Center for Mental Health and Wellness

05/20/2022

05/21/2021

Taking care of ourselves is necessary for growth.

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05/20/2021

It was a gloomy, rainy day here yesterday, and those days can be more difficult, but they also help our plants grow and become more vibrant in color. The gloomy days can also help us to treasure and appreciate the sunny days even more.

This can also be true in our lives. We all have days or seasons that are more difficult (some more intense and/or frequent than others), but if we didn't have any difficult periods, we would not grow nor know how to fully appreciate and treasure life's flowers, brightness, and sunshine.

05/16/2021

Yes!

It's more than okay to ask for help.

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05/05/2021

Speak kindly to yourself!

We are often our own biggest critics, and the way we speak to ourselves can impact our self esteem. If we wouldn't say something so negative to our friends, then let's not say it to ourselves. Let's treat ourselves with understanding and compassion!

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Background photo credit: liza-summer from Pexels

04/07/2021

You are enough!

03/22/2021

Relax and recharge!

03/08/2021

More joy, less stress!

02/19/2021

Tired of Pain Spikes That Come With Chronic Pain? Here is One Way That Might Help to Avoid Them

Do you ever find yourself struggling to be motivated to accomplish tasks, due to your chronic pain? Then, you finally get enough motivation, complete the task, and afterwards your pain spikes so high that you have to stay in bed for the next three days? What I am referring to is the push-crash-burn cycle of chronic pain. If you are experiencing chronic pain, you are likely no stranger to this extremely taxing cycle.

--> PUSH: You push yourself to complete an activity or chore
--> CRASH and BURN: Your pain skyrockets due to your
increased activity level, so you crash and burn and need to rest for an extended period of time due to increased pain

An example might be something like mowing your lawn. After putting it off for as long as you can, you finally decide you cannot take your grass looking that long anymore, and you go out and mow your lawn. A few minutes in, you feel your pain start to amp up, but you push yourself to finish anyways. Afterwards, your pain intensity is through the roof, and you need to rest for the next three days until your pain goes down at least few notches. Can you relate to this? If you deal with chronic pain, I am nearly positive you can relate to this scenario, if not while mowing your lawn, maybe you experience your push-crash-burn cycle while shoveling snow, gardening, making dinner, washing dishes, laundry, cleaning your house, etc. You can also experience this while participating in a sedentary activity such as sitting at your desk at work or school, watching a movie, or sitting in the bleachers watching a sports game.

In order to stop this cycle, we use pacing. We need to pace ourselves. This can be one of the hardest steps for my patients. They want to feel that they accomplished something, so they push themselves to finish an activity quickly, but then they end up paying for it later. Pacing can include taking breaks or not exerting too much energy or strength at once, but I like to take the definition of this term a little further. Pacing can also mean merely engaging in the activity in a more thoughtful manner: working smarter, not harder. So, using our example of mowing the lawn, one could use pacing by mowing for 20 minutes, taking a 10-minute break, mowing another 20 minutes, taking a 10-minute break, and then mowing another 20 minutes. Then, the next day, doing the same thing. In the end, you mowed your entire lawn, but you just completed it in two days instead of one. Pacing (using the broader definition) can also include just paying the neighbor teenager some cash to mow your lawn for you. Pacing might also be investing in a riding lawnmower. Keep in mind though, sitting for too long can also increase pain, so it is necessary to see what our body needs to pace ourselves.

Look at the image attached to this post. The red line is the push-crash-burn cycle. If you are in this cycle, you might push yourself hard on Day 2, so your effort level rises, and then the next few days, you crash and burn, so your activity level is very low. And then, to make up for lost time, you might try to push yourself again on Day 6, but only to crash and burn again for several days after. The blue line is pacing. If you keep your effort at a moderate level, you are more likely to be able to sustain it, and not crash and burn afterwards. Notice the number of days you are able to be active in the pacing line compared to the push-crash-burn cycle line. There are many benefits to pacing, including more days you can be active and less pain spikes. If you would like to learn more about how to manage this cycle and other ways to help manage your chronic pain, schedule with me today.

Amanda R. Donnelly, Ph.D., L.P.C.C., B.C.B., N.C.C.
https://centermentalhealth.clientsecure.me/request/service

Information adapted from Murphy, J.L., McKellar, J.D., Raffa,, S.D., Clark, M.E., Kerns, R.D., & Karlin, B.E., Cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain among veterans: Therapist manual. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Chart adapted from Eckardt, B., Goble, L., & Whitford, J. (2019). Cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain (CBT-CP) [PowerPoint slides].

02/14/2021

Celebrate who and what you love!

02/09/2021

“Clear your mind.” No. Nope. Not so much.
You can’t! And you’re not supposed to!

If you have ever attempted to meditate or looked into relaxation exercises, I am positive you have been told, “Clear your mind.” I have heard from patient after patient that the reason they don’t like to meditate or try yoga or relaxation is because they can’t “stop thinking” or they can’t “turn [their] brain off.” -- I cannot stress this enough that we cannot turn our brains off! Our brains were not meant to “turn off.” If we turned our brains off we would be dead. So, no, that is not our goal with relaxation exercises.

It is extra unfortunate because the people that need to use relaxation exercises the most, are often the people that struggle with this the most, so they give up on relaxation techniques because of this notion of needing to turn off our brains in order to have successful meditation.

What we are trying to turn off, is what I like to call our “monkey mind.” Our monkey mind is our racing thoughts of what happened yesterday, last night, my to do list for today, what I need to accomplish tomorrow, the conversation I just had with my partner, etc. The list goes on and on. And these thoughts can take over. When we start out meditating or practicing relaxation exercises, we really can’t even turn this off, but rather, let’s think of it as just turning its volume down. Those thoughts will still be there, but maybe we can try to just passively let the thoughts come and go, as if they are floating down a river on a leaf as fast or as slow as they want.

Another important piece to understand is that we cannot just not think about something. If I told you not to think about a purple elephant with pink sparkly wings, what are you thinking about? …a purple elephant with pink sparkly wings. Exactly. This doesn’t work either.

So, now what?! We can’t stop ourselves from thinking about certain things, but we can re-focus our attention on something else. And I want that “something else” to be a little less anxiety provoking. So, what I want you to do, is think about something happening, right now, right here, in the moment, that you can physically feel. I want you to think about your breath. As you inhale, think about the sensation of the cooler air coming in through your nostrils, traveling down into your abdomen, filling up your lungs and belly, and then the warm air gently coming out of your mouth as you exhale. Keep thinking about this as long as you can. When you first start out you will likely only be able to focus on your breath for short amounts of time, and then your monkey mind will turn back on and remind you about what you forgot to tell so-and-so about the one thing, yada yada yada. When you realize your monkey mind has turned up its volume again, bring your focus back to your breath. You will need to do this over and over and that is OK. It is more than ok, actually, it is expected. And actually, more than that, it is really even beneficial for your brain. The more you re-direct your focus, the more you strengthen your brain’s ability to refocus easier next time. Think of it almost as if you are working out your brain. To learn additional relaxation techniques and more, use the link below to schedule with me today.

Amanda R. Donnelly, Ph.D., L.P.C.C., B.C.B., N.C.C.
https://centermentalhealth.clientsecure.me/request/service

02/03/2021

Celebrate your personal wins. Steps toward your goals, even small ones are still progress.

01/24/2021

Keep going toward your goals!

01/24/2021

Surround yourself with those that bring you up, not those that put you down.

01/24/2021

Smile, laugh, and enjoy your day!

01/24/2021

What brings you joy? Do more of that!

01/24/2021

Life’s challenges are a way to test your strength. You can get through whatever it is you’re facing.

01/24/2021

What are you thankful for?