Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
Several weeks ago, I attended a two-day workshop in the beautiful university town of Boulder, Colorado. I always like visiting Boulder for its “uniqueness”. Readers who’ve been there will understand what I mean by that. The workshop leader was Carol Forgash, LCSW; a specialist in trauma therapy. Among the more helpful features of the workshop was learning about the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study conducted as a collaborative research effort between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, and Kaiser Permanente in San...
Read MorePerhaps the Best Parenting Advice – Ever!
It was several years ago while browsing through a used book store, that I happened upon the book. Hardback. Green cover. Red ribbon book marker, like those found in Bibles. Were it not for the tattered “green” cover, I might have mistaken it for a Bible. Upon closer inspection, the title read: Children: The Challenge. Copyright: 1964. Retail price: $9.95. Sale price: $4.95. A “good deal” by most standards. Even now as I craft this blog post, the book continues to lose bits and pieces of its aging green cover. The author? Rudolph Dreikurs, MD, the Viennese-born...
Read MoreMental Associations – Matter!
In their book Buddha’s Brain; The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, & Wisdom (2009), authors Rick Hanson, PhD and Richard Mendius, MD observe: “When two things are held in mind at the same time, they start to connect with each other.” Think of this in terms of good news/bad news. First, the good news. Hanson and Mendius write: “Positive experiences can…be used to soothe, balance, and even replace negative ones. When two things are held in mind at the same time, they start to connect with each other. That’s one reason why talking...
Read MoreLifelong Skinned Knees
Psychologist Jim Knipe (Forgash & Copeley, Eds.,2008) will often tell clients the following story: “Imagine a little girl who falls down and skins her knee, and it hurts. Her knee is bleeding and she runs into the house. A loving parent sees her and says, ‘Oh, it hurts, doesn’t it? Come over here. Let me wash it off. Yes, it hurts! I’ll put a bandage on it. Come sit in my lap for a little while.’ It is easy to see that after a few minutes, for this little girl, this lap will become pretty boring, and she will want to go back out and play again. If the parent...
Read MoreAttachment Styles and Sexual Intimacy
I’m not sure if it’s fate or coincidence that I chose to write this blog over Valentine’s weekend, but here goes. The reader is urged to consult the previous blog (January, 2015) for information about attachment styles. Attachment research broadly divides into “secure” attachment and “insecure attachment,” with insecure attachment further divided into “anxious” and “avoidant” styles. Sue Johnson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, distinguished research professor, and developer of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT). Her latest book, Love Sense; The Revolutionary...
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