“Tips for coping... from professionals you can trust”
|
Tips for Surviving Emotional Pain from Survivors: Stories and Strategies to Heal the Hurt -- John Preston, Psy.D. Extremely dangerous and terrifying events...are almost always experienced as traumatic because of their severe intensity and because of the tremendous sense of powerlessness that often occurs. Most people who live through them are haunted by extreme anxiety, nightmares, and memories for weeks (and many times for months or years) after the event itself. Such tragedies profoundly affect a person’s sense of safety in the world and can unleash agonizing questions about the meaningfulness and fairness of life. Click here to continue reading...
This column by Dr. Ken West appeared in "The News and Advance," Central Virginia's largest newspaper, on September 21st, 2001. Barbara Bush, the President's daughter, lives within a stone's throw of my son's dormitory room. That fact was not lost on Yale students during the events in New York and in our capital. Had the Secret Service whisked her away to safety? |
|
How Can We Tell Our Children?I’m feeling as sickened as everyone else. As I stare helplessly at the images of the World Trade Center cascading downward in surreal, billowy puffs, I join millions of other Americans trying to make sense of the horrifically insensible. But if it’s impossible for adults to comprehend these attacks, how can we possibly begin to tell our children? Click here to continue reading...
|
|
Ask Albert Ellis; September 2001 How would one go about using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy in order to cope and to help others cope with the tragic events that took place on September 11th? I am looking for a proactive way to deal with the brutality of this act, but find that my irrational beliefs and shoulds are getting in my way. Your irrational beliefs and shoulds that get in your way probably include:
|
|
As you attempt to sort out your feelings in these days of great pain and uncertainty, you may find some help in a brief outline I prepared almost 30 years ago. These ideas are designed to help you find specific ways to maintain your own positive mental health, in good times and bad. They won’t take away the pain or the anxiety or the depression, but they may make it easier to live with. -- Robert E. Alberti, Ph.D
Based on the work of Dr. Carl Rogers, this "Behavioral Model for Personal Growth" is organized around three major characteristics of healthy personal growth: > "an increasing openness to experience" > "increasingly existential living"
> "an increasing trust in one's organism" |
|
The American Psychological Association (psychology's recognized professional society) offers a range of self-help and referral materials for the public, for parents, and for professional therapists on its web site at http://helping.apa.org/ Among the resources are articles on:
Impact Publishers specializes in books and audiotapes which offer "psychology you can use" to help deal with issues of mental health, relationships, and personal growth -- in good times and bad. We've selected a few of our publications that are especially appropriate for coping with these stressful times. Click here for more information.
|
