All too often, it is easy for people to cross boundaries they do not have the right to cross. In every culture across the globe, the same horrors happen, usually in the shadows. Heroes arise. Changes are made. Yet, problems like stalking, human trafficking, and modern slavery continue. Social consciousness spurs governmental agencies to organize in fighting this never-ending battle, and some of these efforts are making a real difference, from local police departments to national and international cooperation. January is the month of focus each year, but active help is available every day, 24 hours a day. In many cases, this is psychological warfare used by enemies constantly on the move. The power people can exert over those who are weaker than they are might be physical as well, but threats and lies are weapons that are perhaps even more powerful. In the United States, the National Human Trafficking Hotline connects victims and survivors of sex and labor trafficking with services and support “to get help and stay safe.” The hotline (1-888-373-7888) offers toll-free phone and SMS text lines (text 233733), live online chat, and Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) for speech and hearing-impaired individuals (711). Correspondence is confidential (in certain cases, information is reported to the appropriate authorities) for requesting assistance or reporting a tip anonymously, and over 200 languages are supported through on-call interpreters. Email and online forms also are used through the hotline’s website. Calling 911 is always an option to begin this connection, too. Reaching out in person to officers or emergency personnel takes a lot of courage, but it can be a quick route to help. If you suspect something is not right, here are a few of the red flags the Hotline website lists though this is not “proof” that human trafficking is occurring.
Maintaining personal boundaries is often not possible for individuals in such situations. Their power has been taken from them. That’s where each of us can help. Community members, lawmakers, law enforcement and others can receive training and participate in events nationwide that are designed to bring awareness and support to victims in their communities. Examples are as follows.
The United States Department of Homeland Security recognizes National Human Trafficking Awareness Day every year on January 11th. Their Blue Campaign hosts special events and educational activities and encourages people and groups to wear blue, send in photos of themselves wearing blue, and share on social media not only the photos but also why they are participating. Other ways to contribute include lighting up a landmark, organizing a challenge, sharing a video, hosting an event, and encouraging friends and colleagues to do the same. Similar events are taking place all over the country and throughout the world. Founded in 1839, Anti-Slavery International is “the world’s oldest international human rights organization.” Their dream is an end to slavery in all its forms: forced and bonded labor; child slavery and child or forced marriage; descent based slavery (those born into slavery); domestic slavery, debt bondage, and human trafficking. The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center in Lame Deer, Montana, works in support of Native American women and their children, who are entitled to safety from violence within their homes and in their community, justice both on and off tribal lands, and access to culturally grounded services designed by and for Native women. They provide national leadership, develop educational and programmatic materials, provide direct technical assistance, build the capacity of Indigenous communities, and support tribal sovereignty.. No matter where you live, you can get involved. These are your boundaries, too. And you can fight for your family, friends, communities and schools. You can lend your strength to millions of people who do not have strength themselves … yet … or to one person. That is what boundaries are about, one person having the freedom to say “Enough!” One person having a chance to receive help that is desperately needed, to choose where to go, what to do. Whose Boundaries Are These, Anyway? syndicated from via Tumblr Whose Boundaries Are These, Anyway?
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This week’s Psychology Around the Net explores how medications can affect personality, what to do when someone won’t admit they’re wrong, how extroverts can protect themselves from burnout, the reality of telling depressed people to exercise, and more. The Medications that Change Who We Are: Can a prescription medication completely change an individual’s personality? Unfortunately, there are numerous cases of this occurring. In this article, the author reveals incredible evidence of the link between several prescription drugs, including statins, and extreme behavioral changes. When Someone Won’t Own Up to Their Bad Behavior: Do you struggle with a person — perhaps a loved one — who refuses to admit they are wrong and only gets defensive when you confront them about their behavior? In this article, clinical psychologist and author Leon F. Seltzer, PhD, gives advice on how you can avoid those dreaded confrontations by using empathic communication. Ways for Extroverts to Learn How To Chill: We’ve all seen the articles written to help introverts embrace their unique qualities and protect their energy. But what about extroverts? How can those who see themselves as extroverts take care of themselves, so as not to crash and burn? In this article, the author shares excellent tips to help extroverts learn how to relax. What Exercise Can — and Can’t — Do For Your Mental Health: It is well-established that exercise can improve mental health, but believing it’s the be-all-end-all treatment for depression can alienate people struggling with this debilitating disorder, especially those who have tried it with no success. This article examines the evidence of when exercise seems to help depression and when it doesn’t. Comic Gary Gulman Fights Depression With Laughter in His HBO Special and Live Shows: It took comic Gary Gulman decades to stand up to his depression. So he considers it both a public service and a form of therapy that he made his mental illness the focus of his new HBO special “Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh.” By talking about his battle with depression in his comedy shows, Gulman believes he has given others the courage to step up and confront their demons as well. Wary of War, Iranian Americans Sink Into a Familiar Anxiety: The U.S. killing last week of General Qassem Soleimani has many Iranian-Americans worried about another war as Iran threatens to retaliate and the U.S. threatens to fight back. This article highlights the feelings of Iranian-Americans in Minnesota. Psychology Around the Net: January 11, 2020 syndicated from via Tumblr Psychology Around the Net: January 11, 2020 Living with anxiety means you become creative with your parenting. You sometimes have to plan staycations instead of faraway vacations. You say no when you want to say yes. You risk your child asking you why a lot. Why can’t we go to the aquarium? Why can’t we go to the baseball game? Why can’t you drive here or there? When I heard those questions, I interpreted them in my mind as, why can’t you be like other moms without anxiety? From there the guilt would seep in. I am not always the mom who can’t. I’ve had periods in my life where I have been the mom who goes on the school trips, goes shopping alone, and drives further than out of our town. Every few years anxiety will rise up and I relapse into agoraphobia, generalized anxiety and panic. It only stays for a while and it always gets better, but during those times when it is present, it can be difficult. I’ve worked hard every day towards finding solutions and tools to help me cope and keep anxiety at bay, and for the most part, I can. During the times I can’t and anxiety is raging, it feels like life is passing by and moments are missed because of anxiety’s powerful hold. It’s the reality that life still happens despite my temporary hiatus, despite my “be back soon” or “under construction” status. So how do we deal with the guilt? Do we wait and try to make up for lost time when we are better? Do we try to pretend it doesn’t matter and that we don’t care and just say it is what it is? What has helped me to deal with my own guilt is to just be honest and call it for the crappy feeling it is. I’m always trying to be the best version of myself that I can be, even on tough days. I’m proactive with my mental health, I self-care to try and prevent relapses, and I self-care a little more when my mental health is struggling. Despite anxiety, I was always active in my children’s school. I even worked at one of my child’s schools for eight years, and when I was not working, I volunteered in the classrooms and for events. I did those things despite having anxiety. I spent a lot of time teaching my children how to be helpful, loving and kind by the example I set. I taught them about faith and humanity. We would do homework and projects together, and I still do with my youngest child who is still in high school. When my kids were younger, we would go for walks and play basketball at the park together. We did things within my comfort zone. I took my children to their medical and dental appointments and still do, even when anxiety screams so bad inside of me that I think everyone could hear it. I tried to do things every day against my anxiety in the hope that one day I will be totally free of it, and even though it comes and goes, it has never left me forever. I might have not been able to take my children on long trips or do everything they wanted to do, but there were many things I did that are of great significance that they are grateful for today. One of the most important things I did for my children was to teach them how to be caring and accepting of people, and not to judge people with depression or anxiety. The ability to have compassion and empathy for others is something I see them practice in their lives now as they have grown. A part of me might always feel like I failed them in some ways because anxiety called the shots a lot of times when it would pop in and out my life while they were younger. At the same time, because of anxiety, I was very tuned into their mental health and have always been able to help them navigate through their own struggles and teach them about mental health self-care. My children knew that I was always willing to play board games, go to the park, do crafts and bake together. Being a parent with anxiety doesn’t need to have a negative connotation attached to it. When I step out of comparing myself to other parents and recognize that I am still a good parent that has done amazing things, even though anxiety has lingered in and out of my life, I can let go of the inner critic. I can quiet the inner dialogue fueled by anxiety that tells me I am not good enough. Parenting with anxiety has had its challenges, but it has not always been a struggle. It has motivated me to work around my anxiety so that I can be an engaging and present parent in my children’s daily life. When I reflect on everything I have accomplished as a parent with anxiety, I know that I have nothing to be ashamed of. Too many parents are carrying the guilt of having a mental illness. Having a mental illness does not make you a bad parent. Being a bad parent makes you a bad parent, and I am a great mother. How Anxious Parents Can Let Go of Guilt syndicated from via Tumblr How Anxious Parents Can Let Go of Guilt I self-identify as an extrovert and most people in my life would concur. Living out loud, colorful, social butterfly with wings spread. I was called “precocious” as a child. An old soul, wise beyond my years, with an extensive vocabulary that surprised the adults around me. My mother used to say that I began talking at six months and never stopped. Reflecting back, I saw myself as “little Shirley Temple, tap-dancing for attention and to maintain approval,” which I now view as the onset of co-dependent tendencies. I came by my extroversion genetically. My father, who grew up in a multi-ethnic neighborhood in Philadelphia (South Philly, the cinematic home of Rocky), seemed to know someone everywhere we went and was able to bridge the socio-economic gap by finding something in common with anyone who crossed his path. He was not a formally educated man, having just graduated high school and then joined the Navy. He was a life-long learner, with street smarts and emotional intelligence. Like him, I reach out to new folks every day, in the supermarket, on the street, at networking events, in other places of businesses, on public transportation. No social anxiety here, and yet… there are times when I get “all peopled out” — as much as I love them — and need to push the reset button. I have been refraining from my usual flitting about, which looks like landing here there and everywhere, scattering joy and moving on. I have never been shy, so it’s not reflective of those dynamics. There are times when this empath feels like one of those Velcro dart boards onto which the round darts stick when hurled at the circle. I need to pull them off and smooth my surface. At first, it felt uncharacteristic and I worried if I was withdrawing and isolating. My home has become my haven, warmth and comfort abound. I can invite people in if I so choose or enjoy my solitude. I spend my weekdays as a therapist in a group practice. In the past few years, I have had friends and family members with serious illnesses that in some cases have ended their lives. On a regular basis, people contact me to pick my brain for personal and professional resources. They are convinced that I know everyone. I assure them that I don’t… yet. In his bookThe Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell speaks of the leadership archetype of the Connector: “These people who link us up with the world, who bridge Omaha and Sharon, who introduce us to our social circles — these people on whom we rely on more heavily than we realize — are Connectors, people with a very special gift of bringing people together.” I enjoy bringing people together. I have been hosting a holiday party for a few decades and it attracts people from the various personal and professional realms of my life. I call them “overlapping soul circles.” When the time comes, I don’t know who will walk through the door, until they do. Last night, there were folks who I have known all or most of my life, others I met only recently. They are from all walks of life and various ages… the youngest was 7 and the oldest two in their 80’s. Some knew each other. Others coming together for the first time. I wanted to be sure that everyone felt welcome and did my best to spend at least a bit of time with everyone who was there. There were likely 50 people in the 7-hour period who hung out, eating, drinking, hugging, chatting, playing music and getting their faces painted. (Yes, I hired an artistically talented friend to paint designs, exotic and playful.) I also made introductions and my guests took it from there. As the time was nearing for the gathering to come to a close, those who lingered, helped me clean and put things back in order, which I appreciated. I then lovingly “kicked them out,” which they respected, since I was feeling worn out from the prep and partying. I did it without remorse or guilt. The woman I was a few years ago would not have had the willingness to do that, feeling that I ought to put their needs before mine. When they did take their leave, I kicked back in the comfy recliner, feet up, sighing and drinking in the silence and solitude. The term “ambivert“ applies to this condition. According to an article in Forbes, entitled 9 Signs That You’re An Ambivert, written by Travis Bradberry, “The continuum between introversion and extroversion captures one of the most important personality traits. It’s troubling that we’re encouraged to categorize ourselves one way or the other because there are critical strengths and weaknesses commonly associated with each type.” How can those who see themselves as extroverts take care of themselves, so as not to crash and burn?
Ways for Extroverts to Learn How to Chill syndicated from via Tumblr Ways for Extroverts to Learn How to Chill Trauma eventually comes for all of us. It isn’t just stereotypical things like war or assault that are traumatic, there is also the everyday realities of things like illness or job loss. As painful as it is, trauma can be an invitation to a process of growth and change. Join us as today’s guest, Dr. James Gordon, explains some of the techniques of trauma healing, including some surprising ones, like laughter and spending time with animals. Dr. Gordon also shares with us how he personally handles his own trauma and the programs most often used by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. SUBSCRIBE & REVIEWGuest information for ‘Transform Trauma’ Podcast Episode
James S. Gordon, MD, author of The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma, is a Harvard educated psychiatrist and a world-renowned expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma. He is the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), a clinical professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Georgetown Medical School, and served as Chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. About The Psych Central Podcast HostGabe Howard is an award-winning writer and speaker who lives with bipolar disorder. He is the author of the popular book, Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations, available from Amazon; signed copies are also available directly from the author. To learn more about Gabe, please visit his website, gabehoward.com. Computer Generated Transcript for ‘Transform Trauma’ EpisodeEditor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript has been computer generated and therefore may contain inaccuracies and grammar errors. Thank you. Announcer: You’re listening to the Psych Central Podcast, where guest experts in the field of psychology and mental health share thought-provoking information using plain, everyday language. Here’s your host, Gabe Howard. Gabe Howard: Welcome to this week’s episode of the Psych Central Podcast. Calling into the show today, we have James S. Gordon, M.D. He is the author of The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma. He is a Harvard educated psychiatrist and a world renowned expert in using mind body medicine to heal depression, anxiety and psychological trauma. Dr. Gordon, welcome to the show. Dr. James Gordon: Thank you very much, Gabe. Good to be here. Gabe Howard: Well, we really appreciate having you. So let’s kind of start with the basics. What exactly is trauma? I think people are familiar with, you know, post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. But what is a good working definition of trauma? Dr. James Gordon: Well, the good working definition really is the Greek word for trauma, which means injury, it’s injury to the body and mind spirit to our social life. And I think the important thing to understand about trauma is that it comes to all of us. It’s not just restricted to people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder who’ve been through a war or been brutalized or raped or lived in horribly abusive families. It’s a part of life and it may come to us when we’re young. Our parents are somewhat abusive or neglectful or discriminated against at work or living in a violent or poverty stricken situation. It is likely to come to us as we grow older and we deal with real distress and losses of relationships or disappointments and jobs or physical illnesses or the death of parents. And it will definitely come if we’re lucky enough to grow old and be frail and have to face them also people we love and our own deaths. So trauma is a part of life. Gabe Howard: It’s interesting that you phrase it that way, trauma is a part of life because I think that many people spend their lives trying to avoid a trauma. You gave some examples of things that are understandably traumatic and then you gave some examples of things that people are like, well, that’s just part of life, so therefore, it can’t cause trauma. Can you talk a little bit about sort of like the trauma scale? Right. Because I think the average person is thinking, well, if trauma is part of life, therefore it’s no big deal. Dr. James Gordon: Well, hopefully life is a big deal. I think that’s really where we have to start. And that’s really what is part of what enables us to move through trauma. We need to value our lives. And so when something comes into our life that is extremely distressing, could be the loss of a relationship. It could be a divorce. More than half of American marriages end in divorce. I’ve never seen a divorce that wasn’t traumatic. I think we have to appreciate the fact that these are injuries to us, that they distress us. They throw our lives into chaos. They sometimes stop us in our tracks. And this is real. This doesn’t mean indulging in it, and, you know, kind of continually pitying ourselves. It means being realistic about the fact that we do experience this kind of suffering, this kind of pain. And if we can learn how to deal with it and move through it, we can also learn from it and grow through it. It’s a really valuable, although not a pleasant part of life. It’s not something that I would necessarily invite, but it’s something that’s going to come to us. And it’s an opportunity as well as a calamity. Gabe Howard: And I think maybe a larger point that you have. And again, please correct me if I’m wrong, is that just because there are worse traumas doesn’t mean that what you’re going through isn’t real and damaging and persistent and needing to be addressed. Dr. James Gordon: Absolutely. I think this is absolutely crucial. I’m glad you made that point because we often feel, oh, what I’ve gone through is not as bad as what the other person has gone through. And I really shouldn’t be so focused on it. I was just with a group of military veterans yesterday, as a matter of fact. And, you know, some of them had obvious traumas. They’d lost legs, you know, they’d had traumatic brain injury. And others were dealing with the sort of ordinary challenges of life, you know, dealing with relationships and whether or not they were gonna be able to make enough money to send their kids to college and worried about tight economic circumstances. And what I was struck by is the level of mutual understanding and compassion. And that’s what we need to cultivate rather than competitiveness, whose trauma is bigger if mine is bigger then I deserve more time and more space. And if mine is less, well, I really shouldn’t talk about it. It’s more like we all are going to go through difficult times and we are very much alike in that way. All humans are going to experience trauma. And if we acknowledge that and accept that, it gives us more compassion not only for other people, but also for ourselves. And that’s really what what this life is about. Trauma is a teacher ultimately to learn. If we can learn the lessons, we can grow through it. And it is not helpful to be comparing one person’s trauma to another person’s trauma. Obviously, I mean, I’ve worked with people who’ve lost quite literally 20, 25 members of their families during the war. And I’ve worked with people who are struggling with more ordinary problems like divorce and the illness of a child, serious illness of a child. But I think the idea is to have compassion for all of those kinds of suffering when they occur to others. And also when they occur to ourselves. And that’s the way we can begin to move through them. If we’re busy comparing, we’re never going to get anywhere. Gabe Howard: I really like what you said there, I tend to call that the suffering Olympics and nobody really wins when you’re comparing yourself to others because the things that we go through are very real and meaningful and disrupt our lives. And finding out what disrupts other people’s lives isn’t necessarily the best path forward. But one of the things that you said is you said that trauma is an opportunity, I believe were your exact words. Now, most people think of trauma as just a disaster. But I know that through your work, you feel that it can also be an opportunity. Can you please explain why and how? Dr. James Gordon: Sure. Why first. First of all, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by seeing it as an opportunity, by seeing it as something from which we can learn and not an unmitigated disaster. That’s the beginning of it. And how. The first step is to begin to balance the disorder that comes to our bodies and to our minds. So I teach a very simple form of concentrated meditation, just breathing slowly and deeply and through the nose, out through the mouth with the belly soft and relaxed. What that does is it quiets the agitation that comes after trauma. It helps to relax the muscles that get tense, because when we’re traumatized, we go whether it’s the cause of psychological or physical or social rejection. We go into a kind of fight or flight response. It’s just as if there were a predator, just as if there were, you know, we were in the jungle and a lion were chasing us. Our body reacts the same way. Big muscles get tense. Our heart rate goes up or blood pressure goes up. Our digestive system doesn’t work well. The centers of the brain are responsible for fear and anger are firing like crazy. And we’re suppressing centers in the brain that are responsible for self-awareness and thoughtful decision making and compassion. If we breathe slowly and deeply, it is very simple, not always easy. But if we can do this, we activate the vagus nerve which balances out the fight or flight response, quiets the body, slows heart rate, lowers blood pressure, calms the mind, helps us to focus, makes it easier to connect with other people and have compassion for them. Dr. James Gordon: So very simple, very basic technique that lays the groundwork for all the other techniques that can help us move through and learn from trauma. First, we need to contend with the disruption the trauma has caused. This kind of soft belly breathing is fundamental. Another technique that is also crucial, it is less well-studied, but I would say equally important is the use of what can be called expressive meditations. Soft belly breathing is a concentrated meditation. All the world’s religious traditions have concentrated meditations. In western religions, repetitive prayers can be seen as concentrated meditations, or focusing on a sound or focusing on an image. Expressive meditations are meditations that work with the body moving very fast, breathing fast, whirling, jumping up and down, shaking and dancing. These are the oldest forms of meditation on the planet, and they’re very helpful. They’re very helpful with fight or flight when we’re tense and agitated and anxious and angry. And they’re also very especially helpful when we feel frozen, because sometimes when trauma is both overwhelming and inescapable, we just shut down. Our whole body closes down. We may go limp. We may collapse to the ground. We feel distant from our body. Both fight or flight and this freeze response can be lifesaving. If you think about an animal running away from a predator, fight or flight can save the animal’s life. Freezing can also save an animal’s life. If you think about your pet cat catching a mouse, the mouse goes limp in the cat’s jaws. Dr. James Gordon: And sometimes if the cat doesn’t chomp down too much on the mouse, she loses interest in the mouse, puts the mouse down, mouse shakes herself off and runs off to the mouse hole. The freeze responses comes and saved the mouse’s life and has gone. The problem for humans is that we continue in fight or flight, and we continue in freeze response long after the traumatic event is over. Soft belly breathing balances out fight or flight. These active, expressive meditations helped to free us from the freezing response that we have. Just yesterday, I’m thinking about these vets that I was with. There was a guy there who’d been a Marine. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder ever since a combat incident where he witnessed two young boys who were shot and who were bleeding to death and he couldn’t do anything. He was frozen. He couldn’t even do basic first aid. And he was totally shut down and couldn’t connect with other people and felt his body all tight and tense. We did some shaking and dancing and he began to open up. He began to feel the feelings coming back into his body. So these are two ways quieting fight or flight, breaking up the tension and the withdrawal of the freeze response. These are fundamental processes that make it possible for us to use all the dozens of other self-care approaches and the other therapies that may help us move through whatever trauma we’ve experienced. Gabe Howard: We’ll be right back after these messages. Announcer: Want real, no-boundaries talk about mental health issues from those who live it? Listen to the Not Crazy podcast co-hosted by a lady with depression and a guy with bipolar. Visit Psych Central.com/NotCrazy or subscribe to Not Crazy on your favorite podcast player. Announcer: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.com. Secure, convenient, and affordable online counseling. Our counselors are licensed, accredited professionals. Anything you share is confidential. Schedule secure video or phone sessions, plus chat and text with your therapist whenever you feel it’s needed. A month of online therapy often costs less than a single traditional face to face session. Go to BetterHelp.com/PsychCentral and experience seven days of free therapy to see if online counseling is right for you. BetterHelp.com/PsychCentral. Gabe Howard: And we’re back discussing trauma with Dr. James S. Gordon. In addition to paying attention to nature and animals, you also talk about how laughter is an important part of trauma healing. Dr. James Gordon: Sure. Gabe Howard: I like this because I love humor. I love laughing. And I kind of feel like I understand why this would be helpful. But I think that maybe the average person is like, wait. So when I’m traumatized, you want me to laugh? It all seems so counterintuitive. Dr. James Gordon: Absolutely. That’s what people say, and I’ve done this laughter, meditation with refugees, I’ve done it with people who’ve lost family members. I’ve also done it in people who were just dealing with more ordinary kinds of trauma. And often they look at me like I’m crazy. I said, OK, maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I’m not. How about doing it? Just give me three minutes. Give laughter, three minutes. And what happens is, and I see this again and again, that the laughter, if you laugh with a ha ha ha ha ha. A total belly laugh, or sing it at first. It all of a sudden within a minute or two, your body begins to loosen up. Some energy comes back, a little feeling of freedom. And sometimes that laughter that was forced at first becomes spontaneous. And now there’s actually research showing that laughter not only relaxes the muscles in our bodies, it improves mood, decreases levels of anxiety, improves immunity. Just generally gives us a more positive outlook. So laughter is also an expressive meditation. Again, it breaks up that frozen state and I’ve used it again and again with people who’ve been shut down after major trauma. All of these set the stage and make us so much more receptive to the other approaches. Two others that I write about, one is being in nature and the other is having animals around us. Now, many of us I don’t know about you, but when I was going through really difficult times in my life, I just naturally, if you go gravitated toward walking in nature. Dr. James Gordon: I happened to be in the city so I would go to a park to walk in the park. And as soon as I would get in the park, I would feel a bit of the weight lifting off me. And if I spent more time there, I feel a bit more easy. I could feel a little breathe a little deeper. And my shoulders weren’t as tight, and my mood lifted. We now know 60 years after, as a kid, I would do that spontaneously. Now, there’s lots of research showing that if we spend time in nature that we do to decrease levels of anxiety, we do improve our mood. We do decrease blood pressure or immunity may improve. So being in nature clearly is therapeutic for us when we’re going through a hard time and it’s good for us in any time. And animals, again, I remember as a little kid being very, very lonely. And one of the things that made me feel better was taking care of rabbits. Now, nobody showed me any research on this. This is now 70 years later. There is research showing that people who spend time with animals, people have gone through a difficult time, are going to do better. One of the most striking studies is a study of people who have had heart attacks. Dr. James Gordon: They were divided into two groups comparable in every other way. Severity of the heart attack, age, general physical status, etc. Those people who had pets at home lived far longer than those people who did not on average. I think it was something like the death rates were three times as great for those people who did not have animals as for those people who did. And even brief periods with animals can be very, very therapeutic. I’ve done a lot of work after school shootings here in the United States with kids who’ve been terribly traumatized by the death of other kids in the school and the death of teachers. Many times the kids don’t particularly want to talk to adults, but they do want to talk to animals. They do want to be close to animals. They feel better when they’re petting a dog or sidling up to a horse and grooming a horse or maybe getting on a horse. That’s what makes them feel better. These are just laughter, nature, pets, these are just three of the powerful therapeutic approaches that any of us can use. And you don’t have to own a pet. You can go pay attention to animals in the park. You can visit in a petting zoo. You can go visit a friend or relative who has a pet. Even those brief visits turn out to be therapeutic. Gabe Howard: I like how you said there are three simple things that anybody can do. And you also talk about a fourth and a fifth, gratitude and forgiveness. Can you talk about how gratitude and forgiveness help us heal from our own trauma? Dr. James Gordon: Sure. Meditation kind of opens the door for gratitude. So if you are in that state of relaxed moment-to-moment awareness and by meditation, I don’t mean anything fancy, that slow, deep, soft belly breathing. Anybody can do. You don’t have to pay anybody for it. You don’t have to change your religion or go anyplace special or change your clothes. That relaxed, soft, belly breathing creates a state in which appreciation of each moment is possible. And that appreciation is a form of gratitude. People who are grateful tend to be less anxious. Their mood is better. They move through difficult situations more easily. And keeping a gratitude journal is another way of kind of making gratitude easier. Simply writing down three or five things for which you’re grateful. You can do it in the morning. You can do it in the evening. And there’s a lot of research showing that writing down those things, and it could be something very simple. I’m grateful for my morning coffee. I’m grateful that the guy who got me the coffee said hello to me and smiled at me. I’m grateful that I had a comfortable place to sit in the coffee shop. Just those simple things. Write them down. That in itself improves mood. That’s a kind of counterweight to the negative distressed thinking we have when we’re traumatized. And I’ve seen many, many people for whom that’s been a kind of lifeline through difficult times. Dr. James Gordon: Now forgiveness is not so easy for many people, even though all the religions teach us the importance of forgiveness. It’s not so easy for us, so it’s something that we have to practice. Most of us. Some of us are naturally forgiving and those people are blessed. Most of us have to do some exercises to encourage forgiveness. The one that I teach in The Transformation is a pretty simple one. It’s imagining somebody sitting across from you whom you’ve harmed and asking forgiveness from that person and then imagining somebody who’s harmed you sitting across from you and forgiving that person and then imagining you’re sitting across from yourself and allowing yourself to forgive yourself and then letting forgiveness spread from there out into the world. Now that third one. Forgiving yourself is often the hardest for most of us. But all three can be difficult and it’s a matter of practice. And I don’t force people, I don’t push people to forgive. That’s why I teach forgiveness toward the end of the transformation. That’s why at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, we’re working with a whole population that’s been traumatized. We do our forgiveness meditation toward the end of our training. It takes some time. We have to come into a more relaxed state. We have to have some sense of appreciation and gratitude. Dr. James Gordon: Some of the confidence that comes with using some of the other tools in addition to the ones we’ve already mentioned, like guided imagery or written exercises or drawings that help us mobilize our imagination in forgiveness comes a bit more easily. And if you’re working with forgiveness, don’t necessarily start with the person you believe has destroyed your life. Start with the guy who cut you off in traffic this morning. Start with something a little easier and work up to the big ones. And it’s a process, but it’s really important. And what’s most important is to bring that forgiveness, that compassion into your life. It’s important for you. It’s not so important for the other person, really. And if we’re able to do this, if we’re able to begin to feel more forgiving toward other people as well as ourselves, that helps to balance our whole physiology, gives us so much more hopeful outlook on life, helps us relate to other people, helps us deal with future situations more easily. We’re not so easily angered anymore. We have more of a sense of other people’s reality that maybe they weren’t really trying to hurt us. Maybe they were going through a hard time. Again, this is a gradual process and be patient with yourself as you embark on it. Gabe Howard: Thank you so much, I really appreciate all that information. For our listeners out there, can you share your favorite self-care technique? Dr. James Gordon: Well, it’s the soft belly breathing. It’s what I teach everywhere. It’s what I do every day. It’s how I keep myself in balance. It’s fundamental to all the other techniques. It’s portable. It’s easy to do. I do it when I’m standing on line in the supermarket and I’m getting impatient. I just do it before every meeting I have with our staff at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, keep me balanced and keeps me at ease in the world. One other that I’ll mention that we haven’t gone into, but I do use a lot and that I teach in detail in The Transformation is the use of wise guide imagery. That is relaxing, imagining myself in a safe, comfortable place, and then imagining that a guide comes to me. It could be a person, it could be an animal, a figure from scripture, or a book, or who knows where. And this may represent my imagination or my intuition or my unconscious. And it’s a way of accessing my intuition, my imagination, my unconscious. It’s a way of solving problems. And I create this image, and I have an imaginary dialogue with the image. And I must do this twice a week when I’m coming up against a situation and Dr. James Gordon: I’m not quite sure what to do. And I don’t have an immediate response and I can’t figure it out rationally. I know I need to go to that deeper part of my inner knowing. And the whole script for the wise guide imagery is there in The Transformation and people can look at me doing it at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine Website, cmbm.org. But those two I would say, are the fundamental. Soft belly breathing, always, always, always. Wise guide imagery whenever I’m in trouble. But I think the other thing I want to say is that my favorite technique may not be yours. And that’s why I in The Transformation described 20, 25 different techniques because we’re all different and different techniques are going to appeal to different people. And we need to use techniques that are most appealing and most effective for us. So I want to emphasize that as well. What I do in The Transformation is encourage you to trust yourself more and more and say, OK, this works for me. This doesn’t work. Let me use what works and don’t get preoccupied with what doesn’t work. That way lies more trouble. Gabe Howard: Along those same lines, what is your top advice to a listener who wishes to recover from a traumatic situation? Dr. James Gordon: Know recovery is possible and know the trauma is the soil, it’s the ground in which both wisdom and compassion can grow. Know that this is the perennial wisdom of the world’s religious and spiritual traditions. We have evidence for this with modern scientific research has shown that this is possible. This is what I’ve discovered in 50 years of working with people who’ve been traumatized. And what I’ve learned and working with my own trauma know that it is possible for you not only to rebalance yourself and recover and become more resilient, become more joyful and wiser and more compassionate and more fulfilled than you’ve ever been. And that trauma can be an invitation, as painful as it is, to that process of growth and change. Gabe Howard: Dr. Gordon, thank you so much. Where can our listeners find you and where can they find your new book, The Transformation? Dr. James Gordon: The Transformation, Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma, you can get it at any independent bookstore, you can buy it on Amazon.com. Wherever you’d like to. It’s widely available. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine Web site CMBM.org has me describing and showing many of the techniques that are in The Transformation, as well as information about programs we’re doing all over the country and opportunity to join mind body skills groups where you can learn the techniques with other people and feel the support of other people and learn from somebody who I’ve trained, who is well-schooled in the techniques and the approach that I describe and that you could read about in The Transformation. You can look for me. James Gordon, M.D., that’s my Web site. Also on Instagram, James Gordon, M.D. And on Twitter. This is also an invitation to become part of our community at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. We’re growing all the time and we’re reaching out and working with many hundreds of thousands of people here in the United States and overseas, giving them the tools, teaching them the techniques, giving them the perspective and the understanding that’s there in The Transformation. Gabe Howard: Thank you again so much for being here, we really, really appreciate it. Dr. James Gordon: Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Gabe Howard: You’re welcome. And remember, to all of our listeners, we need you to share us on social media wherever you downloaded this podcast. Rate us as many stars, bullets or hearts as you feel appropriate and use your words. Tell other people why to listen. And remember, you can get one week of free, convenient, affordable, private online counselling anytime, anywhere, simply by visiting BetterHelp.com/PsychCentral. We will see everybody next week. Announcer: You’ve been listening to The Psych Central Podcast. Want your audience to be wowed at your next event? Feature an appearance and LIVE RECORDING of the Psych Central Podcast right from your stage! Email us at [email protected] for details. Previous episodes can be found at PsychCentral.com/Show or on your favorite podcast player. Psych Central is the internet’s oldest and largest independent mental health website run by mental health professionals. Overseen by Dr. John Grohol, Psych Central offers trusted resources and quizzes to help answer your questions about mental health, personality, psychotherapy, and more. Please visit us today at PsychCentral.com. To learn more about our host, Gabe Howard, please visit his website at gabehoward.com. Thank you for listening and please share widely. Podcast: Transforming Trauma Into Wholeness and Healing syndicated from via Tumblr Podcast: Transforming Trauma Into Wholeness and Healing Introducing PHYGITAL: It’s More than a Marketing BuzzwordOK…we admit that it’s a freshly-minted word, but PHYGITAL recognizes an increasingly useful trend in marketing. PHYGITAL refers to a crossover of the physical (PHY-) and the digital (-GITAL) aspects of the brand experience.The majority of today’s consumers shop online and in “brick-and-mortar” locations, and those two activities are always closely integrated. Although the name might be new, it’s a commonplace consideration in the retail world, and it’s making inroads in healthcare marketing as well. Healthcare can take a page from retail brands and others as they devise new ways to meet customer expectations. The end result is to create a better, smarter, and more personalized customer experience. The goal is the same in healthcare. Your marketing vocabulary says “enhanced patient experience. ”Long before the buzzword arrived on the scene, retail consumers would often look online for information that helped formulate their shopping and purchase decisions. Retail customers would visit a physical store to validate their decision and finalize their purchase. Nearly 25 percent of consumers make their purchases in a real-world store. The percentage is much higher for in-person healthcare delivery. Steal a Page from the Retail Phygital PlaybookThese purchase steps can be in any order. An item that is seen (tried, touched, experienced, encountered) in a physical store first, might be subsequently purchased online through Amazon or the like, or vice versa. A few retail examples of the phygital experience include:
Why Phygital Immersion Marketing Is Increasingly ImportantFor various reasons, phygital marketing is proving to be essential to brick-and-mortar retail. It’s true that real-world retail locations often struggled against the tide of online eCommerce. As a practical matter, these two activities can be integrated marketing tools that seamlessly complement each other for the benefit of the customer. Today’s healthcare buyers—prospective patients—typically shop online and buy in person when considering a course of treatment, a doctor or hospital. What’s more, the physical and digital crossover has a strong connection with the large and vital millennial audience. This demographic group has never been without the Internet. Major retail brands increasingly target the “phygital generation.” It’s perfectly natural and expected for millennials to begin or conclude their purchase process online. Healthcare immersion marketing has the opportunity to create a positive (and integrated) Healthcare patient experience through the office, the website, and via social media. Millennials also love, expect and demand quick answers and fast, convenient customer service. Often, that’s as close as their smartphone. The challenge for marketing professionals is to effectively combine these channels and deliver an immediate, immersive and positive customer/patient experience — essentially, immersion-communication. Increasing Phygital Connectivity in HealthcareIn the past, doctor offices, hospitals, and the healthcare industry has been slow to adopt new technology…patient-doctor email for example. Competition and availability of tech advances are now bringing techie tools and ideas to provider offices. Ideas like phygital may be somewhat slower to gain traction. But patient expectations, and productivity benefits, have energized the adoption curve. Healthcare thought-leaders, leading medical practices, and hospitals have recognized this trend as an increasingly important marketing and business operations tool. Before the phygital catchword popped up, providers had begun embracing change. In addition to the website, social media and other marketing and communications elements, major healthcare players such as the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and many others are finding current-day examples that use phygital to enhance the patient experience, professional reputation, and brand allegiance. One of the most significant advances in accessibility is the growing adoption of telemedicine and virtual office visits (online, smartphone or app), nearly any time and nearly anywhere in the world. In addition, consider:
Building on the Benefits of the Phygital ExperienceMajor brands and others in the retail world have recognized the benefits of the PHYGITAL customer experience in the path to a purchase decision. By aligning all the physical and digital touchpoints, the retail consumer (or healthcare patient) quickly and easily receive consistent information that helps their purchase decision. In the future, health systems will be able to provide a single tech platform to enable individuals to multitask. They can book virtual and real-world appointments, connect with allied health providers, and manage their personal wellness plan from a single online device. Eventually, the target audience and individual health-and-wellness plan will expand from online and social media to include emerging technology in augmented reality, artificial intelligence, integration with the Internet-of-Things (smart home and smart car devices). In many respects, the phygital buzzword is late to the party. It is now catching up with many aspects of physical-and-digital marketing techniques. Convenient, quick and informative are the watchwords. Begin with the consumer/user perspective. Millennials alone are an important and demanding audience. Recognize the importance of expanding on phygital opportunities that support the brand experience, capture more opportunity, and greatly enhance the patient experience. The post What You Need to Know About <span class=“r_entity r_intangible” typeof=“schema:Intangible”><span class=“r_prop r_description” property=“schema:description”><span class=“r_prop r_mainentityofpage” property=“schema:mainEntityOfPage”>Phygital</span></span></span>: More than a Buzzword appeared first on Healthcare Success. What You Need to Know About Phygital: More than a Buzzword syndicated from via Tumblr What You Need to Know About Phygital: More than a Buzzword |
About MeI am a physician with an expertise in writing articles on health related topics. My areas of special interest are cardiology, diabetes and exercise and fitness. I am delighted when women are healthy and happy, but most women are not. My passion is showing them simple and overlooked ways to bring their health back to life. |