Newsletter Volume 1

BEATING THE (RECESSION) BLUES

Times are tough! That’s what we hear every day, every evening. Everywhere. News. Stock Market Reports. Neighbors. Friends. From our employers. From our customers.

And we experience our dollars not buying as much of the things we need. Never mind the things we would like to have. Credit is scarce and expensive. We put off trading in that old car, which doesn’t seem so “old” anymore. We worry how to afford to send our kids to college. Should we plant a garden?

We make assumptions. These assumptions are powerful. They influence how we feel, the behaviors we display and the choices we make. Our assumptions are usually automatic, based on historic familial ways of thinking and coping in difficult situations. And often our automatic assumptions are not entirely rational!

Our assumptions can trigger very strong feelings of discouragement or encouragement. Are you finding yourself feeling discouraged and blue? Are you assuming the worst? Feeling despondent? Hopeless? Helpless?

“ We are disturbed not so much by the events but by the views which we take of them.” Epictetus, Greek philosopher (55AD-135 AD)

Cognitive Behavioral Theory (CBT) is a proven tool to help check our assumptions and thoughts and understand our emotions. It is an empowering approach to life that helps us manage difficult situations, emotions and reactions. It does not eliminate the event. Rather, it helps us step back and reevaluate the event, our assumptions and thoughts and change them to positively impact our situation.

Aaron Beck, David Burns and Albert Ellis, some of the leading theorists of CBT , believe that changing our assumptions and thoughts will lead to a change in our emotions and behavior.

CBT addresses the following:

• Self-Talk: This is the dialog that we all have in our head regarding the everyday events that we experience in our lives. It is vital to our survival and quality of life. It is the way we automatically process, interpret, judge and respond to what is happening around us. Often, we aren’t really aware of our self-talk. However, it plays a major role in the assumptions we make about a certain event and the feelings and decisions that follow.
  Although we cannot turn off our self-talk, we can and do monitor and manage it. Most of the time what we tell ourselves is encourageing and healthy and based on observable evidence. It is congruent with the real world and results in sound decision, health emotions and constructive responses. Sometimes, however, our self-talk is discouraging and lacking in evidence. It is fear based and tends to be our of focus with fact. It generates weak decisions, hurtful emotions and ineffective responses. With help, you can learn to more carefully monitor your self talk. You can learn to accurately assess and identify the type of thought you are having, determine if it is “rational” and replace that thought with a more encouraging or supportive thought!
  
• Silent Assumptions: These are assumptions that we have automatically concluded are correct. And perhaps they are not true! Silent assumptions are mostly based on either family assumptions that have been passed down to us or on our own earlier experiences. These assumptions may not currently be true or not be true in this situation.
  
• Must/Should Assumptions: These assumptions represent discouraging and often unrealistic self-talk. This kind of self-talk feels critical and lead to feelings of excessive guilt, defiance, anxiety or worry, anger and resentment and fear. They are so automatic for some of us that they are often difficult to identify or recognize in our selves. Other assumptions in the category include “always/never” thinking and statements and frequent statements that include “I feel so overwhelmed when ..; I feels so guilty when...
  

CBT is empowering. It encourages us to assume that we are in charge of our lives, we are driving our own bus!! We are not simply going along for the ride! We are not just helpless victims of circumstance. Several supportive coping mechanisims that go hand –in-glove with CBT include the following:

• Nurture yourself! Treat yourself kindly. Say kind words to yourself. Remember to eat lunch---sitting down! Make your home or your room or some part of your living quarters a cozy nest that you look forward to visiting. Pay attention to your self talk. Think encouraging and supportive thoughts. Take time out to “empty your head” of self talk and look around you. Observe your surroundings. Go for a walk. Try some yoga. Take a bath. Exercise. Listen to music. Breathe!
  
• Replace “must/should” with “want to”. Notice how that feels.
  Play and be silly! Laugh! Make an effort to move away from friends who have mostly “negative” thinking and move toward finding more positive, confident and happy folks.
  
• Exercise and eat healthily. Research supports a strong correlation between regular exercise and healthy meals and improved physical and mental health.
  
• Do something! When you are feeling overwhelmed with anxiety, hopelessness, or the blues, DO SOMETHING!!! Anything. Go for a walk, join a committee, volunteer, clean a closet, do your laundry, garden.
  
• Make “I” statements. Own your feelings and beliefs. I statements go like this” When you_________________, I feel________________. These statements are not passive or aggressive. They simply communicate your feelings in an “ownership taking” way.
  

CBT is a tool that you can be taught.In a relatively short period of time. It is portable and will always be with you. It can empower you and enable you to become a confident and happy person.

An empowered YOU will reflect a quiet confidence in who you are and your ability to handle life.

You will be able to manage difficult situations with confidence. You will no longer waste time or emotional energy focusing on how things “should “ be.

You will start from where things are. You will be able to put things into perspective quickly and respond accordingly.You will be able to separate yourself emotionally from the dysfunction of others and spend your energy in areas where you realistically have some control and responsibility.

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It is my wish for you that you will use these tools to empower yourself and those around you. And lose the blues!

Remember…what we think drives what we feel and how we react!

Michelle Kindt RN, MSS, LCSW, BCD is a psychotherapist in private practice in Devon and Bloomsburg PA.
Michelle has over 20 years experience in the field of psychology, both in clinical and private practice. She has a background in nursing, a discipline that has provided her with keen insights into the relationship between emotional and physical health.
Michelle’s career also includes a background in the corporate world of deadlines, budgets, and agendas. She draws on this firsthand knowledge to understand her clients’ experiences in the workplace.
As a therapist who is also a wife, mother and grandmother, Michelle shares with many of her clients the challenges of sustaing a healthy marriage and of parenting children into adulthood and of parenting adult children!
Credentials:

• Registered Nurse, Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing
• Bachelor of Science in Psychology, St. Joseph’s University
• Master in Social Services, Bryn Mawr College
• Licensed Clinical Social Worker
• Certified Gestalt Therapist
• Certified in Clinical Hypnosis
• Certified Group Therapist
• Certified in Trauma Treatment
• Board Certified Diplomate

Michelle Kindt is available to give free workshops on this subject to groups at your workplace, church, community or knitting group!

.....Or even your family reunions!

She also is currently facilitating 4 week groups for a nominal fee at her office in the Surgent Professional Suites at 237 Lancaster Ave. Suite 231. For more information please call Michelle at 610-688-1424.