Yearly Archives: 2013

/2013

Trauma and Anxiety Sufferers Turn to EMDR for Quick Help

 

by Dr. David Greenfield

 

 

EMDR –WHAT IS IT?

 

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing.  For many people, EMDR can be a very powerful and effective way of neutralizing and creating positive resolutions of troublesome memories or other strong emotions, such as those from trauma, PTSD, or other anxiety–based problems. EMDR can be an effective adjunctive procedure for dealing with various addiction issues.  It can also act as an important addition to other therapy and be used even if you are in treatment with another doctor.  In doing so, it may facilitate certain areas more rapidly and effectively. EMDR has received approval as an effective first-line treatment for Trauma and Post Trauma Stress Syndrome by the American Psychiatric Association.

 

HOW MANY EMDR SESSIONS ARE NEEDED?

 

For someone who wishes to focus on a single recent or past trauma, sometimes a few sessions of EMDR treatment may be sufficient within the context of ongoing therapy.  For people with a long history of painful traumatic events, PTSD, or other anxiety related issues, a number of EMDR sessions may be needed to achieve good results. In general, EMDR is a brief and effective means of achieving positive change and results.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

 

The first part of EMDR is the psychologists or therapist recording a history of the problem during the initial consultation. Part of the treatment process involves inducing rapid eye movement (using alternating light stimulation) which triggers eye patterns similar to what occurs during REM dream sleep. Sometimes we use bilaterally stimulated auditory or tactile stimulation as well. This procedure facilitates troublesome memories and emotions to be recalled and experienced, but be desensitized at the same time. These emotions and thoughts are then reprocessed and neutralized much faster than without the eye movement procedure.  For many people this offers palpable release and relief of negative emotions.  At the same time, they can reprocess any negative feelings about themselves and replace them with more positive and adaptive thoughts and feelings.

 

The EMDR processing continues during the treatment sessions(s) which are typically conducted in 90 minutes until all the troublesome memories and feelings have been neutralized.  We believe that EMDR helps support an accelerated processing of memory and emotions, which can speed up the healing process

 

ARE THERE ANY SIDE EFFECTS TO THE EMDR PROCEDURE?

 

Typically none. Occasionally there can be some fatigue which is usually short lived. If there are ant contraindications for the use of the procedure, this will be discussed in the initial consultation.

 

 HOW DR. GREENFIELD USES IN TREATMENT

 

Frequently I utilize a combination of traditional and cutting-edge techniques combining psychotherapy, neurophysiologic approaches like EMDR, solution-focused therapy, and Imago Relationship Therapy to produce an effective and results-oriented approach.

 

For more information on EMDR, please visit our website at https://drdavidgreenfield.com/emdr/

 

By |August 15th, 2013|EMDR, Services, Wordpress|Comments Off on Trauma and Anxiety Sufferers Turn to EMDR for Quick Help

Internet Addiction Interview with Dr. Greenfield on Wisconsin Public Radio

Dr. Greenfield was recently interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio, WPR, on the subject of Internet Addition. You can listen to the recorded interview here:

http://wpr.org/ideas/noteslist_idcall.cfm?noteslist=163440

File MP3

 

MP3 Version

 

 

File-Audio-WMA-icon

Windows Media Version

 

 

 

 

By |July 16th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Internet Addiction Interview with Dr. Greenfield on Wisconsin Public Radio

The Bliss of Boredom

How many times have parents heard the oft said phrase, “I’m Bored” from their child? Well it seems boredom has gone the way of the typewriter, record player, and the dial telephone. Boredom is now a vestige of days gone by and is at risk of extinction.

It’s not only that we avoid boredom, but we actually find numerous ways to eliminate its’ even brief existence.   With the advent of the Internet and digital media technology we have managed to eliminate any need to ever be bored. No longer do we need to stand in line at the grocery store or at the bank idly passing time, or wait for a bus or train just thinking, day dreaming, or having a real-person conversation. We don’t even have to lie down to go to sleep and review our day because we have some type of tech media device at our bedside, in our pockets, or on our person all the time to draw our attention and occupy all our waking moments.

So now that we have relegated boredom to near-extinction, and  as long as we have a digital gadget that can do just about anything, (and most Smartphones can these days) we never need to venture into nothingness, day dream, fantasize, or even converse real-time with someone next to us. We are all numbed in our respective electronic never land. Social media and other digital wonders don’t really connect us, they separate us from experiencing the present moment (and real-time connection), and all real social interaction has some silences, pauses, and boring moments. Our digital Smartphone and other gadgets never let us down or fail to entertain us!

So isn’t this good news? No more boredom– permanent entertainment?

No, it isn’t good news. We forget that out of boredom comes the  potential for creative impulses, motivation for social connection, and inspiration to do new things, invention—boredom can catapult us into new potential action. Without that gap of nothingness we never stop long enough to jump ahead into the unknown, the creative, and strike out to find new bliss. Boredom is the wellspring of creativity. It is not something to be endured, tolerated, or avoided.  Rather it is something to be embraced as a moment in time where “nothingness” leads to that creative spark that motivates us get out there do/create something. Without boredom, potential space and time can be filled with too much distraction. Digital Tech is great, but it runs the risk of numbing us too far and too fast, leaving us in a wake of digital delirium not quite human, and not quite machine.

The absence of our self-induced electronic inertia allows healthy boredom to take root and give us a few moments to daydream, fantasize, remember, think, plan, or imagine something in your life. The point is to create and expand that analog world within you and see what develops.

So how do we curtail this modern malady? Simple. Take time off from your digital devices.

Here are just a few ways to unplug from your tech and plug back into life!

  • Start by turning off our Smartphone for at least 2 hours at a time. On weekends, extend this period longer.
  • When waiting in a checkout line, do not pull out your Smartphone to check for messages.
  • Make an effort to not check your personal text/email for a full day (with exception of work or family responsibilities). It helps to schedule time in the AM and PM for checking. This does not include emergencies of course, but not every text, call, email, tweet, or FB post is an emergency.
  • Resist the urge to snap a photo of every moment and share with your social media world.
  • When at work, keep your cell phone locked in your car. Only check on breaks or lunch time.
  • Make sure to take time each day completely away from tvs, phones, tablets, gaming, laptops.
  • Do not have your Smartphones on during mealtime, when taking a walk, working out, or reading.
  • Turn your Smartphones ringtones or sound alerts off when working, studying, or sleeping.
  • Turn off the social media alerts, such as FB or Twitter alerts, on mobile devices. Only check at a designated time each day.
  • There is no such thing as multitasking, there is only doing multiple tasks not very well. Focus on one thing at a time.

My assistant often says, “if you are always looking down at the world through your digital device, you are missing the world in front of your eyes.” She’s got a good point and there IS a lovely world to engage in just by looking up.

Remember, boredom is not our enemy to be avoided but rather to be embraced. It is an entrance to new possibilities that can only be known by living those moments of boredom without trying to extinguish them immediately.

By |July 16th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The Bliss of Boredom

“Surge in Digital Dementia” by Julian Ryall, Tokyo

Posted from The Telegraph UK

Computer Korea

South Korea is one of the most digitally connected nations in the world and the problem of internet addiction among both adults and children was recognised as far back as the late 1990s.

That is now developing into the early onset of digital dementia – a term coined in South Korea – meaning a deterioration in cognitive abilities that is more commonly seen in people who have suffered a head injury or psychiatric illness.

“Over-use of smartphones and game devices hampers the balanced development of the brain,” Byun Gi-won, a doctor at the Balance Brain Centre in Seoul, told the JoongAng Daily newspaper.

“Heavy users are likely to develop the left side of their brains, leaving the right side untapped or underdeveloped,” he said.

The right side of the brain is linked with concentration and its failure to develop will affect attention and memory span, which could in as many as 15 per cent of cases lead to the early onset of dementia.

Sufferers are also reported to suffer emotional underdevelopment, with children more at risk than adults because their brains are still growing.

The situation appears to be worsening, doctors report, with the percentage of people aged between 10 and 19 who use their smartphones for more than seven hours every day leaping to 18.4 per cent, an increase of seven per cent from last year.

More than 67 per cent of South Koreans have a smartphone, the highest in the world, with that figure standing at more than 64 per cent in teenagers, up from 21.4 per cent in 2011, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

Dr Manfred Spitzer, a German neuroscientist, published a book titled “Digital Dementia” in 2012 that warned parents and teachers of the dangers of allowing children to spend too much time on a laptop, mobile phone or other electronic devices.

Dr Spitzer warned that the deficits in brain development are irreversible and called for digital media to be banned from German classrooms before children become “addicted.”

 

c/o http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/southkorea/10138403/Surge-in-digital-dementia.html?fb

By |June 26th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on “Surge in Digital Dementia” by Julian Ryall, Tokyo

Freedom

Freedom as defined by the great French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre.

Click here…

 

 

By |June 10th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Freedom

The Soul of Sexuality

What do sex and spirituality have to do with each other? How could the physical sexual act be an expression of our divine and spiritual nature? After all isn’t sex just sex?

We certainly see and hear a lot about sex everyday and little is ever mentioned about the deeper aspects of this powerful tool to connect on a sacred and intimate basis. There are long historical roots for the connection and integration of sex and spirituality. Our culture, however, creates much confusion and distorted messages around sexuality and our sexual behavior. We say sex is good, and that sex is natural, and we celebrate sexual explicitness in our society through advertising, clothing, and entertainment. This is what I call the overt aspect of sexuality in our culture.

However, there are powerful covert aspects of sexuality wherein we hold old feelings of shame, guilt and fear that we have been taught or that we simply picked up as we grew up.  These covert aspects of our sexuality are where our feelings of sexual shame exist and where all the conflicted emotions we have around sex reside. It is this split between the overt celebrations of sexuality and our inner, covert feelings of shame, guilt, fear, and inadequacy that create many sexual problems and I believe are the root cause of many sexual compulsions, dysfunctions, sexual addictions, and even illegal sexual behaviors.

By |June 10th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The Soul of Sexuality

The Paradox of Change and Personal Growth

What allows us to change something in our lives? How do we change some aspect of ourselves that we don’t like, such as a habit, physical quality, or life circumstance?

The first step may seem counter intuitive. Our initial tendency when we don’t like something about ourselves is to either avoid thinking about it or to actively criticize ourselves for what we are doing or not doing–almost as a means of forcing the negative feeling out of ourselves. Therein lays our error in thinking. Most things we don’t like about ourselves have to do with the refusal to accept and love ourselves, just as we are because we feel we cannot accept/love ourselves as long as we have or do this thing we hate. In other words, our self-love and acceptance is contingent upon an inner ideal of perfection. Whether it is a physical attribute or a personality characteristic, our refusal to love and accept ourselves seem linked to  the idea that; “If I have what I want or look the way I want, then and only then I could feel O.K.”.

The problem with this way of thinking is that it is not the way the heart and mind actually work. Rather it’s the reverse. We have to accept and love ourselves exactly the way we are (and this takes an effort) and then and only then does this acceptance allow things to begin to change. Indeed it’s a bit of paradox. Nothing can change until you accept it as exactly as it is. If you don’t practice this unconditional self-acceptance then it won’t ultimately matter how much you change your life because you will always feel badly about yourself, as the real issue is your internal state of self-love, not the external state of your life. The trick is to become more comfortable with conscious practice, over time, in easing into this unconditional state of self-acceptance. Otherwise we are just chasing our tails hoping to find the inner peace and comfort from outside ourselves.

By |June 6th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The Paradox of Change and Personal Growth

Holidays Unplugged – How to disconnect and relax.

Holidays Unplugged first page

Here’s a great infographic on a better way to handle the stress of the holidays.

Click on the image, then “zoom” click to enlarge the image to full size.

 

 

 

 

 

Infographic courtesy of www.expedia.co.uk

By |June 3rd, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Holidays Unplugged – How to disconnect and relax.