Procrastination.. that nagging feeling that I should be doing “work” right now, but I can’t bring myself to do it… and even though I’m “hanging out” and should enjoy not working, I can’t enjoy it… because I think I SHOULD be working right now… and there’s a self-loathing feeling that comes along with that.
Change, desirable or not, can make you feel disoriented, outside the bounds of your competency, and grieving the good that was lost. What might help you deal with the consequences of change? What might help you attain a new sense of equilibrium?
Unless you’ve taken a part in it, you may feel that psychotherapy is one of the least understood professions: Two people meet regularly to talk and “magic happens.” How is that talk different than a talk you might have with a friend? What sets the two relationships apart and gives psychotherapy an edge in its healing power?
I have been working as a licensed clinical psychologist in San Diego for almost 20 years, and throughout those years, I have often interacted and collaborated with other kinds of healing clinicians, such as clinical social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists. It seems that particularly in the last several years though, life coaches, who provide services that could be perceived as aligned with my profession, have been springing up like mushrooms. Given the apparent increase in the number of life coaches, it raises the question of whether they are interchangeable with psychologists (and other mental health providers). In other words, when you struggle emotionally or mentally, should you seek out a coach or a psychologist, and what are the differences?
I have been practicing as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in San Diego for close to 20 years. Over the years, people sometimes mistakenly have referred to me as “a psychiatrist,” or asked me whether I can prescribe medications, like a medical doctor. What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist after all? In what ways do they overlap and in what ways are they different?