by Christine Hammond on July 13, 2019
After her second failed marriage, and several dysfunctional relationships in between, Jamie began to see a pattern. She would fall quickly and deeply into the new relationship eagerly believing that this person was “the one”. Her emotional attachment would be so strong that she lost view of herself and often put aside her personal boundaries…. (more…)
by Christine Hammond on July 5, 2019
Marie’s first response to her therapist when asked about her childhood was “It was fine, my dad was perfect”. Now, this statement is gold for a therapist and begs to be mined further. After indulging Marie in the perfect father fantasy for a few minutes, the therapist took things on a different approach and asked… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 28, 2019
Verbal abuse is powerful. After years of counseling as an adult, Natalia realized that she was verbally abused by her father. His harsh words would wear her down to the point she couldn’t think straight. Then he would spin a situation around so everything was Natalia’s fault. Worst yet, as an adult, her dad’s words… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 22, 2019
Trying to pick a card for Father’s Day is impossible for Mary. None of the cards she found reflected her experience. Her dad wasn’t present, didn’t support her interests, didn’t attend activities when she was a kid or offer good advice. He did, however, go to work on his days off, sit on the couch… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 21, 2019
Maladaptive dads are constantly in the news. They make the headlines with excessive abuse, abandonment of responsivity, neglectful actions, or even the death of their children by their own hands. While the headline is sensational, it can give the appearance that all dads are bad. But this is not true. Unfortunately, not much attention is… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 14, 2019
Millennials are known as the most narcissistic generation of our time. The overindulge attention, special treatment for nothing special, and excessive emotional tolerance that parents gave their kids have not resulted in a more productive generation but rather one that seems apathetic. It’s a toss-up between who is more confused: Millennials because the world does… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 13, 2019
Yes. According to a study reported in March 2019 of US News and World Report, mental health counselors are listed as one of the most stressful jobs next to attorneys and surgeons. The burnout rate for counselors is between 25-67% (depending on the study and type of practice) with a turnover rate of one in… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 8, 2019
Brian came into therapy describing his wife’s behavior as having Borderline Personality Disorder. He looked up the definition online and said he knew she had it. He gave numerous examples of how perfectly she fit the profile and how he and the kids had been traumatized by her behavior. Brian said she was fearful of… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 7, 2019
It was clear that after 7 years of marriage, Jack and Jill still loved each other. But they way they solved problems, or rather, the way they didn’t solve problems, was destroying their marriage. The last argument ended in a physical altercation and a wrestling match that left them ashamed and humiliated. Neither had ever… (more…)
by Christine Hammond on June 7, 2019
For the last ten years, I have made working with people who have a personality disorder and their family members the main part of my practice. I made this choice for several reasons. First, there are numerous family members within my own family that have a personality disorder and I have a natural talent for… (more…)