What is Bowen's idea of "differentiation?"
This is the first of several articles about major concepts in Murray Bowen's family systems theory.Bowenian Family Systems theory has been a major cognitive map or model which informs my psychotherapy practice. It assists me in thinking and understanding my client's situations and I often share Bowen's ideas with my clients in the hope that understanding Bowenian concepts will be helpful to them in enhancing their self knowledge and in being purposeful and intentional in their interactions with others.The topic of this article is on "differentiation."Differentiation is simply "self knowledge," one of the major components o...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 27, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
Monroe County, NY jail offers treatment for opioid addiction
From WHEC NBC Channel 10 news on 01/17/19 For moreclick here. (Source: Markham's Behavioral Health)
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 26, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
What does the devastation of the opioid epidemic look like on the ground?
Jan Rader is the fire chief, first responder, and a nurse in Huntington, West Virginia who describes her community's reponse to the opiod epidemic.Huntington is a county of 95,000 people which, in 2017, experienced 1831 overdoses, and 183 deaths.Rader describes some innovative programming in her community to deal with substance use disorder which as reached epidemic proportions not only in her county but across the U.S. Editor's note:I was the executive director of GCASA, the Genesee Council on Alcoholism and Subtance abuse in Genesee and Orleans Counties in Western New York state from 2000 - 2011. I continue to consu...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 26, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
American Psychiatric Association denounces Supreme Court decision to ban the service of transgendered people in U.S. military
From the Psychatric News Alert of 01/24/19:"APA has denounced a Supreme Court decision handed down earlier this week that gave a green light to the U.S. military to restrict service by individuals who are transgender.A sharply divided high court handed the Trump administration the victory for its policy banning transgender military service by a vote of 5-4, without discussing the merits of the case. In response, APA issued a statementcalling for the protection of transgender individuals ’ civil rights and expressing great disappointment in the decision to lift the injunctions on the transgender service ban imposed b...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 26, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
What are cognitive distortions in CBT( Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT is one of the strategies of psychotherapy which is often studied and sometimes referred to as "research based."In general, when psychotherapy outcomes are studied, psychotherapy which applies some of the ideas of cognitive behavioral therapy, it is found that CBT gets good results usually as good, if not better, than psychotropic medications.One of the significant ideas of CBT is what are called "cognitive distortions." Cognitive distortions are very common and often are engaged in unconsciously. The person is thinking in certain ways that interfere with the person's good functioning.In ...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 25, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
Tomorrow, January 26, is National Spouses Day
Celebrated annually on January 26th, National Spouses Day is an unofficial holiday which encourages couples to celebrate each other on this day. On this day, people are supposed to take time out of their busy schedule to show just how important their spouse is to them. After all, the love that isn ’t tended is most likely the one that doesn’t thrive. This holiday shouldn’t be confused with Military Spouses Day – a holiday which falls on May 12th.Interesting facts about marriage:The average married couple has sex once a week20% of married couples have a sex-less marriageOver 300 couples marry in Las Vegas every sing...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 25, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
How have your handled burnout in your career?
From"Burnout and Self Care: A Process In Helping"by David Papia, LCSW in The New Social Worker, Fall 2014"Our social work profession is noble. This is a very special career path. We get to participate in important matters in people ’s lives. We learn about ourselves, about others, and about humanity. We engage in giving and receiving, and we engage in relationships that further who we are and further those to whom we attend. However, our profession comes with many significant challenges and occupational hazards that threaten to weaken our profession and the resolve of the professional social worker. &nbs...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 24, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
Movie - On The Basis Of Sex
On The Basis of Sex is a movie about Ruth Bader Ginsberg's early life and career establishing her expertise in advocating for women's rights in the U.S. in the later half of the twentieth century.It is a five out of five on the MBH movie scale and is highly recommended.Editor's note:This is not only a biographical story about RBG but a good example of how social change is made in an intentional and deliberate way.The norms, attitudes, beliefs, practices of a society are highly influenced in a democracy by the "rule of law." The impact of the changes in women's rights in a patriarchal society made by Ruth Bader Ginsbe...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 24, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
Violent Crime down in U.S. 49% in last 24 years.
From Pew Research Center Fact Tank, 01/03/2019Violent crime in the U.S. has fallen sharply over the past quarter century. The two most commonly cited sources of crime statistics in the U.S. both show a substantial decline in the violent crime rate since it peaked in the early 1990s. One is an annual report by the FBI of serious crimes reported to police in approximately 18,000 jurisdictions around the country. The other is an annual survey of more than 90,000 households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which asks Americans ages 12 and older whether they were victims of crime...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 23, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
New York State enacts the Reproductive Health Act on 01/22/19
Yesterday, 01/22/19, on the 46th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling, New York State enacted the Reproductive Health Act. With the Reproductive Health Act now enacted, a woman ’s right to make personal decisions about her own reproductive health will be protected in New York State — no matter what the federal government or the Supreme Court do in the future. (Source: Markham's Behavioral Health)
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 23, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
In our contemporary society do we have two adulthoods?
Psychotherapy StoriesEpisode 11, Two adulthoodsWith our expanded life expectancy in contemporary times, people are faced with two adulthoods: the period of 20-50, and 50 - 80. The first adulthood we are biologically programmed by Mother Nature to mate and procreate and assure the continuation of our species. The second adulthood engenders all kinds of existential anxiety because Mother Nature doesn't help us at all. How have you, are you, or will you negotiate this transition from adulthood number one to adulthood #2? (Source: Markham's Behavioral Health)
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 22, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
New York State bans mental health professionals from providing "conversion therapy." in 2019.
From New York Times on 01/19/19Between 2012 and 2018, 14 states and Washington, D.C., passed laws prohibiting “conversion therapy” for minors. Deep-blue New York was not among them.That finally changed this month when the State Legislature voted overwhelmingly to bar mental health professionals from working to change a minor ’s sexual orientation or gender identity.For moreclick here.Editor's note. I have practiced in the mental health field for over 50 years and have seen great changes in professional and public attitudes towards homosexuality. As a Professional Social Worker I have worked with my colleagues to dimi...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 22, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
Who gets the pet when couples split?
Who gets the pet when couples divorce? Only California, Alaska, and Illinois have any statutes on the books to help judges decide when couples can't with California being the last to pass such a law which took effect on January 1, 2019.For moreclick here. (Source: Markham's Behavioral Health)
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - January 22, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
Books - Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
What happens when parents suddenly die in a car crash and leave a 17 yr. old son, a 16 yr. old son, a 7 year old daughter and a baby daughter in a rural farming community in Northern Ontario, Canada?Grown up Kate, now in her 20s tells most of the story.It is a narrative full of love, sacrifice, loyalty, persistence, projection, and descriptions of attachment styles that are fascinating.Kate certainly has become avoidant although she had been every attached to her brother, Matt the youngest son. This attachment dynamic is the plat of the book. While Luke the oldest, and Bo the youngest are interesting characters, the primar...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - October 27, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
Books - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
There are plenty of slave narratives. Do we need any more?Colson Whitehead's novel, The Underground Railroad, tells the story of a young slave woman, Cora, who escapes the Randall plantation in Georgia with a male companion Caesar and makes her way north and west on a literal underground railroad whose tunnels have been dug by abolitionists committed to undoing the bonds of slavery.The scenes about slave torture and killings are terrible and offset to some extent by the kindness of strangers who help and conduct the slave escapees to freedom.This is a story about the tenacity and perseverance of the human spirit against th...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - October 26, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs
