Convincing Ourselves

It is well understood in psychology that our beliefs, especially those formed in childhood can have a great impact on our behaviour and choices later on in life. Even though Cognitive Behavioral Therapist may not deal with issues from the past, and in certain cases you may not need to, it is well acknowledged that it does occur in traditional psychotherapy as well as literature. With my experience with individuals, I have also come across individuals who are struggling with certain behaviors and choices presently, that stem from beliefs and experiences in early life. Below I will give a fictional account of what that may look like in order to help readers understand how such beliefs can be formed, and how they may be invisible to the individual themselves. Fictional Account: Laura, 35, is a middle manager at a local chain of retail stores. She comes from an upper-middle-class background, and both her parents were immigrants and doctors. Laura had two more siblings. A...

Is there such a thing as too little food? Well, there is surely is. Eating too little, going on a crash diet or leaving out a food group for no obvious reason are all examples of a haphazard, rash approach to managing health and weight. The main reason why we tend to go for these crash diets are  1. Impatience. 2. We want to look good rather than be healthy. The above two points usually manifests themselves in a ‘deadline’ usually around a wedding, a holiday or some other social event. As important as it might be for our egos to look for other people, the reality is that that we only look as good as we feel, and nothing good comes quick. One of the most extreme ways in which such black and white thinking becomes reality is anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is, of course, something I myself have struggled with. I have had loved ones who have struggled with Bulimia. Anorexia is essentially a killer, as it has the highest mortality rate of any mental heal...

Mantras, incantations, prayer or affirmations, repeated over and over again have been used in the east since eternity and are still in practice today. Having seen them being used first hand, I wondered if they were really useful or not. Mantras and Psychological interventions: Before we talk about Mantras in a negative manner it is important to note their similarity to other interventions in psychology, the most obvious of which are affirmations and therapeutic statements. Affirmations are a common self help technique taught to clients undergoing not only therapy but also life coaching. Affirmations aim to disrupt habitual thinking and instill a new, more productive thought. Although affirmations can be more tailored to a particular need, than an affirmation, the principles of repetition are fairly consistent. There is also another difference as a Mantra may not be legible even to the person saying it as it may be in another language, while affirmations are generally in the p...