GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Change takes time. Change can be challenging for people to accomplish, and it is often something that people resist. Change is scary, but can also be exciting, healthy, and liberating. Some changes cause pain while others cause relief. Whatever the need is for change, it can be difficult for a client to facilitate change in […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Managing symptoms of mental health conditions can be challenging, especially for clients who prolonged mental illness or clients who are new to managing their mental health and wellness. It is common for clients to give in to their symptoms and allow them to take control, which can feel good at the moment, but causes a […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Goal setting can be a great method of promoting good mental health. When people set goals for themselves, they set themselves on the path for success. While that path can be challenging at times, goals can give people a sense of purpose and value. A great way to help people who are struggling with their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
People who suffer from anorexia nervosa face many challenges with their self-esteem and body image. It is a condition that causes a person to go to extreme efforts to not gain weight. For a patient and their families, it can seem like the disorder only affects body image, but that is not the case. People […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
A big part of therapy is learning how to experience one’s own emotions. It can be hard to experience emotions and learn how to be comfortable with feeling them. It is not uncommon for people in therapy to struggle with identifying and embracing how they feel. This can cause them to transfer all of their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Anxiety is an oppressive emotion for people to feel. People with chronic anxiety tend to suffer from cycles of anxiety, panic and avoidance. It is not uncommon for these people to not realize the cycle of anxiety they fall into, nor how the cycle affects them. In order to learn how to manage anxiety, a […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT) is a form of therapy that can be very effective in helping clients. It offers a means to gain perspective on challenging situations. REBT suggests that the way people understand situations causes them to be reactive. The concept of REBT implies that a situation is neither positive nor negative. A […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Everyone has stressors in their lives. When people are in therapy, different stressors can serve as triggers for different conditions. Most people in therapy will have significant triggers that can cause them to think, act and feel in ways that are not healthy for them. An important part of therapy is helping clients identify their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Catastrophizing is a common issue that people face in therapy. It is a term that refers to people feeling anxious because they feel the worst will happen in a challenging situation. Catastrophizing causes people to feel a great deal of anxiety. It often causes people to act irrationally and in a way that worsens the […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When used properly, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a very effective form of therapy. CBT helps people work on their problem behavior by providing a means to understand their thoughts and feelings. People often react to stressors quickly, and that can prevent them from thinking things through. CBT teaches a person how to slow down […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Everyone faces challenges. Life is about facing challenges to find resolution and grow from the experience. A huge factor that affects a person’s ability to handle challenges while maintaining inner peace and growth is the way in which they handle their own negative thoughts. It is important to know how to counter your own negative […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Stress is a natural part of life. Everyone experiences stress, and everyone is affected by stress in different ways. It is important to know how to manage stress. When you do not know how to manage your own stress, you face consequences like anxiety, depression and sleep issues. The first step to learning how to […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Cognitive distortions (thinking errors) are a huge contributing factor to many people’s mental health issues. Cognitive distortions are erroneous patterns in thinking that lead to negative thoughts, bad feelings and poor behavior. When someone suffers from a cognitive distortion, they are not able to perceive tough situations in a healthy way. That is why it […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
A huge part of using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients cope with their triggers is teaching them about cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions are patterns of thinking errors, and they affect a person’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions to upsetting situations. It is not uncommon for a person in therapy to turn to cognitive distortions like […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Practicing effective self-care techniques is a very important part of mental health. Without self-care, people cannot grow and learn how to cope with the stress of their daily lives. It is particularly important to practice self-care when struggling with mental illness. This is because self-care helps to promote skills to maintain good coping strategies and […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Cognitive distortions are powerful and erroneous thought patterns that significantly affect a client’s ability to perceive and understand an upsetting situation. Filtering is also referred to as focusing on the negative, which can be detrimental to a client’s self-image and ability to think reasonably. It is important for a client to understand how the habit […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Emotions can be challenging to understand. They are complex, and go against logical reasoning. When we feel emotions we do not understand, we can be at a loss of how to cope. An important part of learning how to cope with your emotions is learning how to understand them. It is not uncommon for people […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It is not uncommon for a person to get stuck on the past, present or future. Each frame of time is important to consider when planning goals or the best way to move forward with life. When a person focus too much on the past they can get stuck because they don’t know how to […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It is important for clients in therapy to understand how cognitive distortions affect them. Cognitive distortions can affect motivation, perspectives, expectations and self-image. They are powerful, and important to keep in mind when learning how to improve thought patterns in therapy. A cognitive distortion that can be particularly powerful is labeling. Labeling can affect a […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When dealing with a client who is struggling with self-confidence and low self-esteem, it is important to ensure that they are aware of their protective factors. Knowing your own protective factors is important. Protective factors serve as a source of strength, hope and comfort when dealing with a challenge. Sometimes a client is not aware […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Being aware of triggers is a critical component to learning how to cope with symptoms of mental illness. A part of a client understanding why they are feeling uncomfortable is understanding what causes the discomfort. Being able to identify triggers helps the client learn how to cope with several different disorders, like anxiety, depression, anger […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It is not uncommon for a client to feel like a victim of their own anxiety. Anxiety is a difficult feeling to live with, and it is often chronic for people who seek counseling. Anxiety brings ruminating negative thoughts that can have a major impact on a client’s ability to get through their day. When […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Stress is a natural part of life. It is a part of life that everyone must face and learn how to cope with. Some people are able to manage stress well, while others tend to really struggle to cope. Stress can lead to other issues, like anxiety, depression, motivation issues and relationship issues, so it […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
People can develop unhealthy eating habits for a number of reasons. Some people use food as a reward, punishment or comfort, while others do not prioritize eating in times of stress. Establishing and maintaining a healthy diet is a critical part of mental health. Without a healthy body a person cannot maintain a healthy mind. […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
The first step to managing stress is learning how to recognize stress. Most people who experience symptoms of stress do not realize that it is a physiological reaction. They also do not realize how often daily occurrences can be triggers for stress. When working with a client who is struggling with stress-related issues, it is […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Dialectical behavioral therapy is particularly useful when it comes to teaching a client how to handle distressing or upsetting situations. DBT teaches coping skills for stress tolerance, emotional regulation, and the reduction of mood swings and panic attacks. DBT provides several different tools that help a person learn how to cope with upsetting emotions like […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
The Cognitive-Behavioral model is used in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). It is a model used to explain the process of how CBT works and how it is helpful to utilize while in counseling. Often clients struggle to understand the meaning behind concepts in CBT, so it is helpful to have a visual aid that explains the […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It is important to have a list of goals and objectives for the client and therapist to work toward when beginning a new therapeutic relationship. Setting goals creates a foundation that helps the client and therapist stay on track when helping a client feel better. Setting goals also empowers a client to stay on track […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Sometimes a client will struggle to overcome racing or ruminating thoughts. These thoughts can be frustrating for a client, and can prevent him or her from staying productive throughout the day. If a client is struggling with racing thoughts, it is important for him or her to learn skills to manage those thoughts. Managing the […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Teaching emotional intelligence skills is important when working with young children. Often children have feelings they may not understand, which makes it difficult for them to express how they are feeling and if they are upset. This struggle can prevent caretakers and parents from being able to understand the child’s needs, and can further complicate […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Helping a patient build self-esteem can be a challenging process. Many patients suffer from poor self-esteem, and that poor self-esteem contributes to their presenting concerns. It also will hold patients back from reaching their full therapeutic potential and feeling confident in themselves to make the changes in their lives that will help them improve their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Cravings to engage in dangerous or indulgent behaviors like drinking, using drugs, overeating, or sex are a difficult thing for a patient to work through. Each time a patient experiences a craving or a trigger to engage in something they know is not good for them they are confronted with the conflict between doing what […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When it comes to teaching children proper behavior it helps a great deal to have a reward system in place in which the child can watch his or her progress grow. Such positive reinforcement helps with keeping children motivated to keep growing and working hard to learn good behavior and responsibility. Especially when dealing with […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
People who suffer from eating disorders have a difficult time staying on track with a healthy diet. Whether they are inclined to eat too much or not enough, it can be a difficult keep track of the progress they are making in their journey back to health. Often when a patient is first starting out […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When we are struggling with understanding our mood and emotions it helps a great deal to use a mood journal to keep track of daily activities, triggers from the day, and how we managed out feelings. Sometimes we get caught up in the day and forget to focus on what we are feeling, which causes […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
In therapy, a client learns a lot about their emotions and issues that create challenges in their lives. Through their own self-exploration, they begin to learn different ways to cope with different challenges. Therapy teaches coping skills that help clients relieve their symptoms in real life situations. They learn valuable life skills in therapy. It […]
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