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We live in a stressful world. Whether it’s the demands of our jobs and careers, a difficult boss, neighbor, or relative, the responsibilities of parenthood and raising a family, caring for aging parents, loneliness, the loss of a loved one, or health issues. Life is hard. Even when we succeed in meeting these challenges, these stresses take a toll on our minds, our bodies, and our behavior. While we may be diligent about dealing with these stresses directly, many of us overlook keeping our minds and spirit healthy, and so we remain stressed and eventually these stresses catch up with us in one way or another. It is important to pay attention to our minds, bodies, and spirits so that we may take care of ourselves allowing to function more efficiently and live life with greater enjoyment, less encumbered by life’s many challenges and difficulties. This is why many people today are turning to meditative practices and yoga classes which incorporate meditation.  Autogenic training is a form of meditation I use in my practice to help patients relax and deal with life’s stresses better. It is taught in a series of graduated visualization exercises which can be recorded and subsequently rehearsed at home as a daily practice. Research studies have shown its benefits in terms of reducing stress, treating insomnia and health issues such as hypertension, alleviating chronic pain, improving focus and attention, and enhancing performance in sports activities.
The beauty of autogenic training is that over time, with daily practice, one becomes more skilled and proficient at inducing a state of calmness instantaneously. It is a conditioning exercise. In other words, as with any new skill we attempt to learn, at first it is difficult but over time one’s ability to focus and benefit from practice in terms of the relaxation response increases steadily. Many of my patients thus have found the rewards of incorporating meditative practice into their daily lives. If you are interested in pursuing counseling for personal growth, click here to request an appointment, or call (860) 236-2131. Posted by Robert Hamm, Ph.D.
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Certain elements of our personality formed during childhood develop a life of their own. Their original purpose might have served to please a parent, for example, and later in adult life evolve into qualities whose motives and purpose change even though the behavior remains the same. Bryan was raised by a strict father in a family of three boys. No matter how hard he tried, he never felt what he did to please his father was good enough. Fast forward many years later: Bryan is a very devoted young husband and father. Despite his due diligence, however, he often feels he isn’t doing enough and whenever his wife criticizes him, even when it is justified, he takes it personally. In therapy, Bryan learned that even though the behaviors to please his father he learned as a child had created a lot of anxiety and self-doubt, they served him well as an adult as a diligent and devoted father and husband. They had gained functional autonomy inasmuch as what once served to gain approval and secure feelings of self-worth had evolved in function to being a husband supporting a family.  Thereby the purpose of Bryan’s devoted behavior, to serve others, in this case his family, had become autonomous from its origins in childhood to obtain a sense of security and self-worth for himself. This evolution in function from its original purpose reflects Bryan’s development as a person, from childhood insecurity to responsible adult.
Gaining insight about this evolution in function from eagerness to please toward that of fostering a secure and healthy family enabled Bryan to realize how his reactions to his wife’s constructive criticism were influenced by his relationship with his father and thus less about his wife’s perceptions of him as a father and husband. This realization on Bryan’s part gave him greater confidence in himself as well as an appreciation for all he did for his family. His greater self-worth enabled him to put criticisms in more proper perspective so that they no longer created the anxiety and self-doubt they once did. If you are interested in pursuing counseling for personal growth, click here to request an appointment, or call (860) 236-2131. Posted by Robert Hamm, Ph.D. |
Robert Hamm Ph.DPsychologist Archives
March 2023
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