with two versions of the same story, with different endings:

Version 1:

Imagine that you’re 5 years old, find a mental picture of yourself at that age. What did your hair look like, what was a favorite outfit that you may have been wearing? Once you have that image, imagine yourself at that age coming back from a family vacation in another state. Your family has already driven 3 hours away from the vacation spot toward home and are getting back in the vehicle after a rest stop. Your parents are trying to help you into the family car when you realize that you left your favorite teddy bear back at your vacation spot. Your comfo ...

Posted in:

Relationships

Tags:

childhood
compassion
emotons