Category: Blog Posts

We know that our thoughts can change the way we feel. Have you ever been so stressed out you got a stomachache or a headache? Your thoughts did that to you. But can your thoughts actually change the brain’s physical make-up?

Scientists, who are studying the neuroplasticity of the brain, are discovering how much our thoughts really do shape our brain and our health. In an earlier article, I shared how different forms of meditation change the structure of the brain. This isn’t surprising because thoughts have physical properties. Every thought sends electrical signals through your brain, which in turn influences every cell of the body. Learning to control negative thinking is one of the most effective ways to have better health.

What health benefits may positive thinking provide?

• Increase your life span
• Lessen depression
• Lessen distress
• Gain a greater resistance to the common cold
• Create better psychological and physical well-being
• Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease
• Improve coping skills during times of stress

But why exactly does positive thinking cause these improvements? Science is still researching this question, yet we do know that there are a number of reasons…

• Positive people take better care of themselves – they eat a healthier diet, exercise regularly and get plenty of rest.
• They avoid unhealthy behaviors such as overeating, smoking, and risky sex, which protects the body from debilitating diseases. 
• An optimistic outlook lowers the level of cortisol associated with inflammation and raises the chemical that fosters communication between the two halves of the brain.
• A can-do attitude generates a sense of empowerment and confidence in your abilities in contrast to the self-defeating I-can’t attitude.
• The qualities of forgiveness, resilience, commitment, challenge, and control combat the harmful feelings of hopelessness, bitterness, resentment, anger and cynicism.
• Optimistic people are more fun to be around, so they have better relationships with friends and family.

Positive thinking often starts with how you talk to yourself. The best advice is to only say things to yourself that you would say to a dear friend. When a negative thought enters your head, use positive affirmation to replace it. This will keep your brain chemistry in balance.

If you find you’re being controlled by habitually negative patterns of thinking, it’s time to seek professional help. If you live near Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA, please contact my office and schedule an appointment. Healing everyday thought patterns is crucial to gaining optimum health.

Are you looking forward to spending more time with your family? Because of school break and holidays, December gives you that opportunity. If your initial reaction to that question was not joyful, it may be that the pressures of the season are getting out of control. The pressures to get more done, to spend more money, or to confront family issues that are generally ignored the rest of the year all contribute to stress overload.

You know it’s coming, so instead of turning to destructive and unproductive behaviors, why not plan this year to handle it differently? There are healthy means of relieving stress even during this stressful time of year.

Here is a holiday wrap up of a few of my past articles and tips that have proven helpful during stressful holiday times:

There are many holistic health treatments for stress including psychotherapy treatment and dietary supplementation. Read more on my website under: Managing Stress.

As a reminder: We will not have an official Asperger Syndrome Meetup during the busy month of December, I encourage all of you to still chat with your friends on this forum. We all know that December can be one crazy, stressful month with our Aspie loved ones. Share your stories, get inspiration, offer support, or gain whatever you need from our worldwide membership. We’ll meet again in January.

Love and marriage makes for very complex relationships. They are not static, but are ever changing as each person matures and grows. Many marriages unhappily end in divorce. According to Oregon.Gov, there have already been 9,693 divorces in Oregon from January to September 2014. There were 25,395 recorded divorces in Washington for 2013.

A recent CNN article, written by Lisa Respers France, reports on an eye-opening study led by a Michigan State University sociologist. This study examined how the quality of a marriage relates to heart disease specifically. They focused on people with ages ranging from 57 to 85. They found that bad marriages causes stress that harms cardiovascular health and since the immune system declines with age, this becomes more critical, especially for women since they tend to internalize their feelings more than men.

A strong marriage requires constant and loving attention, which can be fun but is also hard work. This is because marriage changes as each partner grows and changes. For most people to be happy in their marriage they need to feel respected and cherished. For many, passion, trust, friendship and safety are other essential aspects of the relationship with their spouse.

Here are seven psychological tasks that must be cared for to maintain a happy and healthy relationship:

• Build togetherness by creating the intimacy that supports it, while maintaining each partner’s autonomy.
• Master the inevitable crises of life together.
• Create a safe haven for the expression of differences.
• Establish a rich and pleasurable sexual relationship.
• Use laughter and humor to keep things in perspective, and to avoid boredom by sharing fun, interests and friends.
• Provide nurturance and comfort for each other, satisfying each partner’s needs for dependency and offering continuing encouragement and support.
• Keep the romance alive while facing the sober realities of life.

There may be one or more of these tasks that you’re struggling with. A marriage counselor can help you develop the tools you need to cope and succeed. And don’t make the mistake of thinking marriage counseling is just for those starting out. As people get older, there are unique challenges you face. You may have grown apart and are not able to communicate as you once did. If you live near Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA please contact my office and schedule an appointment to create a happy and healthy life. You deserve it after all these years.

Learn more on my website: Marriage Counseling.

Are you concerned about the overuse of stimulant medications for ADD and ADHD in children? According the Center for Disease Control (CDC), “The percentage of children with an ADHD diagnosis continues to increase, from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007 and to 11.0% in 2011.” Oregon and Washington are listed at 9.1% to 11%, which falls in the moderately high portion of their scale.

When parents see their children struggling in life because they can’t concentrate, find it hard to sit still, and impulsively say and do things that interfere with their ability to form lasting friendships and do well in school, they desperately want to find a solution to the problem. Many children are put on stimulants such as methylphenidate (Ritalin), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine or Dextrostat), and pemoline (Cylert), which can dramatically reduce the hyperactivity and improve their ability to focus, work, and learn.

However, do you want to settle for controlling ADD/ADHD symptoms, when it’s possible to create life-long improvements? There is a more effective treatment…

People with ADD see immediate improvement with medication and think that’s good enough. But these medicines won’t cure the disorder. They only temporarily control the symptoms. Although drugs help people pay attention and complete their work, they can’t increase knowledge or improve academic skills. Drugs alone won’t help people improve their self-esteem or cope with problems. The most significant, long-lasting improvements are made when medication is combined with behavioral therapy, emotional counseling, and practical support. Yet according to a September 2014 PsychCentral article, “Just one in four kids get drugs plus psychotherapy.”

Are concerns about how to pay for mental health treatment holding you back from getting help? Then you need to know that a 2008 law, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (also known as the mental health parity law), requires insurance coverage of services for mental health, behavioral health and substance-use disorders to be comparable to physical health coverage. Read more about the parity law here.

If you live near Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA and your child with ADD/ADHD is not doing as well as he or she could be or you personally are struggling with your ADD/ADHD, please contact my office and schedule an appointment so we can get started on a program to help.

Read more on my website: ADD & ADHD.

The people who care most about your child’s education (you and the teacher) have a great opportunity to communicate and work together at the regularly scheduled parent/teacher conferences. Teachers have a lot of kids to keep track of – and each one has their own strengths and weaknesses. But since school can be especially difficult for your ADD and ADHD child, this conference with the teacher is the perfect opportunity for you to make sure your child doesn’t fall behind and have trouble fitting in at school.

You know your child better than anyone else. You know the problems aren’t because your child is a bad kid and it’s not because you’re a bad parent. Just as a child with a broken bone needs special care, so a child with an interrupted brain balance needs special attention. And things can change for the better!

When a parent takes some time to prepare for the parent/teacher conference or schedules a private meeting with the teacher, you can respectfully show that you want to be involved and supportive. Some questions you can discuss are:

1. What skills (math, reading, etc) should my child learn this year?
2. What are my child’s weaknesses and strengths?
3. How is my child’s class behavior?
4. How is my child doing socially?
5. How is my child doing emotionally?
6. In what areas do you see need for improvement?
7. Do you feel my child is doing his/her best?
8. What type of learner is my child – visual, auditory, or kinesthetic?
9. How can we best accommodate my child’s learning style?
10. Is my child performing at Grade Level?
11. Does my child need extra help in any areas?
12. How much time should my child spend on homework?
13. How can I help?
14. If your child is having a problem, initiate a conversation about it by asking: “May I share a concern?”
15. What would you advise?

What more can you do? The first step to really improving life for those with ADD and ADHD is to build your child’s self-esteem. They don’t have many experiences that build their self-esteem and competence. And it’s not easy coping with the frustrations day after day. They may fear that they’re strange, abnormal, or stupid. Some children release their frustration by acting contrary, starting fights, or destroying property. Some turn the frustration into body ailments, like the child who gets a stomachache everyday before school. Others hold their needs and fears inside, so that no one sees how badly they feel.

Over time a trained therapist

can help children with ADD or ADHD identify and build on their strengths, cope with daily problems, and learn to control their attention and aggression. If you live near Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA, please

contact my office and schedule an appointment. Holiday breaks are a great time to fit it into your busy schedule.

Research shows that genetic factors play a large role in autism spectrum disorder. However, not as much is known about the role of medications prescribed during pregnancy. Do antidepressants and antipsychotics increase the risk of ASD and ADHD? Or is it the mother’s depression a greater contributing factor? That’s what researchers are trying to find out.

New research suggests that increased risk of autism after medication use during pregnancy may actually be reflecting the increased risk associated with severe maternal depression instead. According to SFARI (Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative), “Women who have a history of bipolar disorder or depression are more likely to have a child with Asperger syndrome than classic autism.” They base this statement on a study published in the 2012 issue of Autism Research and Treatment.

PsychCentral reports on a study conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers, which discovered, “While a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder was more common in the children of mothers prescribed antidepressants during pregnancy than in those with no prenatal exposure, when the severity of the mother’s depression was accounted for, that increased risk was no longer statistically significant.”  They did, however, discover an increased risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). And antipsychotic drugs sometimes used to treat severe, treatment-resistant depression appeared to increase the risk for autism.


The senior author of the report, Roy Perlis, M.D., M.Sc., M.G.H., made this comment, “Untreated depression can pose serious health risks to both a mother and child, so it’s important that women being treated with antidepressants who become pregnant, or who are thinking about becoming pregnant, know that these medications will not increase their child’s risk of autism.”

Depression is not something you want to ignore because you’re afraid of what medication will do to you or your unborn child. There are a variety of depression treatment options available, with medication and without medication. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and a holistic health approach are beneficial in helping anxious or depressed people lower medication requirements. Please discuss these options with your doctor. You don’t need to stay in the darkness. If you live near Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA please contact my office and set up an appointment so we can discuss the best treatment for you.

Wondering if you or someone you love has depression? Take the online PsychCentral Depression Quiz. If depression is indicated, please contact your physician or a mental health professional immediately.

Read more on my website: Overcoming Depression.