Are you a person who normally has reasonable spending habits except when it comes to problematic sexual behavior? Have you amassed unwanted credit card or other debt because somehow you don’t have any discipline when it comes to this area? Is your spouse demanding to look at or have control over your credit and spending situation? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then read on.
Read more6 Things You Can Do To Cope with Fear of the Unknown
Do you feel like you are constantly bombarded with crippling fear of what might happen? Are you continually running on adrenaline and feeling tired of how much you have to work just to deal with what may lie ahead? Do you see all kinds of terrible outcomes for what may lie ahead and have trouble relaxing because of them?
Avoidance, Retraumatization, Simone Biles, and You
If you watched the Olympics or the news about our most accomplished gymnast of all time and were left wondering why she withdrew from competition, this blog post is an attempt to get insight into how trauma, avoidance, and retraumatization can help explain things. It’s not so much to explain her behavior, but more to gain insight into your own.
Read moreWhat to Know if You Think Your Partner Has a Problem with Sex Addiction
There may be nothing more beguiling than feeling like your partner is cheating on you, but not knowing for sure what is going on. They may or may not be gaslighting you or pulling the wool over your eyes, but regardless of this they are probably a mystery to themselves as well. It can be helpful to understand more about them and what you are and are not capable of doing for them.
Read moreHow Harvey Penick Can Help You With Taking Risks
Have you spent much of your life being afraid of trying new things? Have you lived your life afraid of what would happen if you failed at something new? Have you wondered what your life would be like if you weren’t afraid so much of the time of doing something totally new? If these questions resonate with you, then you need to keep reading…
Read moreDoes Change Trigger Your Addiction Issues?
Do you tend to struggle with change? Do you hate that unsettled feeling of knowing something you’ve counted on staying the same is suddenly going away? Even knowing something as awful as the pandemic may be ebbing away can fill you with a sense of dread along with the excitement of being able to get out more? Does change tend to worsen your compulsive or addictive sexual behavior, too? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, read on.
Read moreOvercoming Religious Trauma
Do you feel guilty much of the time for doing and thinking things that others have told you are ‘bad?’ Have you been taught repeatedly that what you do and think can lead to eternal damnation and that you need to continually ‘make up’ for all the things you do? Has the name of God been invoked as a source of judgment against you? If your answer to most of these questions is ‘yes,’ then you need to read more below…
3 Things You Can Do To Cope With Racial Trauma
Have you ever been victimized in your school or community because of race? Do you feel like you have been mistreated because of your cultural beliefs and values at school? Have others treated you differently because of your racial affiliation or gender? If you have, then reading the rest of this post could be very helpful for you.
Read moreSocial Anxiety, Coming Out of Covid-19, and the Movie Crash
If you ever watched the movie Crash, you know how intense some of the interactions between the characters were in it. That’s my sense of the flavor of how ours have been the last 12-plus months in Covid have been and how strange re-emerging from this can feel for those with any degree of social anxiety. Will life ever be the same? Will I ever feel normal in my human interactions? I will try to answer these questions below…
The Blessing and Curse of Ambivalence
Have you ever wanted to change something about yourself or your life, but been gripped by overwhelming fear or apprehension? Have you ever made some decision to give up a bad habit or addiction, but then wound up relapsing within a relatively short period of time? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you have experienced ambivalence. As bad as it may feel, it can be a blessing in disguise.
The Dilemma of Social Media Addiction
There is still much debate about whether social media is addictive or not. After watching the Netflix documentary entitled The Social Dilemma I have definitely refined my professional opinion about that. Read on for my review and thoughts on this serious situation.
Read moreListen to my interview with Noah Garcia, LPC-S on the Next Quest Podcast!
https://nextquest.podbean.com/e/scott-kampschaefer-lcsw-s-on-addiction/
6 Signs of Frontline Worker Trauma and How to Cope
If you or someone you care about is a frontline worker and you give everything you have to your job, there’s a good chance you’ve suffered some form of trauma since Covid started. You may not realize it, but there are signs that you have been affected and being aware of those is one of the first steps towards getting over them.
Read moreWhat is Negative Self-Talk Telling You?
We all have a voice or voices in our head. Depending on what they are telling us, we can either thrive or suffer. Online therapy gives you a chance to put a new and better voice in your head: the voice of your therapist. All it takes is the touch of a button and someone like me can come into your life and help turn things around. It’s never been easier to start your therapy journey.
Read moreEMDR and Image Transformation Therapy Compared
Many people have heard of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), but even fewer know about a related therapy that helps many people as well called Image Transformation Therapy, or ImTT. They have much in common, but some important differences as well. I compare them both below.
Read more5 Ways to Cope with Quarantine-Related Social Anxiety
You may be wondering how much longer the relative quarantine we’ve been under for most of the past year will continue. You may also be wondering what effect it’s having on your mental health. The answer is not positive, especially if you’ve been experiencing more isolation than usual. You may also be experiencing social anxiety, so read on to find out more.
Read moreWhen Transparency is Necessary in Relationships
We all hear the cry for the need for ‘greater transparency’ with respect to our elected leaders, government officials, and corporate executives. Do we feel like we deserve the same from our partners and spouses? Sometimes it can be necessary to have transparency in our relationships, especially if trust has been broken. It’s a two-edged sword that should be used very carefully, though.
Read moreLove is the Way Can Help You Out of Depression
At a time when love can seem far distant, it can be helpful to know there are sources of it that can help you out of depression. One of those is Bishop Michael Curry’s new book Love is the Way. I review it in this week’s blog.
Read more4 Reasons Why Little 't' Traumas Deserve Your Attention
Have you ever found yourself rattled after a jarring event, maybe even saying “I can’t believe” it just happened? Do you find yourself thinking about these events days or even weeks after they happened, but telling yourself it “wasn’t that bad?” If so, you could be at risk of minimizing a little ‘t’ trauma, but there’s ample reasons not to do so.
Read moreWhat to do When Everything is Unprecedented
Do you seem to keep hearing the word ‘unprecedented’ everywhere you go? Does it seem to give you the creeps when you hear it and make you wonder about present day circumstances? We may almost be through with 2020, but this word is a key indicator of the times we’re now living through. Read on about how to cope with it.
Read more