MysteryShrink for the Short Attention Span

Cold Turkey Quick Fix Are you ready to be less predictable and downright mysterious? Now that you have owned your responsibility for your reaction habits (The motto: This is unfortunate, inconvenient, and unpleasant, but not a disaster unless I decide to make it one.) and you have been successful in …

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Going with the Flo

Impractical Psychology On this New Year’s my mind goes back to Ellen, the thirty-three-year old mother with breast cancer who, after she’d been informed that she had from twenty-four to forty-eight of consciousness left, called me for help. Me? What did I know? I was a twenty-five-year psychologist barely out …

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Anxiety and Emotions: What If You Had to Live the Next Five Minutes Over and Over?

Anxiety What If . . . Every Moment You Experienced Today, You Had to Do Over Again? Dateline: Dallas, Texas, 9 p.m. I’m standing in front of the yummy shrimp display at Eatzi’s gourmet take-takeout, my over-educated and under-used brain caught in a dilemma. Should I sacrifice and buy only four …

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Over-Dosing on Back Braces

MysteryShrink Shorts Overdosing on Back Braces “Good afternoon,” I said from the podium a couple of days ago. “My name is Barbara and I’m a back-brace addict.” I didn’t start out as an all-out back brace fiend. Neither of my parents had an unhealthy attachment to medical devices—though my brother, …

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Which is Best? Potato Peeler or a Paring Knife?

Potato Peeler or Paring Knife? Which is Best? The lady across from me in my office described an anxious situation she experienced every time she visited her parents for Sunday dinner. Mashed potatoes were usually on the menu and my client’s responsibility. The potato tool selection is when Potato Peeler …

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VOODOO or HEALTH INSURANCE? Dr. Dale’s Journal Part 5

VOODOO or HEALTH INSURANCE?  Dr. Dale’s Journal Part 5 For this entry to make sense, first read Dr. Dale’s Journey Part 1: “DIAGNOSIS BLACK,” Dr. Dale’s Journey Part 2: “HEMLOCK” (chemotherapy); Dr. Dale’s Journey Part 3: “FALLOUT” (Radiation); Dr. Dale’s Journey. Part 4: “THE NOVELTY OF HAVING CANCER has WORN OFF”  One …

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Dr. Dale’s Journal. Part 3: FALLOUT (Radiation)

Dr. Dale’s Journal: Entry Three on Joys of Radiation For this entry to make sense, you’ll need to have read Diagnosis Black and Hemlock. Introductory Dr. Dale Memory Story: Dr. Dale Maxwell, psychiatrist and buddy, has been diagnosed. He has less than two years to live. My husband and I …

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