Can Trauma Affect Your Voice? An Interview with Elisa Monti, PhD
In this Interview with experimental psychologist Elisa Monti, PhD, we examine the relationship between traumatic experiences and the human voice.
All posts tagged: ptsd
Top 5 Reasons to Consider Psychiatric Medication
Introduction A surprising dichotomy of viewpoints seems to arise around the topic of psychiatry and management; the first is that psychiatrists are real doctors and psychotherapists are quacks. The second is that medication is for suckers, weaklings, and the desperate. The polarization I’ve observed about these topics is surprising considering all evidence seems to indicate that both work pretty well together. While it’s not my place to tell people they must be on medication (As in, legally I’m not allowed to), I can certainly tell you about my experience with medication as a supplement to psychotherapy, and why it may make sense to consult with a psychiatrist about your needs. 1. Step Outside the System Our personalities and individual psychologies are complex dynamic systems. Our character structures consist of many forces, mounting pressures, levers, sources of friction, algorithms, contingencies, etc. that come together to create an overall feeling of goodness or badness of some kind. The important point about our personalities being systems is that they seem to favor repeated, stable, and predictable outcomes, regardless …
Adolf the Cat: A Story About Trauma
Below is an excerpt from the article entitled: “Something Wicked This Way Comes: Trauma, Dissociation, and Conflict: The Space Where Psychoanalysis, Cognitive Science, and Neuroscience Overlap” by Philip Bromberg, a leading figure in the world of trauma and psychoanalysis. I share it to add texture and depth to the term trauma–a term often tossed around without precision or a shared understanding. I’ll present some takeaways at the end of the post. However, the story stands alone as a parable about trauma. When I was a kid, an endless source of fascination was looking out of my bedroom window at our backyard garden to silently observe the mysterious interactions between the animals, birds, trees, bushes and flowers. But like the Garden of Eden, it received periodic visits from an infamous inhabitant of our neighborhood: A cat who was referred to by everyone in the vicinity as Adolf (I was a World War II kid). Adolf was an aggressive, predatory, seemingly fearless animal, whose viciousness and mean-temperedness terrorized the other neighborhood cats as well as most of …
6 Existential Anxieties That Could Be the Cause of Your Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are among the most common and most distressing symptoms I see as a therapist. Not only do people encounter some of their most primitive existential fears, such as feeling like they are dying or going crazy, panic sufferers also have to deal with the repetitive (and often unpredictable) nature of panic, and the fact that others cannot fully appreciate the intensity of the experience. Search the web and you’ll find a ton of strategies to deal with panic attacks. In my opinion, very few (none in fact that I have found) adequately address different types of panic attacks. While I do not explicitly address tips for dealing with panic here, I believe we can optimize our coping strategies for anxiety attacks by first identifying what the panic is and what it is signifying. I identify six types of panic that I have observed in clinical practice below. I do not accept that panic attacks “come out of nowhere.” While cues may not be easily identifiable, experience has taught me that there is ALWAYS …
What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been: Return of Psychedelics to Mental Health
What do psychedelics have to do with psychology? The world of psychology has enjoyed an explosion of innovation as of late. The industry has been filled to the brim with creative minds and experimental researchers over the last few years, and some truly groundbreaking research has taken place. One area of research that psychology has been particularly involved in lately is the area of psychedelic drug use. As society’s opinions and acceptance of substance use changes throughout time, medical and psychology experts tend to follow suit- and this particular topic has been no exception. In this blog, we’ll examine the use of psychedelics in the world of psychology, the impact on mental health and the arguments for and against using them in a professional context. What are psychedelics? First things first, what exactly does the term ‘psychedelic’ refer to? The most commonly known examples of psychedelic drugs are LSD, mescaline, Ayahuasca, psilocybin and DMT. These substances are taken by a user in order to achieve a psychedelic experience, which can involve auditory/visual changes, perception …