Welcome back to the blog for Mindset Therapy. The goal of this blog is to teach you about mental illness to increase your awareness. Today’s blog will identify a psychological term called “cognitive dissonance” and discuss how this theory is a cause for your uneasy feelings when faced with certain situations in which you have conflicting beliefs, behaviors, or attitudes.
As humans, we like things to be predictable and thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes to be consistent within us. When there is an inconsistency in our beliefs and behaviors or attitudes, we experience discomfort. For example, if you are a smoker you likely know the risks of smoking and that it is unhealthy. However, you enjoy smoking and get pleasure from this behavior. These are two beliefs in conflict with each other. On one hand you enjoy smoking, but on the other hand you recognize the harm in smoking. When you purchase cigarettes, you may feel discomfort because you know you should quit, but do not want to. This is cognitive dissonance. The feeling of unease you feel is not pleasant and you must act to decrease this unease. To remove the dissonance you are experiencing, you have several options. In today’s blog we will discuss the option of changing your attitude or behavior to bring the two into agreement with each other, thus removing the dissonance. This could be done by stopping smoking or convincing yourself that smoking is not bad for you. Of course, those are both easier said than done. Changing a behavior in which we find value in, or is a habit, can be difficult. Additionally, if we believe that smoking is unhealthy we cannot just one day think the opposite. However, one of these must occur to decrease the dissonance and negative feelings you are experiencing. Continuing to ignore the feeling simply buys you time to the next moment of dissonance. Cognitive dissonance creates anxiety and there is effective anxiety treatment in Texas to address this. If you are experiencing cognitive dissonance and would like to learn ways to effectively create change, treatment is available with a licensed online psychologist in Texas. At Mindset Therapy we provide telepsychology in Texas, allowing you to attend the appointment from the location most convenient for you. The appointment is conducted over the internet; however, you will receive the same level and quality of care that you would if you went into a therapist’s office. Visit Past Blogs from Mindset Therapy:
0 Comments
Can My Mental Health Impact My Pain Experience? How Pain Might Require Depression Treatment in Texas1/8/2019 Welcome back to the blog for Mindset Therapy, a telepsychology service in Texas providing therapy from the location of your choice. In today’s blog, we will discuss the connection between your mental health and your pain experience. Did you know that your mood can impact how you experience pain? The reason for the pain response is complicated and will not be covered in this blog. However, regardless of the cause of the pain, the pain experience is impacted by your overall mental well-being. When in pain, it makes it difficult to do things; this can lead to a depressed state. Being depressed then leads to you not doing things you enjoy, feeling down, not sleeping well, and not eating well. A downward spiral of pain worsening depression and depression worsening your pain has begun. You may notice I have referred to the “pain experience”. The pain experience is specific to the person. When providing depression treatment in Texas to individuals experiencing chronic pain, it can be difficult for the person to initially see the link between mood and their pain experience. It is important to understand when your pain is being treated and there is a depression present, this is not to say you do not have an actual injury that is causing your pain and that it is “all in your head”. What research has shown, however, is that your pain experience can be amplified dependent on your current mood. Let’s look at an example of how your mood can impact your pain experience. When things are going well and you have few stressors, you may notice that your pain is a 4 out of 10 (with 10 being the highest pain). The pain is there and present due to the injury, but manageable. However, when your life is more stressful with job, relationships, or kids, you may notice the pain is a 7 out of 10. The injury is unchanged, but how you experience pain with the injury is changed. When you notice an increase in pain, pay attention to your stressors and determine if there is an association. If you find that stressors and a possible depressed mood can be leading to an increase in the pain experience, there is depression treatment in Texas available to you. At Mindset Therapy we provide mental health services from trained professionals, via an online psychologist in Texas, which allows you to attend the appointment from the location most convenient for you. Visit Mindset Therapy to learn more about the services offered. If you are not sure whether the service is right for you, you can also email or call, and we will be happy to discuss the services further! We are currently living in a digital age in which technology growth is rapid, and sometimes hard to keep up with! In addition to new forms of technology, there are new words for technology that are constantly being developed. One word you may have heard is telepsychology in Texas.
What is Telepsychology? Telepsychology, also called Telemental health, is the delivery of mental health services via technological means and not through the more traditional face-to-face visits in the office of your therapist. The methods by which it is delivered varies greatly and has afforded the delivery of mental health services to more people, and in ways that might be a better fit for someone. Telepsychology can be conducted via video teleconferencing, over the phone, via email or text messages, and through applications that you have on your phone or tablet. With the advent of telepsychology, you can call in to your appointment wherever is most convenient for you. Additionally, your therapist no longer needs to be located in the same city as you. Telepsychology in Texas allows you to find the psychologist that is the best fit for you, even if you are located hundreds of miles apart. Another advantage of Telemental health is the use of applications in the treatment process. Monitoring of moods and behaviors so that you can discuss them with your psychologist is an important aspect of treatment. However, this can be time consuming and difficult in an already time-pressured life. With applications on your phone, you can quickly log into the app throughout the day, document your mood and behaviors, and it is all recorded for you with minimal effort. Your psychologist can then review the week with you by bringing up the data in the app. Finding the time and tools to receive treatment for mental health symptoms has never been easier. Visit Mindset Therapy to learn more about the services offered and makes an appointment. If you are not sure whether the service is right for you, you can also email or call, and we will be happy to discuss the services further! |