Contributed by Margaret Wehrenberg
19 Results
Two Years In, This Therapist is Angry
Addressing the Anxiety Underneath
When the pandemic first struck, I was concerned about its impact yet able to handle the anxiety about infection pretty well. After all, managing anxiety is my stock-in-trade ability. But two years later, what I feel most of the time now is anger, so I’ve been using my anxiety management skills to figure out what exactly is going on with me. Read More
To Interrupt Anxiety, Try Singing
An Interview with Margaret Wehrenberg
Over the last year and a half, therapists have been pushed to the limit listening to clients worry, ruminate, grieve, and suffer in magnified ways. And we’ve all been suspended in similar uncertainty. Psychotherapy Networker talked with Margaret Wehrenberg, therapist and author of Pandemic Anxiety: Fear, Stress, and Loss in Traumatic Times, about how clinicians can help interrupt their clients’ anxious thought loops. Read More
Grief Anniversaries
Acknowledging Loss a Year Later
It’s critical for clinicians to recognize anniversary reactions. When clients describe their experiences as depression, we naturally think of solutions like prescribing medication, talking about relationships, or finding ways to raise energy and reframe negative thoughts. But those methods to lift mood won’t be productive when the suffering is mourning. Grief requires a different process than depression: reflecting on the loss, which is real and should be honored as significant. Read More
The Year of Canceled Plans
Coping with Loss as Disappointment
As all of us in the United States move into the coming months, a full year into COVID life, our personal losses will come into focus. If we don’t process them, they’ll be magnified. As therapists, we can be on the lookout for symptoms of anniversary reactions in our clients, and with our help, our clients can both recognize what they’ve lost and what they can still share with their friends and family. Read More
The Labels We Use
When It Comes to Addiction, Sometimes a Diagnosis is a Client's Best Motivator
The labels we use to describe clients’ behaviors have important therapeutic implications. Sometimes using the word addiction and explaining its neurological basis can help clients focus on the consequences of their behavior. But how do we parse the tenuous line between addiction and habit? Read More
Ten Best-Ever Anxiety-Management Techniques
There are Effective Alternatives to Medication
VIDEO: The Neurobiology of Worry
How the Brain Creates Neurobiology Ruts
In this brief video clip, Margaret Wehrenberg, cognitive behaviorist and author of The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques, offers some facts about the neurochemical process behind excessive worry. She explains how highly driven people engaging in repetitive worry can literally create a neurobiological pathway in their brains that’s like a worry rut. Read More
Margaret Wehrenberg
Margaret Wehrenberg, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist, author, and international trainer. Margaret blogs on depression and anxiety for Psychology Today. She has written nine books on the topic of managing anxiety depression, and her most recent book is Pandemic Anxiety: Fear. Stress, and Loss in Traumatic Times.