Dr. Drew made the News

Dr. Drew was interviewed earlier today by Becky Bereiter, News 14 Carolina, about the importance of the relationship between parents and children.

"It's important for parents to have a good relationship with their child or adolescent; it makes having conversations [about any topic] much easier when a strong relationship is already established." -Dr. Drew 

Click here to view the news clip.

Engaged, well, PREPARE!

Each time I turn on the news lately, there is another announcement of some famous couple's engagement. The most recent was a very royal announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Others hit the headlines earlier this week including Jessica Simpson to former NFL player Eric Johnson and Nick Lachey with Vanessa Minnillo.

The question is, will these couples invest in premarital therapy? Statistics for first time marriages that end in divorce are 45-50%. The percentage increases to 60-67% of second time marriages and even greater for a third time marriage at 70-73%. When the likelihood of divorce is so great, especially for second and third time marriages, the need for relationship planning and enhancement is even more crucial. Why wouldn't you engage in premarital therapy when the decision to marry is such an important, life altering one?

Does your child need therapy?

Is your child having behavioral problems? Is your child struggling with his or her self-esteem? Are you interesting in helping your child adjust to a life transition, such as divorce or loss?

Children have feelings too. As much as we believe children are resilient to life's problems, they still need support and a way to deal with emotions. An effective method to help children adjust to life circumstance or trauma is play therapy.

Play therapy is a form of therapeutic therapy specifically designed to help children work through hurt to achieve healing.

AAMFT Approved Supervisor Status

Time to celebrate! After years and years of hard work, we have finally received the official news that we are officially AAMFT Approved Supervisors. We have just the place on our office walls to display the frames!

We would like to thank Dr. Richard Wampler at Michigan State University, Dr. Don Arterburn from Waco, Texas, and Dr. James Pruett from the Integrative Pastoral Psychotherapy Program of CMC, for providing our supervison of supervision for us. They provided great mentoring moments and challenged us in ways that allowed us to grow.

Don't let stress get to you

“Life’s simple pleasures…” Where have they gone? Life becomes complex due to busyness. At some point, you have probably thought, “If only there were more hours in the day...” or “I am so busy, I don’t have any time.” The culture we are growing up in seems to value productivity in the form of doing and earning, rather than valuing time. 

What happens when we become consumed with work and other activities that distract us from rest and relaxation? For starters, we become overworked, stressed, and fatigued. The longer a person experiences great amounts of stress, the greater the likelihood that may lead to impaired judgment, health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, physical illness), burnout, reduced quality of performance, and overall decrease in productivity. Japan refers to this phenomenon as karoshi. Karoshi means death from overwork, pushing your body past the point of recuperation and the physiological system collapses.

When was the last time you did a self-check?

I don't know about you, but my list of "to dos" is never blank. It seems like there is always some errand to run, some item to maintain, or something to keep up. One of the ideas behind the "to dos" is to make life or our things run more smoothly.

We learn early on to get the oil changed for our car every 3,000 miles, we get our teeth cleaned every 6 months, women should have an annual checkup and physical with an OBGYN, men should have annual physicals, and we schedule routine haircuts every 6-8 weeks. Doing all these things ensure that our things work properly, we stay healthy, and it's good to take preventative measures. In the long run, regular maintenance helps reduce the chances of headaches and frustration down the road. However, what about mental or emotional check-ups for yourself? Or what about maintenance sessions for your relationships?