Articles

What is your perspective on conflict? Is it bad? Something to be avoided? An opportunity to win or be “one up?” Most conflict is not between a right and a wrong position, but two differing points of view!All relationships have differences and disagreements and conflict happens when two people want different things. Studies show the…

“Hubba, Hubba”! A female marriage counseling client said it best I think. We were discussing God’s original intention for marriage. We already know what Adam actually said when God brought Eve to him based on Genesis 2:22-24. But what do you imagine he first thought when he woke up and God presented to him this…

Procrastination is a strange phenomenon that can lead to feelings of guilt, inadequacy, depression and self-doubt. Rather than make life more pleasant it almost always adds stress, disorganization, and frequent failure. The process has been described as: (1) wanting to achieve some outcome, usually something the procrastinator and others value and respect–“I’ve gotto start.” (2)…

As we once again enter into the holiday season, it may be for some of us a time of significant stress, a time during which family conflicts escalate, a time when painful childhood memories intrude, or, a time when the loss of a loved one aches more profoundly. It is also a time when we…

Based on the information from the past two months of articles on the subject of compulsive sexual acting out-a sexual addiction results from an abuse of the natural sex drive that each person is born with. The abuse can start at any time in life and then progresses until it becomes a compulsion that the…

Some people see addiction as a disease in which addicts are afflicted and have little power over the cause or onset of addiction- to be a pre-disposition (the “addictive personality”). Others see addictive behaviors as a choice, and addiction as the direct outcome of this choice. In the case of “physical” addictions such as alcoholism…

Divorce is having a devastating impact on both adults and children. Over 1 million children in the United States experience parental divorce annually (Clarke, 1995). Although most children adapt well to this transition, approximately 20% to 25% develop mental health or adjustment problems twice the rate experienced by children from continuously married families (Hetherington et…

According to the Barna Group, a Christian research and polling organization, data from nationwide interviews with a random sample of 7043 adults found that 94% of people in their fifties and beyond have been married at least once. Among all people age 18 or older, 73% have been married at least one time.New data on…

In the mid-1980s, addiction counselors began to expand their focus from addiction to alcohol and cocaine, to addiction to activities such as sex, work, shopping, and gambling. The term “co-dependent” came to replace “co-alcoholic.” As psychotherapists began to research the behavioral patterns of codependent people, they soon realized that these people actually have their own…

Individuals who establish a healthy sense of self during their developmental years know who they are as individuals. They have a good measure of autonomy, and they are able to function without fearing they will lose themselves or be overwhelmed. They are able to engage in appropriate self-care while also caring for others. In the…