Brief Tips

At a glance

Favorite Therapy Stories and Metaphors III

Favorite Therapy Stories and Metaphors III - Here is part 3 in this series.  Every therapist develops ways to explain ideas and observations to clients in a way to help clients change attitudes, thinking, reactions, and behaviors.  I have collected a number of these over the years. It's time to share them. I hope they are useful. I expect to post 8-12  of these for therapists, perhaps more. -- Don Rosenberg

Favorite Therapy Stories and Metaphors II

Favorite Therapy Stories and Metaphors II - Here is part 2 in this series.  Every therapist develops ways to explain ideas and observations to clients in a way to help clients change attitudes, thinking, reactions, and behaviors.  I have collected a number of these over the years. It's time to share them. I hope they are useful. I expect to post 8-12  of these for therapists, perhaps more. -- Don Rosenberg

Favorite Therapy Stories and Metaphors I

Favorite Therapy Stories and Metaphors I - Every therapist develops ways to explain ideas and observations to clients in a way to help clients change attitudes, thinking, reactions, and behaviors.  I have collected a number of these over the years. It's time to share them. I hope they are useful. I expect to post 8-12  of these for therapists, perhaps more. -- Don Rosenberg

The Power of Early Therapeutic Intervention

The earlier you come to therapy once symptoms and difficulties start or after a troubling event... then usually recovery is more rapid.  We encourage people to call right away after they sense a need for mental health treatment. 

ACES: Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Childhood experiences shape the brain and personality.  Certain negative experiences have been shown to have been shown to have lasting impat on health outcomes as well as personality and behavior.  The ACES study confirmed the effect of a group of those adverse experiences.  We also list some protective and corrective factors.

Relationship Repair II - 6 Tools in Your Repair Toolbox

This is part 2 of our series of repairing relationships, a list of 6 themes with a number of statements for each one. These are sklls to use to come back to connection after a disgreement, argument, or other conflict.

Relationship Repair I - Couples Repair Challenges

The most successful couples are skillful at repairing beaches in the fabric of their relationship by halting conflicts or resolving them, and re-engaging in connection. They do not let differences harm the relationship.  Learn some of the ideas coming out of research on relationshp repair.

Executive Skills Explained

You may have heard the term EXECUTIVE SKILLS, but may not have seen the breakdown of which skills are included and their significance, especially in ADHD.

2-Minute Tip - Prolonged Grief - 3 Stories of Chronic Grief

Ths is the 3rd article in a series about Prolonged Grief.  It shares 3 cases that taught me about the 7 themes behind prolonged grief.  Stories help us see how these themes can manifest in one's life.  - Don Rosenberg October, 2025

2-Minute Tip - Prolonged Grief Disorder - Assessment of 7 Themes

This post picks up where Prolonged Grief-7 Themes leaves off. Each of the 7 themes is expanded with how each feels, and how to understand reasons for that kind of chronic grieving.  It covers identity loss, traumatic loss, difficulty accepting the reality of loss, guilt over losses, and other themes in more detail.

2-Minute Tip - Prolonged Grief - 7 Themes

Prolonged Grief Disorder was defined in the DSM5 in 2013.  It's about contnuing acute grieving for a year or more (6 months or more in youth). 

We have identified 7 themes behind such extended, chronic, persistent grieving. 

We also share 7 questions to help more deeply understand and help with prolonged grief. 

This valuable document can be helpful for clinicians and for people grieving and their families. 

2-Minute Tip - 12 Faces of Grief

Grief can take 4 major forms -- Normal/Uncomplicated, Delayed, Distorted, Prolonged/Chronic/Persistent.

Those 4 patterns cut across 8 kinds of grief -- Normal, Anticipatory, Vicarious/Compassionate, Traumatic, Masked, Disenfranchised, Ambiguous Loss, Cumulative, Communal-Collective.  

This post explains all 12 variations of grieving.

2-Minute Tips: Cannabis Problems

Consumers use cannabis (weed, pot) and related products for relaxation, pain management, sleep, and anxiety. Cannabis products can cause dependency, which can develop more quickly in adolescents. It may be time to get on board with recovery.

2-Minute Tips: Attachment Styles

From a few months of age, we bond with others in different ways. It's how children feel secure -- through proximity to caregivers.  Based upon care-giver (usually parents) ways of relating, children grow up with one of four styles of attachment.

2-Minute Tips: ADHD in Adults

We know ADHD symptoms, especially distractibility, lasts through life and impacts adult achievement, work, and relationships. It may lead to Task Paralysis, Demand Avoidance, many unfinished tasks, challenges with responsibilities, and complaints from others of not being heard. Treatment and ADHD coaching can help.