Indepth Counselling & Hypnotherapy
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Therapy’s Role in Addiction Recovery When we talk about addiction, many of us immediately assume that we are referring to an alcohol or drug- related compulsion. The reality is that addiction involves so much more than the substance, or behaviour, of choice. It might surprise you, however, that although the resulting behavioral, physical and social implications of addiction differ, the mechanism of the addiction itself is the same. How is Addiction Defined? An addiction is a ...Continue reading

What is a negative attitude? A negative attitude is something that happens when we feel out of control and see the situation in the worst possible way. It is when our mind gets in a manner that is not very constructive, cooperative, or optimistic. It can easily take control over our life and big decisions or choices such as; a new career, divorce, getting out of an abusive relationship, standing up for ourselves, and more. It can show up when we don’t expect it or when we fee...l challenged and, 99% of the time will be charged with a lot of anxiety. From a physical and mental standpoint, when it happens for too long, we can easily become subject to depression, fatigue, ulcers and heart disease, only to name a few. There are many action steps that can be taken to change and recharge our attitude into an effective and positive attitude. The minute this happens, our mind goes into constructive mode where it is way easier for us to see ways and opportunities in how to solve or overcome the situation instead of focusing on the obstacles and therefore feeling stuck. When adopting a positive attitude, we will instantly notice more ease in handling problems, stress and anxiety. It helps in feeling self-assured and confident. As our attitude changes from negative to positive, you may even notice that people respond to you in a different way. By Alain Langlais registered professional counsellor.

The power of our thoughts Our thoughts can be very powerful and also spontaneous. However, do we always have to follow them. We all have that constant voice at the back of our head and we can learn to control it and even have a healthy conversation with it. Thoughts can be like passing by clouds. Sometime we can have a nice fluffy thought or other times big, dark, threatening, negative thought. ... It is almost impossible to control when thoughts enter our minds or what thoughts they may be. A specific thought can show up out of nowhere, or be triggered and remind us of a painful situation. These thoughts can change our mood automatically or, it can be following a specific song which will remind us of our first slow dance with a school crush, which can put a smile on face. When it come to negative thoughts, we have to be careful to not allow it to take root. It can easily lead us to impulsive behaviours such as, self-harming habits, depressive thoughts, irrational beliefs, ineffective responses, isolation, sadness, anger, and self-sabotage. Whenever we allow ourselves to follow our thoughts, we are essentially agreeing with them. Our mind is more powerful than we think and whenever it receives a thought such as I am disgusting or I don’t deserve to be happy, and we immediately and automatically follow them down a rabbit hole of similar negative thoughts, it’s like we are saying I agree. I am disgusting. or I agree, I am not worth anything. Tell me more about it. Tolerating these thoughts will just allow us to judge ourselves and let our minds be our own bullies. Instead, we can train our mind to follow the more positive thoughts, or challenge the negative thoughts and disagree with them. For example, if a thought such as you failed the driving test or the last assignment enters your mind, instead of letting it lead to you are not good at anything thoughts, try observing yourself from a different perspective. Perhaps a positive spin of accepted as I am human and I can learn, and turned into yes, I failed that exam or that test, but I am still smart so I can study more and be more prepared next time. We are all human and it is normal to have dark thoughts. However, we can also practice to quickly catch our thought processes and choose to take a step back from them when necessary. Accept that we are human and that it’s okay to have negative thoughts at times, and then use our inner power and self-compassion to decide not to follow them. By: Alain Langlais. M.H., RTC, C.CH T

Have you ever felt something tickling the back of your neck and right away panicked at the thought of a spider or a giant scary bug having landed on you? To then realize that it was just a fly or someone teasing you with a feather or a simple stick. The instant reaction is because our instant response to a danger is insanely fast with minimum thought. We often react, then think and analyze. It is important to understand that the mind is divided into parts that will sometimes... conflict with each other. The deliberative part of the brain will react, calculate and consider evidence. The emotional part of the brain is fast, quickly acting on intuition and mostly automatic, and most of all, not very accessible to conscious awareness. Joseph LeDoux, a neuroscientist at NYU, framed this dual process as the low and high road. Threat is processed through two pathways. Our initial fear response is often not something that we deliberate. We feel it before we are fully aware of what that danger is or even whether there is a danger there. However, conscious control over emotions is weaker and emotions can flood consciousness. This explains why it is easier for emotional information to overwhelm our conscious thought than for us to gain conscious control over our emotions. Evidence shows that individuals with relatively strong emotional system and weak inhibitory control are vulnerable for the development and maintenance of excessive worries especially around big decisions, life changes, new challenges, etc. Thus, sufficient levels of inhibitory control might have a protective function in reducing the risk for developing anxiety and fears. New studies have also shown that training attention away from threats, take the time to analyze the fear for what it really is to then often realize that, it is either a fake threat or a fake perception of fear from an old trigger. Training our mind to do so, can actually reduce symptoms and general anxiety disorder and the anxiety around the fear we are facing. People with better attentional control can disengage attention from threatening stimuli, and channel their thoughts in the direction they want and not dwell on threatening thoughts or experiences. By: Alain Langlais. M.H., RTC, C.CH T

Feelings of stress and anxiety can become so heavy and intense to the point that it becomes overwhelming. Often individuals struggling with anxiety express constant intruding thoughts that focus on fears of events of the future. Anxiety can create physical feelings of distress like a tight chest that makes it difficult to breath, an upset or tight feeling in the stomach, and general fatigue from constantly trying to control their thoughts and actions. Some people have battled anxiety for so long that they begin to believe it is just who they are and accept the restrictions it causes in their life. There are ways to break this cycle of stress and anxiety controlling your inner world which can then bring a sense of relief, control and freedom that has been absent for so long.