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 Please visit my blogs by clicking the links below:
AREAS SERVED:
Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Calabasas, West San Fernando Valley, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Newbury Park, Camarillo, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Oxnard, Ventura, Malibu,
SERVICES PROVIDED:
Individual therapy with adults, adolescents, couples, and families, substance abuse and dependency, addictions, depression, anxiety,
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Life Coaching, Somatic Experiencing
CELEBRITY WORSHIP: ADOLESCENTS NEWEST ADDICTION
A frantic mother of a 15 year old daughter of a local suburban neighborhood tells her therapist that her daughter has quit the cheerleading squad, no longer dreams of college and becoming a lawyer, and her childhood friends have been replaced with friends she has never met. Her daughter has been isolating, reading all the latest celebrity gossip magazines, and becoming more rebellious at home. Clearly her daughter is pulling away which can be one of the hallmarks of addiction, depression, or an adolescent trying to form an identity. When you think of addiction, you think of drugs, alcohol, or even an eating disorder. What about the newest addiction teenagers are being struck with called “Celebrity Addiction.” One third of Americans are being struck with this phenomenon which is linked to depression, anxiety, body-image problems, and addiction.
Body Psychotherapy: What the body knows, the mind forgets.
Sherry Gaba, Licensed Psychotherapist and Life Coach
A male client tells his psychotherapist he is having difficulty turning his neck from side to side without experiencing excruciating pain. Another female client reacts to a new relationship, which on the surface looks and feels good, but when her partner speaks in a certain tone to her; she feels a sense of dread in her gut. Another client comes in carrying a baby blanket to help her feel safe from a flood of emotions too painful to ignore, but too difficult to express. What all these clients seem to be exhibiting is a history of un-resolved trauma and emotional pain that is so debilitating, it can only be felt in their bodies, but cannot be expressed verbally. In these types of cases, psychotherapy that accesses the bodies felt senses may be the best treatment to un-earth these chronic symptoms that many suffer from in the aftermath of intense trauma and emotional pain. Some of these treatments include Somatic Experiencing, Whole Body Consciousness, or Psychodrama.
Rest of article: http://sherrygaba.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/body-psychotherapy-what-your-mind-forgets-your-body-knows/
FINDING YOUR LIFE PUPOSE MINDFULLY
The process of beginning the journey to finding your life purpose and discovering what it is you truly want can be found in those still moments when your intuition speaks to you telling you exactly what you need to know. Through mindfulness or “being awake in the here and now” epiphanies appear from whispers in the universe. Transformation begins when you let go of your negative belief systems, enjoy the process rather than getting attached to the outcome, eliminate emotional reactivity and impulsiveness, acknowledge unpleasant feelings and thoughts without getting stuck in them, and staying present one breath at a time. Mindfulness is at the root of Buddhist practices, but that doesn’t mean you need to climb the hills of Tibet to get the peacefulness and clarity it brings right here and right now.
Rest of article: http://sherrygaba.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/finding-your-life-purpose-mindfully/
Baby Boomers and Addiction: The Fastest Growing Population
A woman enters my office disheveled, thin, mid forties, with hollow eyes. It is as if the sparkle in her eyes ceased to exist a very long time ago. She tells me she has been drinking and is using methamphetamines. I am not surprised to hear this because lately my practice has been filled with middle aged baby boomers seeking help for their serious addictions. Whether it is alcohol, cocaine, crack, methamphetamines, pain killers, heroine, or smoking marijuana, many have crossed the line into addiction. Their lives have become unmanageable and they have lost their ability to control their use. Some believe they can just cut down, but as addiction specialists, we know it is impossible once you have crossed that invisible line into dependency. One of their defense mechanisms is “denial” so they can still continue their love affair with drugs or alcohol. Addiction is the only disease that tells them in the most insidious of ways, “I don't have a problem or disease.” It can be very difficult treating someone who doesn't think they have a problem. However, on some level this particular woman who landed in my office may already know an issue exists, but can't
Rest of article: http://sherrygaba.wordpress.com/?p=111&preview=true
Mindfulness and Single Parenting
You may be a single parent by choice,divorced, widowed, never married
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