An editorial from the BJSM in this month's issue has received considerable positive attention on social media this week to address the common misunderstandings associated with back pain. In our industry and in the media, there are many unhelpful ideas about back pain, which reinforces bad habits and wrong management strategies. The unhelpful beliefs have been shown to lead to…
An experienced counselor recently admitted to me that she felt overwhelmed when both a mother and an adult daughter came to her to seek help in their never-ending quarrels. She said that she had difficulty figuring out the main reasons for her arguments, and she knew that the communication skills and limits she wanted to instill in her did not…
"If you go through a period of discouragement, you will have a time of great personal growth." ~ Oswald Chambers If, as is so often the case, if I looked back on my previous life, I would notice a pattern of events and feelings that resembles the activity on an EKG monitor. There is a valley for every summit. Every…
"At the end of life our questions are very simple: Have I lived fully? Did I love well? Jack Kornfield When I was seven I almost died. My family and I were at the main train station in Sydney, Australia to celebrate the last steam train that ever left the station. It was about eight in the morning and I…
For me, 2019 ended in the emergency room! Except for a slightly annoying leg injury and a late end of the year, everything will be fine. For Physiopedia it ended in a little turmoil, and in fact as much as the end of a cyclone happened in this year! Let's start by getting the data out of the way! In…
In graduate school, I learned that most counselors will experience three things in their careers: a client who dies from suicide, a client who overdoses, and a client who sues. I remember hoping that I would be the exception to the rule. Throughout my career, I have done everything in my power to circumvent this Graduate School prophecy. But fate…
I always found it very frustrating that our rational minds cannot convince us that most of our fears and fears are nothing to be afraid of. Many of my customers express the same frustration. As the philosopher Michel de Montaigne said: "My life was full of terrible accidents, most of which never happened." Unfortunately, this is true of many of…
"He who loves is unhappy, even if love does not return, he has his rainbow." ~ James M. Barrie My first experience with unrequited love took place when I was a small child in swimming lessons. I had a crush on one of the instructors. I don't remember his name, but I do remember the excruciating feeling of absolutely adoring…
An understanding of mental health is important personally and professionally, since good mental health is of fundamental importance for the well-being of the individual. For this reason, poor mental health has been identified as one of the main causes of disabilities, impaired quality of life and reduced productivity. There is also a strong association between mental illness and people reporting…
I am often inspired by the stories of great athletes and put them on a pedestal for their competitive achievements. We praise famous actors and musicians by clicking on articles that contain their names so we can keep up to date with their antics. Politicians, inventors, military leaders, captains of industry. Some nobles, others less, because they are known and…