Justin’s Blog: “The Jog”
120+ Articles Driven by Research and Practice
Is Anxiety Sin? When The Faithful Are Fearful (Part 1/3)
A lot of my clients and readers often ask, “Is Anxiety Sin?” Here’s the answer I’ll give you today: Maybe, maybe not. As we do a deep dive into this topic in three parts, we will discover, however, that the faithful are often fearful. Fear Is Not Always Problematic, But Each Person Has A Different […]
Read More >Intrusive, Unwanted Thoughts and Faith (I am Second Blog)
Honored to be featured again in the I Am Second mental health blog, this post addresses the common occurrence of Intrusive Thoughts and how those of Christian faith can live in freedom. Click Here to Read NOW
Read More >Accidental Exposure: A Strong Mind Is Not Made In Comfort
Accidental workouts are great; just don’t base your exercise off of them. Has this ever happened to you? You have an exercise routine (walk, weights, circuit, CrossFit), and while expecting to take a holiday break, say Thanksgiving…..until someone challenges you in the paint for pickup game of basketball (in my family we had the 6 […]
Read More >Getting Aroused With Anxiety
Mark* was generally confident in his therapy, but bringing up sex….well, he got a little sheepish. He had these small avoidances that he never realized were behavioral and cognitive avoidances. For example, he would never have sex with his wife when the kids weren’t away from home. He intentionally steered conversation away from topics with […]
Read More >What’s Your Why?
Yvette had a hard time breaking through in therapy. She knew and understood well the rationale for putting in the work. Her grasp of when she felt anxious and distressed, and even what to do, was excellent. I mean, the research speaks for itself, right? Just do it- just practice what your therapist teaches? I […]
Read More >Intrusive, Unwanted Thoughts and Faith
“I feel like I really love my baby, but, I just don’t know. I have these terrible thoughts that pop into my mind. Thoughts of harming my baby. I actually vomited last night it made me so upset. I don’t know why I’m having these” “Everyone around me, including my pastor, seems to think I […]
Read More >A Prayer of Obsessive Surrender
Most of my clients hear from me at some point (when it’s appropriate for me to share) my own personal examples in dealing with obsessive thoughts. I have gotten very stuck in obsessive thinking and resultant feelings (and still do some days). Born through my own personal trials and individually tailored to clients who want […]
Read More >Journaling vs. Exposure Scripting in CBT (Therapy Insider Tip)
When clients become experts in doing exposures (Social Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, Phobias), they become used to facing fear, disgust, and other uncomfortable feelings square on without tricks and escapes- while still pursuing the valued behaviors and thought processes they want. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not, but it takes discipline and hard work, […]
Read More >What is CBT? What it is, how it started, and how it can help.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a mental health psychological treatment, or psychotherapy. The range of problems it treats is broad, from anxiety and depression to substance abuse and relationship problems. It is considered gold standard treatment. Let’s nerd out and understand a bit more about where it comes from and ideas on how it works!
Read More >Just Because You Tremble Doesn’t Mean You’re Doing It Wrong
Both in the office and in my life I offer a simple reminder: just because you tremble or are afraid or feel distressed DOESN’T mean you’re doing it wrong. In fact, maybe it’s very right. An unbelievably common misconception among human beings is distress = bad. Sure, distress is uncomfortable. Yes, it signals something feels […]
Read More >What’s Your Anxiety Tell?
In poker, a “tell” is a sort of behavioral or observable change that, usually unbeknownst to the person, can reveal information that can be used for another player to get the upper hand. Smirks, scratching of the nose, looking away, smiling- expert poker players work hard to conceal these (why many wear sunglasses). Notice Something […]
Read More >Fear and Hope in 2020: A Christmas Devotional
A vaccine for Sars-CoV-2 is just beginning to be administered to the public as 2020 is coming to a close, and a palpable ‘shot in the arm’ brings hope for the ravages of COVID-19 for many. Consider with me what life was like prior to 2020? What was going well? What made you long for change? […]
Read More >Want to decrease foreign dependence on oil? Eat Mor Chikin!?
Despite how great food at Chick-fil-A is, there is a significant correlation between consuming chicken and oil being imported to the U.S. Does this mean anything? Probably not. If you have ever dug into statistics- in the news, in school, or even through your own research- you may have learned an important principle: “Correlation does not equal causation;” […]
Read More >Psychological Flexibility and Christians
One of the things that is very grounding about the Christian faith is that there is not only truth/Truth we follow, but hopefully a willingness to pursue disciplines that either a) aren’t comfortable, or b), may not necessarily make sense immediately. This is very helpful in therapy when clients don’t throw up resistance to the […]
Read More >Pause, Santa Claus: One thing if you’re stuck
A common question I get is, “What if I get overwhelmed before we meet next?” If we have ruled out serious risks dealing with safety, usually there’s a simple tool that can seriously help (while working the treatment plan). Through the study of the brain, human behavior, and feedback from clients, here is a ripcord to pull in […]
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