Psychiatrist
Psychologist
Psychotherapist
School Psychologist
Organizational Psychologist
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Licensed Professional Counselor
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
With so many 'ists,' do you know who is who?
I hope the following will give you more clarity when you are creating scenes with mental health professionals in your manuscripts.
Clinical Psychologist: A professional specializing in diagnosing and treating diseases of the brain, emotional disturbances, and behavior problems. Psychologists use talk therapy and can administer psychological tests. Psychologists have doctoral degrees such as Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) or Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology). They may have additional training in specific specializations as well.
Psychiatrist: A medical doctor with an MD (Doctor of Medicine). They completed a specialization in Psychiatry on top of their medical school training. They are qualified to prescribe medication.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC): A professional specializing in talk therapy with the focus on diagnosing and treating emotional and behavioral problems. They have a minimum of a MS or MA (Master of Science or Master of Arts) and have completed a two-year training program/practicum and internship, before passing their state board exam for licensure. Their focus in on the individual in counseling.
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT): A professional specializing in talk therapy with the focus on diagnosing and treating emotional and behavioral problems as it pertains to the family. They have a minimum of a MS or MA (Master of Science or Master of Arts) and have completed a two year training program/practicum and internship, before passing their state board exam for licensure. Their focus in on the family structure, including marriage counseling and family therapy.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW): A professional specializing in talk therapy with the focus on diagnosing and treating emotional and behavioral problems. Their training focuses on how the community impacts the individual and are aware of social support resources. They have a minimum of a MS or MA (Master of Science or Master of Arts) and have completed a two year training program/practicum and internship, before passing their state board exam for licensure.
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC): Depending on the state of licensure, some states use this title to include all of the above Master Level Professionals.
Psychotherapist: Any professional who engages in talk therapy and holds a state approved license may use this title. It is the catch-all/umbrella title so to speak.
Organizational/Industrial Psychologist: A professional who consults with corporations to improve the functioning of the organization. Has a PhD or PsyD.
School Psychologist: In most cases, they do not provide counseling. Their education is sufficient at a Master level. Their main focus is to administer testing and develop academic plans/IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) and referrals based on the results of their testing for children needing exceptional education.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
The Psychology of Waiting in Writing
Waiting. What is it about waiting that causes such
anxiety?
Is it the sense of wanting to be in the future when you can only be in the present? Wanting to fast-forward to some ‘knowing time’ where you’ll have the answer or situation you desire? But how do we really know that that future place will be any better than where we are right now?
Twitter
References:
THE POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle
A NEW EARTH: AWAKENING TO YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE by Eckhart Tolle
THE ART OF HAPPINESS: A HANDBOOK FOR LIVING by The Dalai Lama
THE JOY OF LIVING: UNLOCKING THE SECRET AND SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Is it the sense of wanting to be in the future when you can only be in the present? Wanting to fast-forward to some ‘knowing time’ where you’ll have the answer or situation you desire? But how do we really know that that future place will be any better than where we are right now?
If you had a remote control, would you skip ahead?
If you did, you might hazard the chance of getting
somewhere before you’re truly ready for it. In my opinion, the universe spins exactly
as it should, and if we can align ourselves accordingly (be satisfied in the
present moment, with exactly what is happening to you now), the anxiety of
waiting is moot.
The illusion of the ‘As Soon As’ syndrome needs to
be addressed. We’ve all been there at one time or another: As soon as I get
published, I’ll be happy/satisfied/complete. I’m convinced that’s all a big fat
lie. You will feel a temporary happiness around the moment you receive the good
news, but it will quickly fade into that pesky human condition: the desire to
achieve or arrive at the next big thing. Waiting to publish more books.
We are constantly working to cross things off our
list and in doing so, get so mired in our lists that we forget to embrace and
enjoy the journey.
Want in on a little secret? You’ll never be happy
until you are happy as you are right now. In your current position, doing or
not doing whatever it is that you are experiencing right now.
Take a deep breath. Feel the air fill your lungs.
Are you in good health? Do you have plenty to eat and a safe place to live? Do
you have people who care about you and support you? Are you free to say what
you like (not at the expense of others) and live creatively?
If so, take a moment and give thanks for what you
have. Being grateful for what is, is the first step toward true happiness.
Look at what’s already inside your half-full glass.
Focus on what is there already and bow to its goodness. When you appreciate
what you have, more things tend to jump into the glass without much struggle.
Remember, there will always be more, but you’ll
never cross it all off of your list until you accomplish humanity’s last chore.
Which is to die.
So embrace the present and be fully alive, engaged in all that you do. Turn your back on the wanting for more or the unknown. The unknown doesn’t matter. Today is perfect, even with its flaws. Problems teach us and grow us and provide us with opportunities to dig our roots in deeper.
So embrace the present and be fully alive, engaged in all that you do. Turn your back on the wanting for more or the unknown. The unknown doesn’t matter. Today is perfect, even with its flaws. Problems teach us and grow us and provide us with opportunities to dig our roots in deeper.
Stretch out in your space. Give yourself permission
to be fully alive. What would you do/feel/think if you weren’t waiting for
anything?
Say, I’m not waiting, I’m simply enjoying myself in
this moment.
Happy writing! And more importantly, Happy Living!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
The Writing of Mental Illness: Panic Disorder
Before assigning your character a mental illness, it is
important to understand how that mental illness operates. You don’t need a
Ph.D. to write a believable mentally ill character, but it does help to know
the markers that physicians look for in a particular diagnosis to make your
character more believable. I’ll add specific ones over time, but if there is a
diagnosis in particular that you would like me to cover, please ask. I’d be
happy to help.
If your character has panic disorder, they
are afraid that they will have a panic attack. The worry over this lasts at
least one month.
Agoraphobia can develop in panic disordered
people, which is the avoidance of places/situations in which the person feels
they would not be able to escape and/or would suffer embarrassment should a
panic attack happen in that location.
*DSM-V Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychological Association)
*The Pill Book (Fifteenth Edition)
For now, let’s tackle Panic Disorder:
It is included in the anxiety disorders grouping:
ANXIETY DISORDERS: Panic, Specific or Social Phobia, Obsessive-Compulsive,
Posttraumatic Stress, Acute Stress, Generalized Anxiety
1. Panic
Disorder:
For example: I had a patient who would not
shop in the grocery store because she was afraid of leaving her cart of groceries
in case she had a panic attack. This possibility was extremely embarrassing for
her.
Panic attacks usually last less
than ten minutes and come on fast, sometimes for no apparent reason, and others
after a situation or a trigger has occurred. The frequency and severity of an
attack varies depending on the individual, so as a writer, you can take a lot
of creative freedom here.
Your character should experience at
least four of the symptoms below during a panic attack.
a. Heart
palpitations
b. Sweating
c. Shaking
d. Shortness
of breath
e. Feeling
of choking
f.
Chest pain
g. Nausea
h. Dizziness
i.
Feelings of detachment
j.
Fear of losing control or going crazy
k. Numbness
or tingling
l.
Chills or hot flushes
If your character is getting therapy for this illness, Cognitive-Behaviorial
therapy is the most common method used and works by helping the patient examine
their irrational thoughts and replaces them with more reasonable ones. For
further research, you should look up psychologists Aaron Beck, MD, the father
of Cognitive Therapy, and Albert Ellis, Ph.D., who created and developed Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).
Medications that your character might be on for their panic
disorder could include an anti-anxiety, which slows the heart rate and can be
fatal if taken in excess. Benzodiazepine tranquilizers can be habit-forming so
they need to be closely monitored. Xanax (Alprazolam) is a common one, but be
careful in naming medications in your book as they change frequently. Xanax currently
comes in white (.25 mg), pink (.5 mg), and blue (1 mg) tablets or a long white
tablet (2mg). Common side effects can include drowsiness, weakness, confusion,
headache, disorientation, dry mouth, and nausea, but may subside after the
patient becomes used to the medication.
A panic attack could occur at any moment, even while
driving. However, it has been my clinical experience that many patients have
their panic attacks after a dangerous situation has occurred and they have
entered a safe space.
For example: One patient of mine witnessed gunshots fired. She escaped, thankfully, but it wasn't until she arrived
at a safe place that she sat down and had a panic attack.
I hope you find this information helpful in making your
mentally ill characters pop off the page. Please check back for more as I will
add them periodically.
Until we meet again, Happy Writing!
Sources: *DSM-V Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychological Association)
*The Pill Book (Fifteenth Edition)
Thursday, March 13, 2014
The Psychology of Perfectionism in Writing
Is perfectionism holding you back from writing?
If you think you are going to sit down at the computer and tap out a perfect novel from start to finish, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Don't let the idea of perfectionism keep you from writing what's on your heart—that is what the delete key is for.
Take advantage of being able to save many different documents under many different folders. Don’t be afraid to write in chunks of little bits of ideas, or move something that isn’t working in a piece to a ‘Bits and Pieces’ folder so you don’t have to let it go entirely, just store it in a ‘closet’ to pull out later when you find a more suitable place.
What you write today is not what is going to be published immediately. In fact, the reason traditional publishing takes so long is that it goes through countless levels of revisions: Your own gazillion revisions, revisions that come from your weekly critique group’s suggestions, Beta readers, an editing service, the agent who falls in love with your work, and finally the publisher, who will direct edits of your work for the bazillionth time (that’s what comes after gazillion, right?).
But don’t let this information overwhelm you, it is meant to encourage you. Why? Because you have tons of chances to get it right.
And if that doesn’t convince you, look at all the people in history who have messed up, but still hold a place in society: Martha Stewart, Bill Clinton, OJ Simson. Okay, the last two were chosen on purpose, to show hard-core examples where people tend to be forgiving and accepting of flaws. As far as I know, no angry pitch-fork wielding mob has come after any of them and stabbed them to death.
Those of us recovering perfectionists (such as yours truly) need to have these gruesome examples to remind us that we are nowhere near that level of scrutiny (except in our own minds) and we are so much better than we give ourselves credit for if we can just put aside our own critical voice and free ourselves to what possibilities can emerge from our fingertips if only we give ourselves permission to be human. This includes letting mistakes, and good and bad ideas flow onto the page without the worry of who will see it, if it will be deemed worthy, and if it will be accepted by others.
Don’t worry about any of that. Free your mind, free your fingers and let those thoughts fly. How many wonderfully imperfect sentences can you write? Let if flow, revise later, keep the nuggets of gold, and as for the rest? That is what the delete key is for.
www.torikelley.com
If you think you are going to sit down at the computer and tap out a perfect novel from start to finish, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Don't let the idea of perfectionism keep you from writing what's on your heart—that is what the delete key is for.
Take advantage of being able to save many different documents under many different folders. Don’t be afraid to write in chunks of little bits of ideas, or move something that isn’t working in a piece to a ‘Bits and Pieces’ folder so you don’t have to let it go entirely, just store it in a ‘closet’ to pull out later when you find a more suitable place.
What you write today is not what is going to be published immediately. In fact, the reason traditional publishing takes so long is that it goes through countless levels of revisions: Your own gazillion revisions, revisions that come from your weekly critique group’s suggestions, Beta readers, an editing service, the agent who falls in love with your work, and finally the publisher, who will direct edits of your work for the bazillionth time (that’s what comes after gazillion, right?).
But don’t let this information overwhelm you, it is meant to encourage you. Why? Because you have tons of chances to get it right.
And if that doesn’t convince you, look at all the people in history who have messed up, but still hold a place in society: Martha Stewart, Bill Clinton, OJ Simson. Okay, the last two were chosen on purpose, to show hard-core examples where people tend to be forgiving and accepting of flaws. As far as I know, no angry pitch-fork wielding mob has come after any of them and stabbed them to death.
Those of us recovering perfectionists (such as yours truly) need to have these gruesome examples to remind us that we are nowhere near that level of scrutiny (except in our own minds) and we are so much better than we give ourselves credit for if we can just put aside our own critical voice and free ourselves to what possibilities can emerge from our fingertips if only we give ourselves permission to be human. This includes letting mistakes, and good and bad ideas flow onto the page without the worry of who will see it, if it will be deemed worthy, and if it will be accepted by others.
Don’t worry about any of that. Free your mind, free your fingers and let those thoughts fly. How many wonderfully imperfect sentences can you write? Let if flow, revise later, keep the nuggets of gold, and as for the rest? That is what the delete key is for.
The Psychology of Revision in Writing
How many opportunities do we have in life to start over? In my opinion, revision
is the greatest thing in the business of writing, because you get to take a
rough idea, and hone it until it shines.
Could you imagine if the De Beers dug up a rock of a diamond and secured it into a setting? Who would make a fuss over a dirty, uncut, unpolished diamond? But give the jeweler some time to do the work, to make all the necessary adjustments, and that diamond becomes a gorgeous work of art that people drool over.
Your novel is no different. I’ve never gone on a diamond excavating trip, but I imagine it must be exciting to pluck such a precious gem out of the earth. You might hold it up and admire it.
The same thing happens when a concept for a story flashes through your mind. It is exciting. You’ve gone and done it—come up with an original idea! You rush to the computer or your notepad and jot it down as it pours out of you, inspired. You jump up! It’s done!
Not so fast, you have plucked a dirty gemstone from the earth, that’s awesome—it’s a diamond! However, don’t set that cloudy thing into a ring just yet. Now that you have your raw clay (yes, your first draft should be thought of as raw clay), think about what you want it to become. Think about all the new scenes you could add to up the stakes, add texture, tie up character threads, can we add in some surprises?
Examine your character arc, does your main character change in the most satisfying way? Have you left any story unfinished among the supporting cast—they are people, too. So many considerations. Plus, there’s fixing and catching grammatical errors, spelling, format problems, and structure.
What a freeing feeling to know that there is no rush to get it right the first time. Enjoy the revision process and ask yourself, How good can I make it?
www.torikelley.com
Could you imagine if the De Beers dug up a rock of a diamond and secured it into a setting? Who would make a fuss over a dirty, uncut, unpolished diamond? But give the jeweler some time to do the work, to make all the necessary adjustments, and that diamond becomes a gorgeous work of art that people drool over.
Your novel is no different. I’ve never gone on a diamond excavating trip, but I imagine it must be exciting to pluck such a precious gem out of the earth. You might hold it up and admire it.
The same thing happens when a concept for a story flashes through your mind. It is exciting. You’ve gone and done it—come up with an original idea! You rush to the computer or your notepad and jot it down as it pours out of you, inspired. You jump up! It’s done!
Not so fast, you have plucked a dirty gemstone from the earth, that’s awesome—it’s a diamond! However, don’t set that cloudy thing into a ring just yet. Now that you have your raw clay (yes, your first draft should be thought of as raw clay), think about what you want it to become. Think about all the new scenes you could add to up the stakes, add texture, tie up character threads, can we add in some surprises?
Examine your character arc, does your main character change in the most satisfying way? Have you left any story unfinished among the supporting cast—they are people, too. So many considerations. Plus, there’s fixing and catching grammatical errors, spelling, format problems, and structure.
What a freeing feeling to know that there is no rush to get it right the first time. Enjoy the revision process and ask yourself, How good can I make it?
Monday, March 10, 2014
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