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Restoration Therapy: Tools, Resources and Strategies for Working with Depression
- on April 22, 2018
- The Depression Equation I am a big believer in the equation that insight + practice = transformation. In fact, in an earlier post on anxiety I shared the same equation, highlighting Angela Duckworth's work on the concept of deliberate practice in her work. In her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, she writes the following: "Deliberate practice is a behavior, and flow is an[...]
Tags archives: McKinney
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Restoration Therapy: Reframing Depression as an Opportunity for Growth
- on April 22, 2018
- Reframing Depression "What if this depression you are experiencing is helping inform you about your life? What if we listen to it together, it may give us some clues about what is going on with your life. Maybe it will give us some direction about what kind of changes we need to make." If you were sitting in session with me listening to someone share about their depression, you would hea[...]
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Restoration Therapy: Identifying the Underlying Emotions
- on April 22, 2018
- What Is Underneath Depression Like anxiety, one of the most difficult aspects of depression is trying to figure out what are the underlying roots of it. But without properly identifying its underlying roots it's possible that one may see depression simply as a feeling, rather than as a symptom of some deeper feeling. And if you don't identify this underlying feeling you will find yourself c[...]
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Restoration Therapy: Depression, Self-Care, and Ministry
- on April 22, 2018
- When serving in ministry there are many opportunities to come in to contact with people who are depressed. I say this, because churches are often what I refer to as the "gatekeepers" in mental health, therefore, those employed or volunteering in ministry are often on the front lines. All of this assumes of course that the church environment that you are a part of doesn't communicate or perpetuate [...]
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Restoration Therapy: Trying to Define Depression
- on April 22, 2018
- "Are you depressed?" I asked him in session. "Depressed? What.....depression? No, I'm not depressed." he said to me as if that was a crazy question to ask. There was some silence between us for what seemed like a few minutes, and then he said. "Well...I mean, I may have a bad day now and then, or feel down. But I've never been depressed." I share this short story for you to highlig[...]
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Restoration Therapy: How Looking for Opportunities to Practice Through Your Anxiety Can Transform You
- on February 27, 2018
- When I encourage people to look for opportunities to practice their anxiety, I am often given a blank stare in return. It almost sounds crazy to ask someone to practice something that is already at times, making them feel like they are crazy. But perhaps a better way to say it is, that I am about the process of helping people look for opportunities to place themselves in the midst of their anxiety[...]
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Restoration Therapy: The 4 Steps of RT and How They Can Change Your Life
- on February 27, 2018
- "Deliberate practice is a behavior, and flow is an experience." Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth When I was 21 years old and sitting alone in my college apartment, full of anxiety, but knowing my life needed to change, I had some inkling that they only way through the anxious feelings was to put myself in situations to practice working through it. I've shared the s[...]
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Restoration Therapy: Distinguishing Between Anxiety and Fear
- on February 15, 2018
- In October of 2016 I spoke at the first ever Restoration Therapy Summit on the topic of anxiety and fear in the Restoration Therapy model, and more specifically, trying to differentiate between what exactly is anxiety, and what is fear. I even recorded a Part 1 and Part 2 podcast episodes on this topic after I spoke. When Dr. Terry Hargrave first asked me to speak on this topic I didn't think t[...]
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Rhett Smith 110 -- 8 Simple Principles to Help You Achieve Your Goals This Year
- on January 17, 2018
- One of the things that happens at the beginning of every year, or at the start of a major transition, is that you see people setting goals. If you were like me you probably thought about all the goals you wanted to achieve in the New Year, and you might have even taken the time to write them down. But if you are also like me, it's possible that you have declared goals in the past, but never quite [...]
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Rhett Smith 109: Managing and Using Your Anxiety in the New Year
- on January 10, 2018
- The new near can bring forth a lot of varying emotions from people. In my experience, a large number of people come into the new year very excited about change and all the potential possibilities that await them. It's often a time to start anew. But there is also a large number of people who come into the new year with a lot of fears about what awaits them, perhaps because the prior year was so ch[...]
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Restoration Therapy: The Process of Working With Anxious People
- on December 14, 2017
- Working with Anxious Clients There are a lot of ways that one can work with anxious people, but I have found over the years a very helpful process that I would like to share with you. With any process it's best that you make it your own and use what is helpful to you, and discard what is not. Also, processes have a way of not always moving in a linear direction, so what I have to share with you m[...]
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Restoration Therapy: Tools, Resources and Strategies for Working with Anxiety
- on December 14, 2017
- The Anxiety Equation In an earlier post I wrote about a very powerful and transformative therapy experience I had back in 2010. It was one of those therapy sessions where insight was enough to create change. Or at least I should say, the insight alone was enough to create some initial change, but it led me down a path that required a lot of work and practice. For the most part I have develope[...]