Most of us know that too much stress is harmful to health – but, do we know why? Cortisol, often called the “stress hormone,” impacts the body in so many ways. Weight gain, fatigue, depression, sex drive, and overall mental function can be adversely affected by high levels of cortisol. Really makes you wonder, why more attention isn’t paid to a hormone that can make a person fat, tired, miserable, AND take away their sex drive. How does this work? Well, cortisol can affect metabolic function in a detrimental way. This chemical response to stress tells the body not just…

Got a question from a counselor recently, here is the gist of what she said, “I am not a physician and do not practice medicine, why do I need to know about thyroid disease? I’m interested in mindfulness meditation, hypnosis and guided imagery.” Good question really. (In case you didn’t know, the topic of the first session in NICABM’s free summer teleseminar series is on A Holistic Approach to Thyroid Disease and that’s probably why she brought it up.) At first it might not be so obvious, but NICABM is recommending that it’s critical for the psychotherapist to know something…

Watching the retrospective analysis last night of Robert McNamara’s service as Secretary of Defense during the Viet Nam war was fascinating.  One quote from his memoirs just stuck with me, “We were wrong, terribly wrong.” The conversation led to the lessons learned about what went so wrong with US strategy. This included discussion about McNamara, the man. He served at the pleasure of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and in that capacity was fiercely loyal to both. One commentator in the retrospective last night described the decision makers during the war as prisoners of their own misconceptions.  You can learn more…