Bullying - School, Creativity, Intimacy Issues, Phobias Psychoanalytic Therapy

Bullying - School, Creativity, Intimacy Issues, Phobias

School bullying has always been an issue for some children. When someone is perceived to have some weakness, they will often be systematically undermined and harmed by their peers. School bullies often bully children belonging to minority groups, and without treatment, the effects of bullying can last well into adulthood.

Bullies will hurt their victims emotionally by taking or damaging their property, calling them names, excluding them and making threats. Physical abuse is another form of school bullying and usually starts with shoving or hitting, but it can escalate to something much more severe. Cyberbullying is increasing in popularity amongst adolescents and due to the viral nature of the internet, rumors and lies can spread very fast, causing much damage to the victim.

Research has shown that boys are more prone to physical bullying while girls usually choose verbal bullying as their method of operation. That is one of the reasons why bullying by girls is more long-lasting and underreported.

Bullying can cause much harm, not only physically, but also to the victim's self-esteem.  It can interfere with the victim's social skills development and ability to form normal relationships. School bullying will probably cause a child to fear going to school and he or she will invent excuses not to go. It can also cause a child to feel anger, fear, anxiety, isolation and shame.Sometimes, bullying can lead to suicidal thoughts and attempts.

A therapist with experience in treating bullying can help a victim to heal in a safe and nurturing environment. It can help the victim to share the feelings with a therapist or support groups who understand what he or she is going through.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who offers child therapy or counselling to address your child's bullying issues you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.

Expressive arts or creativity therapy uses art as a therapy. The end result is not always of great importance in art or creative arts therapy, but rather the process of creation. Imagination is a potent tool for healing, and in artistic therapy, there are many different ways for people to express themselves.

Therapists that use the artistic methods believe that creative expression taps into the imagination, allowing people to examine their emotions, feelings and even the body and thought processes. Some of the models used in creativity therapy, include dance, drama, psychodrama, music, art, horticulture, and writing.

Creative Arts therapy has the ability to foster healing, development and human growth.It can help a person of any age to reclaim their capacity for creative expression about individual and collective experiences in artistic form.

Through creativity expression, an experienced therapist will help you to manage emotional and physical problems, using a range of creative activities. Art therapy provides an avenue for the client to explore emotional conflicts and to increase self-awareness. Expression therapy helps a person to express unspoken and usually unconscious issues, allowing for those issues to be expressed in a safe, nurturing environment.

During therapy, the therapist and the client will move freely between the different models, preferring the intermodal approach to facilitate deeper exploration. It enables the therapist to explore a wide range of emotions through different art forms, from journaling, to painting, dancing, drama, poetry, phototherapy and a range of traditional artforms. Evidence has shown that it is helpful in a range of circumstances, from helping with emotions related to diagnosis of an illness, to dealing with grief or post traumatic stress disorder.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who offers creativity therapy to address your emotional issues you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.

Intimacy issues are common for people who fear vulnerability. Some people can become vulnerable in front of a few trusted friends, however, but when a relationship starts becoming too close, they feel suffocated. In this sense, the intimacy issues are seated in the fear of developing a deep and meaningful relationship with another person.

Two fears that are at the heart of intimacy issues, are the fear of abandonment (fearing the partner might leave them) and the fear of engulfment (fearing that they would lose themselves in a relationship), which sometimes co-exist. These fears, often rooted in childhood traumas, are often deeply entrenched in codependent adult relationships where they cause friction.

A therapist who works with people who have intimacy issues will first help you to learn to become comfortable with yourself and accept yourself for who you are. You will explore the complex past events that have created these intimacy issues and discover that those events don't have to cloud your present experiences.

This process is essential in discovering that rejection does not have to be a traumatic experience. Finally, you will learn how to set personal boundaries that will help you to avoid the fear of engulfment and to cope, should abandonment occur. While healing intimacy issues can be a challenging and somewhat painful task, the rewards are incredible.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who addresses intimacy issues, you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.

Phobias are classified as irrational fears that impede on normal daily life. While everyone has one or two irrational fears, they are minor. However, if irrational fears become so intense that they cause extreme anxiety that interferes with normal life, it is time to get therapy to help overcome these fears.

The most important thing people should understand is that phobias can be controlled and even cured. Between self-help strategies and professional phobia therapy, anyone can overcome irrational fears and start to live a life of freedom from phobias.

Phobias can interfere with life when you are forced to face them on a regular basis. People with phobias are generally afraid of things that pose little to no real danger at all. People with phobias generally fear heights, clowns, flying, driving, insects, small spaces, wide open spaces or needles.However, phobias are not limited to this, but to anything about which the fear is highly exaggerated.

While phobias are usually developed during childhood, adults may also develop new phobias. People will go to extreme lengths to avoid exposure to whatever they are phobic about.

The good news is that phobias are easily treated using a range of therapies. Cognitive behavioural therapy can help a person recognize their phobias and find different ways to react to their exposure to the things they fear. Desensitization therapy helps a person to learn how to manage being exposed to what they fear in a safe environment. A therapist will help the person understand that their fears are unfounded and as such, manage and eventually cure the phobia.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who offers phobias and related issues you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.

Bradley Murray

Ph.D., RCC
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Dr. Murray is a psychoanalyst and Registered Clinical Counsellor based in North Vancouver who has been in private practice for 11 years. He offers consultations and therapy for individuals living on the North Shore and... Read more