Rejection Therapy?

I have to admit, I was delighted to hear this story on NPR about rejection therapy. Take a listen if you've got the time. It is the story of a man who took his intense fear of rejection into his own hands by...purposefully seeking rejection! I really admire the humor and dedication he brings to his journey, not to mention the courage to speak about it publicly. 

Some of us are ready to face our fears boldly, as the subject of the NPR piece did. Others need a bit more understanding and guidance on how exactly to face one's fears. In the psychotherapeutic treatment of social fears or fears of rejection, a therapist might ultimately work with you to execute exposures--facing your fears--but also work with you to build some skills so that you can cope with the fear sensations more effectively. In addition, therapeutic work around this kind of problem can also include buidling social and communication skills, learning to challenge mistaken beliefs about social interaction and rejection, understanding the origin of the problem, better tolerating uncertainty in social situations, and enhancing relaxation skills. 

If you struggle with social anxiety and fears of rejection, know that there are effective treatments available to you!

Silicon Valley's Mental Health: Mindfulness Helps Many Professionals Find Their Grounding, One Breath at a Time

This New York Times article about bringing mindfulness to the tech industry and its professionals is fascinating. Mindfulness is in the news, as it has been for several years, but now its application to those in the tech industry is the focus. This week's Time Magazine cover story on mindfulness spotlights some of the ways mindfulness is being introduced to companies like Google here in Mountain View.

If you have a moment to spare--literally a moment--getting centered on your breath in a mindful way can change the outcome of your day, the pace of your internal non-stop chatter, your outlook on life. It is an extremely simple concept, but one that takes practice and represents an evolving journey. How can it be that a bit of attention on your breath can be so powerful?

Part of the answer lies in the act itself. When you practice bringing attention to your breath, you are working on several skills at once. First and foremost, you are slowing down and taking a moment to be with yourself. Considering how busy and demanding life is these days, that is a unique experience in itself. Second, you are training your mind to attend to one thing. When you think about it, how often are we doing that these days, in the age of multi-tasking? How many times throughout the day do you find yourself attending to multiple things at one time--work, email, texts, IM's, phone calls? It is antithetical it is to our modern life to slow down and pay attention to one thing. In Dialectical Behavior Therapy, they refer to this as acting One Mindfully.

Inherent in the process of attending to the breath, you are also learning how to disregard or pay less attention to the constant commentary going on in your mind. Sometimes that chatter is worth listening to and sometimes it isn't. In the act of becoming more mindful, you can begin to choose when and when not to pay attention to the chatter and commentary your mind produces. This can then open you up to a number of life enhancing experiences, both internally and externally.

A concern I hear often goes something like this, "I have so much to do, if I stop multi-tasking and slow down, my productivity will suffer. I just can't do that." This point of view is understandable. However, what most people who engage in mindfulness training report is that they actually become more efficient. What fades away over time is the mindless head spinning, the over concern for the pursuit of perfection, the stifling self-judgment.

And imagine, all that just by paying attention to the breath.

Silicon Valley's Mental Health

Silicon Valley has been home to the booms and busts of the tech world for years. It is a modern day Gold Rush, with people from all over the world flooding here to be a part of the Next Big Thing. It is truly an incredible time and place in which we live. But, quite like the Gold Rush itself, there are real challenges that accompany the hope of tremendous opportunity and success.

Can we talk about mental health in the Valley? All of the factors that make it such an incredible place to be, also create a unique set of circumstances that can pose a challenge for even the most stable among us. The work hours are long. The schedules can be unpredictable. Funding is always an issue. Work-life balance can be elusive. Competition--for your company, your product, your job--can be fierce. Communication among colleagues can break down due to cultural differences. And what of all these problems if you struggle mood or anxiety problems?

It might seem nearly impossible to some to manage the ups and downs of the Valley. But, at least as a culture, we are beginning to talk about it. Here on this blog, I hope to post information and resources specifically geared to those in this crazy valley we call home.

Interviewing the Monkey Mind: NPR Interviews Author on His Experience with Anxiety

I just came across this interview on NPR. Click here for the audio and listen to author Daniel Smith describe his experiences with lifelong anxiety. It references his popular book Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety.

Social Anxiety, More Than Normal Shyness

There is a distinction, fuzzy as it may be in the middle of the anxiety spectrum, between social anxiety and shyness. It turns out that shyness is a fairly common characteristic, shared by a large percentage of people. Nearly everyone feels shy at times or in certain situations. However, when anxiety, tension, and avoidance surrounding social situations starts to interfere with normal functioning, it may be time to assess for a social anxiety disorder. The link to the articl below does a really nice job of summarizing some recent research. This new study indicates the relatively high rate of shyness (nearly 50%!) in a sample of teenagers contrasted with the relatively low rates of clinical social anxiety (about 10%).

You can get the article here.

How Confidential is Therapy Anyway?

Confidentiality is an exquisitely important issue for clients and clinicians alike. And it's no wonder. In therapy, clients should feel comfortable exploring some very private thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Often, therapy is the only place people can talk comfortably about some fairly private matters. For example, an individual with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) may be plagued with fears that he or she believes are irrational but still can't get a handle on them. Someone with depression may have thoughts of harming themselves. Sharing these thoughts and feelings with someone, even a caring professional, can be difficult. The last thing you want to worry about is whether your private concerns will become public information.

Psychologists have long prioritized the privacy of patient information. The American Psychologial Association has established the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct which each member is obliged to follow. Regarding your privacy, psychologists are required to keep your information confidential (with some exceptions noted below) and to discuss confidentiality and its limits with each and every patient at the outset of therapy. In California, state law requires that clinical psychologists follow the APA ethics code and its provisions around privacy. At the national level there is a law passed by Congress in 1996 called HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a complex piece of legislation that, in part, has very specific rules for managing patient data. These rules apply to the entirety of your health record. If you have seen any health care professional in the last several years, you have received their Notice of Privacy Practices which explains to you how your health information may be used and how it is protected. Though the notice is long and likely very dry reading, I encourage you to read it in its entirety since it is important for you to understand. Because of the potential for extra sensitive information in therapy records, the safeguards to protect their privacy extend even further than those for your regular medical record.

Consultation, Collaboration and Care: Sharing Information with your Permission

There are times when it makes good sense for your psychologist to share information with others. In planning your treatment, it is often helpful for your therapist to consult with your other health care providers or significant people in your life. This type of consultation requires your permission. With your written or verbal permission, your therapist can talk with others in order to provide you with high quality care. Your permission may be revoked at any time. And, you have a right to request that some specific information not be shared. For example: "Hey, doc, when you talk to my husband next week, I'd rather you not tell him about my current problems at work."

Hopefully, when your therapist requests to speak with another individual about your care, the rationale is clear and understandable. If it's not, you have every right to get clarification.

If you are a patient in a hospital or clinic, there is often a "blanket" release of information form such that any of your providers in that setting are able to consult with one another on your care.  

There are times when it is helpful for your therapist to consult with professional colleagues to assist with treatment. Your therapist is able to do this without your permission as long as there is no identifiable information provided to the consultant. That means that your name and any other identifying information is not conveyed.

Breaking Confidentiality: Sharing Private Information without your Permission

There are exceptions to the privacy and confidentiality of psychotherapy. Though this list is not exhaustive, these are likely the most common reasons why a psychologist might disclose your private information without your permission:

• If your psychologist determines that you pose a danger to yourself or someone else, he or she may be required by law to break confidentiality to protect you and/or the public.
• If there is a child, older adult, or dependent adult at risk for experiencing abuse, your psychologist is mandated to report that to the appropriate authorities.
• If you are involved in a lawsuit, your records may be subpoenaed.
• If you are in a life threatening medical situation, your therapist may supply pertinent information (about medication, for example).

The exceptions to confidentiality are very rare. Any breaches in confidentiality are taken extremely seriously by professional psychologists.

What Should I Do If My Privacy Has Been Unjustly Breached?

If you believe your confidentiality has been compromised, I would encourage you to speak with your clinician directly. You also have the option of contacting the Department of Health and Human Services (Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201) which oversees HIPAA violations.

Privacy Matters

Privacy is an essential ingredient in effective psychotherapy. You should feel confident that your treatment provider values your information and guards it closely. Though there are times when some confidential information may be shared, by and large, you have control over the content and the recipient. Even in the rare circumstance when your confidentiality is breached without your permission, psychologists typically share only the most relevant information.