Call Us Today! (833) You-Talk
Ince Counseling
  • Home
  • About
  • Telehealth
  • Services
    • Counseling & Workshops >
      • Individual Counseling
      • Couples / Family Counseling
      • Groups/Workshops
    • Crime Victims Compensation Funding
    • Employee Assitance Programs (EAP)
    • PRO BONO >
      • College Students
      • New Immigrants
    • College Student Counseling
    • Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) Evaluations
    • Supplemental Letters
  • INFO
    • RATES/INSURANCE
    • FAQ
    • FORMS
    • POLICIES
    • Opportunities
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Telehealth
  • Services
    • Counseling & Workshops >
      • Individual Counseling
      • Couples / Family Counseling
      • Groups/Workshops
    • Crime Victims Compensation Funding
    • Employee Assitance Programs (EAP)
    • PRO BONO >
      • College Students
      • New Immigrants
    • College Student Counseling
    • Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) Evaluations
    • Supplemental Letters
  • INFO
    • RATES/INSURANCE
    • FAQ
    • FORMS
    • POLICIES
    • Opportunities
  • Blog
  • Contact

Ince Counseling Blog

More than Hair: Impact of Barber Shop and Salon COVID-19 Closures on Minorities

5/9/2020

4 Comments

 
Picture
Barbershops and salons have been a staple of many Black and Brown neighborhoods for decades.  Many Black and Brown folks identify these shops and salons as safe spaces to get a haircut/hairdo from a professional who uniquely understands the nuances of their hair. These are spaces where people meet, network, get counsel, feel safe, and leave with a new hairdo and a new level of self-esteem and confidence, which only comes from that great cut or style you can get at your neighborhood shop.
 

For minorities who may have spent many years of their lives stigmatized and traumatized, due to having different hair texture from their Caucasian peers, a fresh haircut or well-groomed mustache or beard can help boost how they perceive their self-worth.  It can also give the confidence to walk in the footsteps of their community leaders and idols, who teach the importance of showing up to everything well groomed. The forced shutdown of salons and barbershops due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the whole country and, indeed, worldwide.  For the Black and Brown community, the negative effects of the pandemic could leave a culture without a safe space that provides emotional support, confidence, friendship, and counsel in a sometimes biased world.
  

Many men of color who are trying to overcome traumas and economic and social barriers may suddenly feel more powerless as neighborhood establishments close- symbolic of yet another loss they must endure . Many feel that a well-groomed appearance is critical, but don’t know what to do with their hair, in a society where hair shaming can be an element of their professional review.  Furthermore, they suddenly have lost the comfort and emotional support of their stylist, who they usually express their issues, worries, thoughts, feelings and troubles with, so they don’t burden their family with these. As Dr. Victor from Cedar-Sinai Medical Center recently found in his national study, “Barbershops are a unique popular meeting place for African American men” and almost like a social club for them.
​

How do you survive COVID-19 without your hair expert?
  1. Start the day with 5 positive affirmations, at least two of which embrace your appearance and true self, to set the day’s tone.
  2. Women use this time as an opportunity to embrace your natural hair, and consider using wraps, scarfs or experimenting with your hair during this time. Men take advantage of this time to try out something new too.
  3. Consider reaching out to your barber or stylist or people who you regularly talked to when you got your hair done and having a video chat, if they are open to it, to recreate that friendly environment you can’t go to right now due to closures.
  4. Consider investing in clippers, if you are extra brave, and maybe get lessons or tips from your normal stylist or YouTube.
  5. Reframe your point of view, self-editing instinct, and self-judgement and understand that just showing up healthy, timely, and ready to work in the midst of COVID-19 is a win. 
  6. Seek professional guidance from a therapist or licensed counselor, if you worry that not being able to show up as your normal groomed self is affecting your productivity by causing you decision paralysis, anxiety, insecurity, or an inability to effectively negotiate or present ideas.
  7. Above all, remember this will pass. Your job right now is to focus on what you need to do each day to face the day and excel. Remember, we and other therapists are offering virtual appointments to help you, if you want help.

References
  • Bryant, Kelsey B., C. Adair Blyler, and Robert E. Fullilove. "It’s Time for a Haircut: a Perspective on Barbershop Health Interventions Serving Black Men." Journal of General Internal Medicine (2020): 1-3.
  • Jean, Tyra. "The Gig is Up: Supporting Non-Standard Workers Now and After Coronavirus." (2020).
  • Jefferson, Alison Rose. Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era. University of Nebraska Press, 2020.
  • Victor, Ronald G., et al. "Effectiveness of a barber-based intervention for improving hypertension control in black men: the BARBER-1 study: a cluster randomized trial." Archives of internal medicine 171.4 (2011): 342-350.​

Contact Us

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling. 


4 Comments

What’s Behind the Mask- Managing Anxiety in the Age of Masks

4/17/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Do you feel like the Center for Disease Control (CDC) just ripped the rug out from under you with their new mask recommendations? Logically we understand that good honest Americans are wearing masks to protect both themselves and others from COVID-19, and to slow its spread. Yet, despite the CDC’s recommendations and the fact that many municipalities are enforcing new regulations requiring people to don masks in public, you may feel a familiar sense of panic and doom when you see masked parties. 

#METOO, you are not alone. Many, especially #VictimsOfCrime, feel their heart racing and find themselves short of breath when approached by masked individuals. Suddenly, anxiety can flood their bodies and memories of past crimes and traumas can overwhelm them. If you are a victim of #SexualAssault, #ChildAbuse, or other crimes, COVID-19 can be especially painful and make doing normal activities challenging due to the changes COVID-19 regulations have caused in society. It can also be life-changing to those with conditions such as Asperger’s, #Anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorders, or other mental health conditions. They too can feel themselves consumed by terror when they go out into the newly masked world. Even those with no past traumas or medical conditions can find that masks trigger a sense of panic within them. This is because, ever since we were children, many have been almost conditioned to be wary of anyone wearing a mask, after all many bank robbers and criminals on television tend to don masks right before committing a crime. A recent McKinsey survey found that 64% of those responding reported feeling anxious or depressed for reasons related to COVID-19.

Regardless of if you have experienced sexual assault, robbery, trauma, depression or another condition that has left you with a need to feel in control of your surroundings, or simply feel anxious when you see masks, now is a great time to address our phobias, fears, mental conditions, and emotional baggage left from life experiences. By addressing these now, you can prepare yourself to thrive once the COVID restrictions are lifted. Here are some things you can do to help navigate the new norm:
​

1.     Acknowledge that the emotions you feel are a normal response caused by a thought or external threat
2.     Engage in positive self-though when you experience negative emotions or thoughts
3.     Carry water to sip whenever symptoms arise to help you tap into a mindfulness activity and mentally reconnect with your body and environment
4.     Try to wear a mask 10-15 minutes, or as long as you comfortably can, daily to train your mind that you can be safe, even while masked
5.     Identify professionals to help you process your experiences and provide you with interventions to help you feel safe in this world where, in the name of public safety, faces are concealed and people isolated
6.     Follow guidelines that apply to you and mask-wearing during this pandemic
7.     Try to stay busy with hobbies, such as reading to help keep your mind occupied on things other than your fears, anxieties, past traumas, and worries
8.     Establish a routine to help normalize these new norms in your mind and help you find a sense of safety in a routine
The world is dealing with an acute crisis and we are here to help. Contact us if you would like professional help to assist you in processing your experiences and navigating this new masked world.
 
You can also find help online at the COVID-19 Mental Health Resource Hub: pyschhub.com/covid-19 and on the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Mental Health and COVID-19 page at afsp.org/campaigns.covid-19.
​

References
  • Forgie, Sarah E., et al. "The “fear factor” for surgical masks and face shields, as perceived by children and their parents." Pediatrics 124.4 (2009): e777-e781.
  • Katkin, Edward S., Stefan Wiens, and Arne Öhman. "Nonconscious fear conditioning, visceral perception, and the development of gut feelings." Psychological Science 12.5 (2001): 366-370.
  • Kumar, Ajay, and Aditya Somani. "Dealing with Corona virus anxiety and OCD." Asian Journal of Psychiatry (2020): 102053.
  • Öhman, Arne, and Joaquim JF Soares. "Emotional conditioning to masked stimuli: expectancies for aversive outcomes following nonrecognized fear-relevant stimuli." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 127.1 (1998): 69.
  • Öhman, Arne. "The role of the amygdala in human fear: automatic detection of threat." Psychoneuroendocrinology 30.10 (2005): 953-958.
  • Ramesh, Naveen, Archana Siddaiah, and Bobby Joseph. "Tackling corona virus disease 2019 (COVID 19) in workplaces." Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 24.1 (2020): 16.
  • Wiens, Stefan, et al. "Recognizing masked threat: Fear betrays, but disgust you can trust." Emotion 8.6 (2008): 810.

Contact Us

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling. 

0 Comments

Celebrating Holidays and Milestones Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

4/13/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
With over 1.5 billion people world-wide asked to stay home and tens of thousands of deaths related to COVID-19, it may seem ludicrous to celebrate Easter, or anything. After all, our country is in despair with news of new deaths ever-present, as we try to get the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic under control and protect loved ones and vulnerable populations. However, that is precisely why we must celebrate Easter, milestones, and holidays. These events allow us to find some normalcy in this chaos, find comfort in doing what is within our power to do, create positive memories amid this era of trauma, and help us and the children around us feel calm and safe. 

Remember when you were a child and the lights went out during a storm; your parents didn’t fret. Instead, they made the best of it with outdoor cooking, flashlights and fun so you felt calm and safe. In fact, dating back several millennia B.C. ancient civilizations celebrated despite pandemics and tragedies. Research has found that people who take the time to celebrate events and milestones tend to have more energy, better physical health, improved mental health and less anxiety. So let’s be good to ourselves and create positive memories by celebrating Easter and the holidays that follow during this time of crisis. 

Here are some ways you can keep celebrating Easter and other events:
  • Attend an online church service if you normally celebrate Easter at church. 
  • Participate in virtual egg hunts such as the one on Minecraft.
  • Chalk your sidewalk or driveway with milestone announcements, special notes to your community or holiday drawings.
  • Decorate- set out and eat on your best china, spend time cooking a special meal to enjoy, and decorate your home, as if you were going to have a full house. Then sit back and enjoy the scenery and great meal.
  • Embrace full-on happy color and bring in greenery and flowers from your yard. Spring stands for fresh beginnings, which is important now more than most other times.
  • Fill your home with music, including special celebrating and seasonal songs.
  • Have a walk by Easter egg hunt-put pictures of eggs in various places and provide prizes to those who locate the most, from a distance.
  • Host a private VIP egg hunt in your backyard with those you live with to celebrate Easter. Remember, you are never too old to hunt for eggs.
  • Have a story time with the kids in your family and read a holiday favorite via videoconferencing. 
  • Host virtual parties- plan as usual; design and send evites for your virtual anniversary/birthday/holiday party, and enjoy the moment via virtual get togethers. Memories of these parties can be shared for years as a testament of how you had fun and overcame challenges to celebrate that special birth, marriage or holiday.
  • Post your celebratory photos and videos online so the world can celebrate with you and see that you are embracing life.
  • Setup conference calls and video conferences to connect with loved ones on special days.
  • Use your cell, or other equipment to record the celebration for posterity. Share those photos and videos with loved ones so they can be part of the big day. 
  • Schedule a therapy session to help support your thoughts and mental health if holidays or milestones is a trigger for grief.
Ince Counseling is here for you and will be open on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. If you find that you need support, visit our website at www.incecounseling.com to share how we can be helpful. ​

References
  • Carnes, John W., H. James Brownlee Jr, and Charles E. Aucremann. "Are the holidays hazardous to your patients' health?." (1986): 21-23.
  • Fetzer, Thiemo, et al. "Coronavirus Perceptions and Economic Anxiety." arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.03848 (2020).
  • Griffin, Eve, et al. "The paradox of public holidays: hospital-treated self-harm and associated factors." Journal of affective disorders 218 (2017): 30-34.
  • Phillips, David P., and Judith Liu. "The frequency of suicides around major public holidays: Some surprising findings." Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior 10.1 (1980): 41-50.

CONTACT US

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling. 

1 Comment

Paradox- Mental Health Impacts of Social Distancing

4/9/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Social distancing is needed to limit infection, but it can erode our mental health. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), we now have an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. Recent research shows that more than three in five working American’s feel lonely and report it affecting their mental health. This doesn’t even consider those out of work due to coronavirus (COVID-19). The Health Resources and Service Administration noted that loneliness can contribute to depression, high blood pressure, heart disease, and cause chronic inflammation by activating our fight-or-flight response. This response also reduces about body’s immune system and virus defending capabilities. One study by the Health Resources and Services Administration cautioned that loneliness can be as damaging to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 

This is not surprising considering the multitude of mental and physical aspects connecting social contact to our health. For example, a 20 second hug helps our body produce oxytocin, a chemical proven to boost mood and speed healing. For centuries humans have lived in groups and been conditioned to almost need socialization to maintain mental stability. In fact, military special-forces and astronauts go through special training just so they can combat intermittent loneliness caused by isolation on missions. Without such training, when you are isolated you may experience the same challenges of a person in solitary confinement- the feeling that you have to psychologically endure wherever your mind wanders without anyone else or many options for reflection. Social distancing takes these negative feelings a step further.

​The news conditions us to be suspicious of others, alert, and anxious. Due to media reports we are almost always watching for potential sources of infection. Additionally, the activities and interventions needed to stave off these negative mental health impacts, such as exercising or crossword puzzles, requires significant mental energy or motivation, both of which can be drained by social isolation, especially for people who thrive on the energy of others and social events. Changes in the status quo typically puts most people at risk of depression. Yet, even in this era of limited face-to-face meetups, mistrust, and change there are interventions to help us stay sane, calm, and mentally healthy. We suggest the activities to help stay mentally healthy:
  • Apply for new jobs, the sky is the limit so don’t worry about going for that dream job
  • Begin or advance your career by working on your professional networking and resume
  • Create a daily schedule to help provide consistency, thus calm some anxiety
  • Exercise outdoors, either in your backyard or an uncrowded area, if allowed
  • Hug people in your home, if all are healthy
  • Limit connecting to 24/7 coronavirus new, which can cause or support secondary trauma
  • Minimize consumption of alcohol and mind altering or depressive substances
  • Maintain social connections by planning phone or virtual check-ins with friends, family, and colleagues
  • Partake in activities, such as Sudoku, that can keep your brain cognitively challenged
  • Plan and imagine what you will do when this social isolation is over
  • Schedule virtual or at home (with no non-virtual guests) celebrations, such as birthdays and commencements, with full birthday or cap and gown attire. You can even plan “just because” virtual get togethers to bring and experience joy with others.
  • Tackle projects you never had time for, such as getting ready for graduate school by studying for your GMAT/LSAT/MCAT/GRE, building a bend or patio, going online and learning or getting a new certification, taking a virtual class, or growing a garden
  • Take all medications and supplements as recommended by your primary care provider
  • Use prescribed psychotropics as directed  
If you need assistance contact a therapist or use one of the following resources:
  • National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
  • SAMSHA Distress Hotline: 1-800-985-5590
  • We may be physically apart, but you are not alone dealing with COVID-19 related mental health challenges.
  • NAMI Emotional Support Hotline: 1-800-950-6264
  • National Hopeline (depression and suicide prevention): 1-800-784-2433
  • Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741-741 to connect with crisis counselor through text
  • MentalHealth.gov: website provides information about mental health conditions and treatment options
  • Samaritans (depression): 1-877-870-4673​

References:
​

de Jong Gierveld, Jenny, Theo Van Tilburg, and Pearl A. Dykstra. "Loneliness and social isolation." Cambridge handbook of personal relationships (2006): 485-500.

Hodgins, Sheilagh, and Gilles Côté. "The mental health of penitentiary inmates in isolation." Canadian J. Criminology 33 (1991): 175.

Neri, Anita Liberalesso, et al. "Relationships between gender, age, family conditions, physical and mental health, and social isolation of elderly caregivers." International Psychogeriatrics 24.3 (2012): 472-483.

Smith, Kimberley J., and Christina Victor. "Typologies of loneliness, living alone and social isolation, and their associations with physical and mental health." Ageing & Society 39.8 (2019): 1709-1730.

Wang, Cuiyan, et al. "Immediate psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the general population in china." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17.5 (2020): 1729

Wang, Jingyi, et al. "Social isolation in mental health: a conceptual and methodological review." Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology 52.12 (2017): 1451-1461.

Xiang, Yu-Tao, et al. "Timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed." The Lancet Psychiatry 7.3 (2020): 228-229.

CONTACT US

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling

0 Comments

Easing Anxieties Caused By Pandemics

3/18/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Are you worried every time someone coughs or fearful crowds will make you sick? You're not alone. Diseases are endemic. We are always advised to use universal precautions such as washing hands, using hand sanitizer, cleaning well, and wearing masks around those who may be ill. However, what do you do when there are no Lysol, Purrell, or mask products for miles around? For many this causes increased stress and anxiety that can significantly impact both their personal mental health and their family relationships. This scarcity of common items signals that world anxieties may have reached peak levels. Around the world, people are canceling conferences and events in panic over the COVID-19 pandemic. As we can observe with the current events, people are bombarded 24/7 with news of vast infections and deaths. Our brains react to this perception of a crisis and our levels of fear-based anxiety increase. This can be the start of a vicious fear driven cycle, which causes people to react more, get more anxious, and become even more fearful and unable to function effectively and logically. While there are benefits of the anxiety caused by pandemics, such as:
  1. Helping increase human bonding through a shared concern for survival
  2. Bringing out our need to reflect on human compassion
  3. Reminding us of the need to proactively protect ourselves
  4. Holding us accountable for our own safety and that of others
  5. Forcing us to talk about difficult topics, that we may have been avoiding
  6. Demonstrating and testing our ability to overcome challenges
  7. Pushing us to develop and advance medical science and solutions
Pandemics, however, also have negative effects, such as:
  1. Causing panic among children, who are reacting to their parent's panic, as seen in studies, such as the work done by Schweitzer
  2. Causing implementation of discriminatory practices in the name of public protection
  3. Causing people to feel helpless and out of control
  4. Limiting travel, physical activities, group events, which can cause cabin fever and otherwise damage both physical and mental health
  5. Increasing hypochondria, which can cause worry and stress for those with acute anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders.
​What can you do to maintain your sanity and lower anxiety? We recommend:
  1. Fostering new hobbies, such as reading, which can engage your mind and take you to new worlds and on new adventures through intriguing plots
  2. Tackling things on your to do list, such as the flower planting, that you were putting off until summer
  3. Participating in online and group chats in order to maintain a level of social interaction
  4. Providing children with a consistent schedule
  5. Making time for children to discuss and process their concerns
  6. Engaging in exercises that you can do in your home with family
  7. Using universal precautions to help protect and prevent transmissions of diseases
  8. Seek mental health counseling, if you feel you or your family needs it
As noted by Xiang et al, the mental health consequences of measures taken during the 2003 SARS have shown that mental health interventions are needed by many during pandemics. The good news is that, as of 2019, most insurance cover virtual pyscotheraphy sessions. We encourage you to visit our office. When you engage virtually, we would have you read and sign the Virtual Consent, which will allow you to not only engage in virtual sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also when you are running late, are ill, have childcare challenges, or otherwise cannot easily come to our office.

Virtual sessions are as easy to do as 1-2-3!!!

Our simple process: 
  1. We send you a link that you click on at the time of your scheduled session.
  2. The session begins with a popup that lets you input your credit card information to cover your co-pay.
  3. Your session begins.​
​Please don't wait, as noted in research done by Maguire et al, timely counseling can be very beneficial for those anxious due to pandemics.

References:
  • Bishop, Sonia J. "Neurocognitive mechanisms of anxiety: an integrative account." Trends in cognitive sciences 11.7 (2007): 307-316.
  • Chong, Siow-Ann, et al. "Clinical research in times of pandemics." Public Health Ethics 3.1 (2010): 35-38.
  • Dingwall, Robert, Lily M. Hoffman, and Karen Staniland. "Introduction: why a sociology of pandemics?." Sociology of Health & Illness 35.2 (2013): 167-173.
  • Duan, Christy, Howard Linder, and Damir Huremović. "Societal, Public, and Emotional] Epidemiological Aspects of a Pandemic." Psychiatry of Pandemics. Springer, Cham, 2019. 45-53.
  • Everts, Jonathan. "Anxiety and risk: pandemics in the twenty-first century." The Spatial Dimension of Risk. Routledge, 2012. 97-111.
  • Gilman, Sander L. "Moral panic and pandemics." The Lancet 375.9729 (2010): 1866-1867.
  • Ingram, Alan. "Pandemic anxiety and global health security." Fear: critical geopolitics and everyday life. Routledge, 2016. 93-104.
  • Maguire, Paul A., Rebecca E. Reay, and Jeffrey CL Looi. "A sense of dread: affect and risk perception in people with schizophrenia during an influenza pandemic." Australasian Psychiatry 27.5 (2019): 450-455.
  • Schweitzer, Dahlia. "The New Face of Fear: How Pandemics and Terrorism Reinvent Terror (and Heroes) in the Twenty-First Century." New Perspectives on the War Film. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 203-221.
  • Taylor, Steven. The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.
  • Xiang, Yu-Tao, et al. "Timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed." The Lancet Psychiatry (2020).

Contact Us

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling 

0 Comments

Productive Solitude

12/22/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Who are you and what do you want for 2020? Many feel that the chaotic world is closing in on them or they are trapped in the role of being a caregiver, parent, friend, child, partner or confidant, unable to shut out the needs, wants, opinions, demands, and chaos of society and others. It is hard being relied on or co-dependent 24/7, yet the thought of being alone can be hard and challenging for those struggling with co-dependency or whom are relied on by others. Freud even noted that “the first phobias relating to situations are those of darkness and solitude.”
 
Yet, if you are seeking to incorporate minimalist philosophies into your life, find peace, gain focus, or strategize on how to move forward and become a better you, we recommend adopting a practice used by philosophers, such as Plato, monks, and celebrated celebrities for centuries. Entire books by renown authors, such as Peperzak, showcase the benefits of solitude. Bowker, a psychoanalytic political theorist, found that productive solitude is a labor and can be uncomfortable at first, but offers countless benefits. Productive solitude is not isolation from the world, instead it is going off the grid for a bit, being alone for a few hours or days, or otherwise separating yourself from others and the world for a period of time. Benefits of this include:
  • Increased creativity, intimacy, and spirituality (Long et al)
  • Self-awareness and impulse control (Nguyen et al)
  • Improved physical health (Littman-Ovadia et al)
  • Improved overall well-being in old age (Jiang et al)
  • Opportunity to plan your life, think about your goals, and develop a strategy to get where you want to be in life base on your needs, wants, and instincts
 
Due to these and other benefits, solitude can increase your emotional and physical capacity, while making you a better entrepreneur, colleague, leader, parent, friend. Partner and more.
 
Here are some ways to experience productive solitude:
  1. Quiet space: create a bath, library or other safe space in your home where you can read, strategies, meditate and refresh
  2. Hotel: check into a hotel for a getaway, private dinner, massage, spa time, gym time, or private room service
  3. Trip: take a solo 3-4 day trip, Nas Travel has recommendations for safe destinations and itineraries
  4. Walk: devote 20-30 minute 2-3 times a week for a solo walk to help you process decisions, meditate about your purpose, and enjoy scenery
  5. Hobby: snag a new solitary hobby such as painting or knitting to relax and focus
  6. Date yourself: make a weekly date where you put away all technology and sit outside star or sky gazing
  7. Sunset: devote time each day to just watch the sunset
  8. Concert: go to an unfamiliar church or venue and sit alone in the back and listen to the music
 
As you take the time and space to reconnect with your thoughts, dreams, and needs, the sound of solitude will have a beautiful ring to you and soon you will look forward to it, despite your co-dependencies or other responsibilities. Let’s make 2020 the year you commit to your mental health and happiness. Commit to productive solitude and see the benefits for you and those around you.
 
Resources

  • Positive solitude A practical program for mastering loneliness and achieving self-fulfillment by Rae Andre
  • How to Be Alone by Sara Maitland
  • Private moments, secret selves by Jeffrey Kottler
  • Silence: In the Age of Noise by Kagge Erling
  • TED Talk Connected, But Alone by Sherry Turkle
  • The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
  • The handbook of solitude by Bowker and Coplan
  • The wisdom of Thoreau by Henry David Thoreau

​References
 
Birditt, Kira S., et al. "Better off alone: Daily solitude is associated with lower negative affect in more conflictual social networks." The Gerontologist (2018).
 
Bowker, Matthew H. "A View from Political Theory: Desire, Subjectivity, and Pseudo‐Solitude." The Handbook of Solitude: Psychological Perspectives on Social Isolation, Social Withdrawal, and Being Alone (2013): 539-556.
 
Ingleheart, Jennifer, ed. Two Thousand Years of Solitude: Exile After Ovid. Oxford University Press, 2011.
 
Jiang, Da, et al. "Everyday solitude, affective experiences, and well-being in old age: the role of culture versus immigration." Aging & mental health (2019): 1-10.
 
Larson, Reed W. "The solitary side of life: An examination of the time people spend alone from childhood to old age." Developmental review 10.2 (1990): 155-183.
 
Lay, Jennifer C., et al. "By myself and liking it? Predictors of distinct types of solitude experiences in daily life." Journal of personality 87.3 (2019): 633-647.
 
Littman-Ovadia, Hadassah. "Doing–Being and Relationship–Solitude: A Proposed Model for a Balanced Life." Journal of Happiness Studies (2019): 1-19.
 
Long, Christopher R., and James R. Averill. "Solitude: An exploration of benefits of being alone." Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 33.1 (2003): 21-44.
 
Nguyen, Thuy-vy T., Richard M. Ryan, and Edward L. Deci. "Solitude as an approach to affective self-regulation." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 44.1 (2018): 92-106.
  
Peperzak, Adriaan Theodoor. System and History in Philosophy: On the Unity of Thought & Time, Text & Explanation, Solitude & Dialogue, Rhetoric & Truth in the Practice of Philosophy and its History. SUNY Press, 1986.
 

Contact Us

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling

0 Comments

Open Workspace Opens A World of Challenges

12/21/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Deadlines loom and the holidays approach, all you want to do is finish work for a critical project. However, your work neighbor is distracting you with their relationship woes; then another colleague walks up from behind and taps on your shoulder startling you. Chitchat, weird noises, unexpected physical contact, and other disruptions abound. Due to your open workspace, where desks are shared and walls are scarce, you feel bombarded with distractions and unable to work efficiently. Your recent trauma, be it sexual assault or another event, makes you even more on edge. Is this familiar? These are some of the challenges people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face daily in open workspaces.
 
Even for people without ADHD or recent traumas, open workspaces reduce productivity and focus, while increasing sick leave rates, as noted in the research by Haynes, Mak, Bodin, Haapakangas, and others. A BBC report estimated that open office concepts reduce productivity by 15%, yet continue to be favored by many employers. Open office concepts aren’t disappearing soon. They were originally designed to maximize collaboration, improve employee social interactions and maximize employee satisfaction, as noted by Al Marzouq et al, but they have since also been promoted to reduce employer costs by reducing the office space, office equipment, and walls required per employee. Currently, approximately 70% of American companies have cubicle free, wall free open offices (Smollan et al). This trend is expected to increase as more people work part time from home, utilize flex schedules, seek more collaboration and for other reasons don’t need full time use of an office desk, as found in studies by Bernstein and Maher.
 
Since open offices aren’t going away, here are tips to consider in order to work as effectively as possible within them.  
  • Engage in interventions before and after work to set a tone for your daily transitions
  • Keep a clear desk, since clutter can consciously and subconsciously distract
  • Limit conversations to breaks or established times to reduce distractions
  • Request a flexible schedule so you can work from home or during hours that few others are around the office
  • Seek accommodations that would reduce distractions, such as barriers, if you have been diagnosed with a medical condition impacting your attention, emotional capacity or critical thinking
  • Talk with your colleagues about boundaries and explain why you need to minimize disruptions
  • Utilize a timer to keep yourself on task and break work into manageable chunks with a mental health break in between chunks of work
  • Walk away from your workspace to allow your autonomic nervous system to relax when you get overly anxious
  • Work with leadership to develop a plan to minimize distractions, framing your requests in the context of seeking to maintain productivity expectations.
 
If you are facing challenges focusing, avoiding distractions, or managing emotions in the workplace due to ADHD, trauma, or office setup, please make time to consult with your work supervisor, counseling and/or medical teams to formulate a plan that allows you to be the best you in the workplace, and still adhere to your company’s mission, regulations, and protocols. 
 
You deserve to have the tools you need to excel in your workplace and career.
 

​References
 
AlMarzouq, Mohammad, et al. "Open source: Concepts, benefits, and challenges." Communications of the Association for Information Systems 16.1 (2005): 37.
                                                                                                          
Bernstein, Ethan S., and Stephen Turban. "The impact of the ‘open’workspace on human collaboration." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373.1753 (2018): 20170239.
 
Bodin Danielsson, Christina, et al. "Office design's impact on sick leave rates." Ergonomics 57.2 (2014): 139-147.
 
Haapakangas, Annu, et al. "Benefits of quiet workspaces in open-plan offices–Evidence from two office relocations." Journal of Environmental Psychology 56 (2018): 63-75.
 
Haynes, Barry P. "The impact of office layout on productivity." Journal of facilities Management 6.3 (2008): 189-201.
 
Khazanchi, Shalini, et al. "A spatial model of work relationships: The relationship-building and relationship-straining effects of workspace design." Academy of Management Review 43.4 (2018): 590-609.
 
 
Maher, Alena, and Courtney von Hippel. "Individual differences in employee reactions to open-plan offices." Journal of environmental psychology 25.2 (2005): 219-229.
 
Mak, Cheuk Ming, and Y. P. Lui. "The effect of sound on office productivity." Building Services Engineering Research and Technology 33.3 (2012): 339-345.
 
Oldham, Greg R., and Daniel J. Brass. "Employee reactions to an open-plan office: A naturally occurring quasi-experiment." Administrative science quarterly (1979): 267-284
 
Smollan, Roy K., and Rachel L. Morrison. "Office design and organizational change." Journal of Organizational Change Management (2019).

Contact Us

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling

0 Comments

Calm Your Inner Voice- Marriage and Relationships with Adult ADD/ADHD

10/23/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
​Why can’t she at least pretend to be interested in my passions, if she loves me? Why does she act like an irresponsible child?  Why does she miss deadlines, and forget dates important to our union? Why does she have difficulty managing finances? Why is there a lack of any focus or follow through? Is she committed to the relationship? How would this work with kids? Does this sound familiar? It does to John. He fell in love with a brilliant, sharp witted and adventurous girl with unmatched intensity. When he was sick in bed, she talked and talked and talked, keeping him entertained for hours. However, right after marriage and merger of residence, he began to feel the relationship falling apart. John could not understand how she could transform in seconds from a sweet and a dotting wife to a fire breathing dragon screaming in anger. The tiniest things, such as a spilt cup of milk, could set her off. He was wondering if divorce was the only solution, but he loved her and wanted to sustain his family unit.
 
In the past ADD/ADHD had to be diagnosed before age 7, so adults went through life undiagnosed and untreated. People with ADD/ADHD often would struggle in school, unless someone provided them structure and supervision. At work they may have trouble finishing projects, multitasking, switching activities or even meeting the basic demands of their career without getting overwhelmed. At home they could destroy relationships with their unpredictable mood swings, short fuse, and lack of focus. Fortunately, now, in most cases during graduate school or college, physicians and mental health professionals, can diagnose adults with ADD/ADHD, due to a change in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 
 
Happily, John was able to regain the trust, intimacy, and open communication he once had with his wife, and the married was saved because his wife was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and sought treatment, which included couple counseling for work around communication and psycho-education. 
 
Are you or someone you know:
  • Easily overwhelmed
  • Excessively talkative
  • Exhibiting a tendency for addictive behaviors (video games, social media, gambling, overspending, etc.)
  • Frequently lose items
  • Having difficulties in switching activities
  • Hyper-focused
  • Making careless mistakes
  • Moody
  • Not finishing projects regularly
  • Prone to impulsive or risky behaviors
  • Quickly distracted
  • Short fused
 
These are some, but not all the symptoms of adult ADD/ADHD. If these are affecting your life or that of a loved one, consider talking with your primary care physician or a mental health professional. They can do an assessment for ADD/ADHD and help you better manage your life and relationships.
 
If diagnosed, management and treatment options with professional oversight may include:
  • Adaptations such as a “Do not forget” list to minimize negative impacts
  • Breath to increase oxygen to the brain, thus improving focus and concentration
  • Calming activities, such as yoga
  • Cognitive behavior therapy
  • Couples counseling to better understand the impact of ADD/ADHD on relations and develop reasonable and achievable relationship goals and expectations
  • Life coaching for accountability and structure
  • Medications, such as Adderall, Concerta, or Focalin, either temporarily or long term
  • Light therapy
  • Support groups
    • CHADD support groups by state- http://www.chadd.org/Support/Chapter-Directory.aspx?state=1111111
    • Meetup ADD support groups- https://www.meetup.com/topics/adhd/
    • Virtual peer support group ADD/ADHD- https://add.org/virtual-peer-support-group-beginners/
    • Young adult online support group ADD/ADHD- https://add.org/virtual-peer-support-group-young-adult/
  • Talk therapy
  • Naturopathic treatments such as increases in Omega 3 fatty acids in the diet, vitamin supplements, assessment for food allergies, and more. 
 
Relationships and marriage take two, learning about how ADD/ADHD can impact relationships can help you build trust and strength in your relationships. Seeking both medical and psychological advice and consultation around the appropriate treatment for your unique circumstances is advised.

​References:
 
Brown, Thomas E. "ADD/ADHD and impaired executive function in clinical practice." Current Attention Disorders Reports 1.1 (2009): 37-41.
 
Brown, Thomas E. "Differential diagnosis of ADD versus ADHD in adults." A comprehensive guide to attention deficit disorder in adults: Research, diagnosis, and treatment (1995): 93-108.
 

Dixon, Ellen B. "Impact of adult ADD on the family." A comprehensive guide to attention deficit disorder in adults: Research, diagnosis, and treatment (1995): 236-259.
 
Kessler, Ronald C., et al. "The prevalence and correlates of adult ADHD in the United States: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication." American Journal of psychiatry 163.4 (2006): 716-723.

Nadeau, Kathleen G. Adventures in fast forward: Life, love and work for the ADD adult. Routledge, 2013.

Contact Us

Picture

Author

 Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling to be fancy, just an overview.

2 Comments

Emotional Support for Diabetics and Those Who Care for Them

8/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
​As with mental health challenges, diabetes is an ailment that many have to endure to no fault of their own, yet it carries so much stigma for those belonging to ethnic groups and/or those clinically obese. To manage over the course of one's life, or support loved ones we are responsible, it will challenge one's emotional capacity, as the chronic nature of the disease can support hopelessness. Anxiety and depression are common, however, such may be representative of treatment burnout. Whether you are a child diagnosed with Type 1, or an adult with Type 1 or 2, management can seem unsustainable even with the most rigid compliance. How are patients and parents psychologically impacted? What are some of the challenges that acts are barriers to maintaining a healthy balance?

College Students
Requires tapping out of sports, or campus-related activities when sugar levels lower- which can support the appearance of unreliability. 
Requires you to work through shame and embarrassment around the need to monitor blood levels, consume insulin, and/or wear monitoring devices. 
Concerns around disclosing your diagnosis to a romantic partner during a developmental stage when perfection may be expected or desired. 
Pressure around having to make on your own healthcare decisions with medical teams, manage your health, and continue your regime during a time you are learning to trust your own judgment without daily parental supervision. 
Requires healthy eating during a time when healthy eating is already challenged by campus life.

Adults
Can impact sleep, travel, and activities throughout your day. 
Requires 7-10 sticks which can be disruptive during professional or academic pursuits.
Insurance can impact how you treat- with access being a huge issue.
Can impact intimacy and sex drive. 
Can impact self-esteem/self-confidence.
Can impact your psychological presentation, including mood, communication, and capacity.
Can be anxiety-provoking with fear looming of the impact of low blood.
Can impact psychological behavior when blood glucose drops. 
Can impact your dietary preferences and habits around eating. 
Capacity to confront societal judgment. 

Parents
Can impact sleep due to the need to monitor the blood sugar levels of your child throughout the night. 
Requires 7-10 sticks. 
Requires advocacy when finding trained childcare willing to accept your little one. 
Can require careful planning as the detection of low/high levels can shift the schedule of the whole family.
Supports the feeling of isolation and responsibility for genetically passing on to your child.
Requires absence from work for doctor visits and emergencies. 
Requires careful planning of meals to avoid disrupting the blood levels of your child.
Requires a great mathematical aptitude to calculate units of insulin and caloric intake all day. 
Requires great capacity for monitoring the alignment of food intake and insulin consumption. 
The presentation of your child can be misdiagnosed as behavioral issues within the academic system. 
Requires financial stability and adequate insurance to support your child's health. 
Capacity needed to confront societal judgment. 
 
Let's talk about costs...
In 2017, U.S. health care costs were $3.5 trillion. That makes health care one of the country's largest industries. It equals 17.9 percent of gross domestic product. In comparison, health care cost $27.2 billion in 1960, just 5 percent of GDP. That translates to an annual health care cost of $10,739 per person in 2017 versus just $146 per person in 1960. Health care costs have risen faster than the average annual income. Health care consumed 4 percent of income in 1960 compared to 6 percent in 2013. Those with chronic illness such as diabetes require a substantial source of funding to maintain a healthy balance. Its beyond a need to exercise and consume a healthy diet.

Let's talk about access...
Shortage of nephrologist : At this time, there are 39,950 people per nephrologist in the United States Source: Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education: http://www.acgme.org/adspublic/reports/accredited_programs.asp. So if a patient lacks medical literacy, or finds themselves under-insured, proper life-saving care is unachievable. Its equivalent to diagnosing someone with Cancer, giving them brief insurance how to stay alive, then sending them out into the world to navigate such on their own. Effected most would be those that lack a great aptitude for math, the under-insured, and those enduring severe mental illness.

At Ince Counseling, we have been trained to support patients via talk therapy and offer our psychological perspective to their treatment teams as patients continue to balance their medical needs while balancing the demands of their busy lives. If this resonates with your circumstances, contact our scheduling team at 1.833.968.8255, option 1 to schedule your intake. If you'd like to chat with us prior to determine a fit, a free phone consult can be obtained by scheduling via our website. 

​References:
  •  American Dissabilities Association Complete Guide to Diabetes, 5th Edition.  
  •  Benjamin Page. Helping Mental Health specialists better serve people People with Diabetes. Healthy Living Magazine (July 2019).
  •  Life with Diabetes, 5th Edition (ePub). Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center
  •  David G. Marrero, PhD; Robert Anderson, EdD; Martha M. Funnell, MS, RN, CDE; Melinda D, Maryniuk, MEd, RD, CDE. 1000 Years of Diabetes Wisdom 

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling

0 Comments

All Animals are Not Considered Equal

7/28/2019

1 Comment

 
By: Tamara Ince
Picture
Especially important for those who plan to request certification for airlines, accommodations for college dorms, or accommodations for apartment living, all animals are not considered eqaual if they wish to register or receive public accommodations for their support animals.  While it is true that animals classified as emotional support animals receive legal protections against pet fees for rental housing or fees for airline travel, along with allowances to live or be in places that pets can not, there is a difference between the protections afforded emotional support animals and those provided to support animals covered under the American Disabilities Act, and other Federal laws.

For example, under the Federal American Disabilities Act, service animals covered by this regulation must be permitted anywhere that is open to the public, including restaurants, and are not subject to fees.  Whereas emotional support animals may be prohibited from restaurants and subject to access fees to venues, other than airplanes and housing in some jurisdictions.  While most service animals receive formal training to do a specific task, many laws for service animals, such as the Federal American Disabilities Act, does not require official certification, leaving room for interpretation and owner training.  The American Disabilities Act defines a service animal as an animal that “has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.  The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person's disability.”  An example is a person with depression owning a dog trained to remind her to take her medication.  Psychiatric service dogs may do tasks, such as providing bracing for a person dizzy from medication, waking the owner on the sound of an alarm when too medicated to wake, doing room searches for persons with PTSD, blocking persons in dissociative episodes from wandering, leading a disoriented handler to a place, and other similar dogs.  In contrast, an emotional support animal does not need to have any training, though it does need to be owned by a person with a diagnosed disability.  In general, for an animal who helps you to be classified as a service animal and not an emotional support animal it must be:
  • be trained and not a natural behavior of the dog
  • must mitigate the person's disability
  • must be needed by that specific handler

The definition of “disability” varies by law.  For example, the Fair Housing Act states that in order for a person to meet this standard they must have a physical or mental impairment that “substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment.  The Air Carrier Access Act protects any person who is a passenger with a disability.  Similarly, the documentation and registration requirements vary by regulation.  For example, in some jurisdictions, if the disability is not visible or the need for the animal is not evident, you may need to provide a letter from a medical provider, registration documentation from a regulatory or private entity, or other documentation. Registration requirements vary from forms and fees with self-affirmations of need to requirements for physician notes and specific diagnoses. 
In order to fully understand the registration requirements and what type of provider (e.g. physician, therapist, counselor, etc.) can provide needed documentation, please talk with your local regulatory agency, school or business disabilities department, leasing office, airline or other entity.  Online resources are available at:
  • Air Carrier Access Act Summary https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/passengers-disabilities​​Air Carrier Access 
  • Air Carrier Access Act: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=ae47679a5dc0b0cdd685abc7e3437dbb&mc=true&node=pt14.4.382&rgn=div5#se14.4.382_17
  • American Disabilities Act: https://www.ada.gov/
  • Federal Housing Act: https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=servanimals_ntcfheo2013-01.pdf
  • Differences between psychiatric service dog and emotional support animal: http://www.servicedogcentral.org/content/node/76

References:
  •  ADA National Network. (n.d.). Service Animals and Emotional Support Nimals[Brochure]. Washington DC
  •  Bourland, K. M. (2009). Advocating change within the ADA: The struggle to recognize emotional-support animals as service animals. U. Louisville L. Rev., 48, 197.
  •  FAQs on Emotional Support Animals. (1970, January 01). Retrieved July 17, 2017, from https://www.animallaw.info/article/faqs-emotional-support-animals
  •  Ligatti, Chris. "No Training Required: The Availability of Emotional Support Animals as a Component of Equal Access for the Psychiatrically Disabled Under the Fair Housing Act." Browser Download This Paper (2012).

Picture

Author

Tamara Ince is the founder of Ince Counseling, a boutique style group practice that provides a safe milieu where individuals can reflect on their past, identify their triggers and learn to better manage their lives with awareness.  Tamara has always been curious about the brain and behavior, and how life’s circumstances shape how we feel about ourselves and how we receive information from our environment.  Follow Tamara @InceCounseling

1 Comment
Previous

HOME

ABOUT

SERVICES

FAQ

RATES /
INSURANCE

FORMS

POLICIES

BLOG

CONTACT

 All appointments must be cancelled with 24 hours advanced notice or a $75 cancellation fee will be incurred.
Copyright © 2020