By Jeanine Austin, Ph.D.

Most of us are very familiar with the dance between peace and chaos. Everything is going smoothly or at least nothing stands out as being a major challenge. We feel like life has allowed us to take a deep breath. We feel we have finally reached balance. Then along comes something to deal with, something that demands our focus, and something that re-orders our priorities. We wonder when we are going to finally reach a peaceful equilibrium and blissful homeostasis. (more…)

By Jeffrey Chernin, Ph.D., MFT

Click here to contact Jeffrey and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

When it comes to unhealthy, ingrained patterns, we often use the term “vicious cycle.” Something causes something else, which leads to a downward slide. It starts when certain actions and perceptions that got you through childhood or early adulthood (coping strategies) remain unchecked and lock you into unhealthy behavior as an adult. The Adaptive Spiral, an idea which developed organically through my psychotherapy practice, is one way to change long-standing patterns that you developed early on as a way to cope with certain situations but became maladaptive. (more…)