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Articles Depression Pain Relief

Talk to Your Dog and Bounce Back from Depression | Boca Raton, FL

Talk to your dog. . .

You know you are depressed when you have nothing to say to anyone. But do you have nothing to say to your dog? I doubt it. Your dog needs you to take care of his or her emotional needs just as much as Fido needs you to feed him and walk him and groom him. Your dog is communicating with you all the time. Can you interpret what your furry friend is telling you? 

You don’t have to be a dog whisperer to learn your dog’s language. You simply have to pay attention and talk to your dog just like you would talk to a child or even a close friend. The benefits of talking to your dog have been documented by researchers to include lower blood pressure, relief from pain, better breathing (even for those with allergies to fur and dog hair), and relief from depression.

Think about it. Your dog loves you unconditionally. Your dog will never buy into your negative self-talk. But when you put yourself down, this is reflected in your mood state and your appearance. It even affects your scent. Your fur baby is sensitive to all these things and responds accordingly. So, when you give off a depressed scent, and evidence depressed body language, your dog gets depressed! Yup, dogs do get depressed. And dogs are exquisitely sensitive to our feelings and moods. Dogs really are our best friends.

Naturally, you don’t want to depress your dog. Please – I am not giving you another thing to blame yourself for and become more depressed about. I am simply suggesting an avenue to help you get un-depressed and as part of the bargain, make your dog happier. I am not a dog whisperer. However, I love dogs and have owned many. Currently my best bud is Leo who is a 2 ½ year old German Shepherd. I have trained him to be a therapy dog. Therefore, he is hypersensitive to the moods of people around him. In my clinical psychotherapy practice, I use dog-assisted therapy (DAT) to help depressed clients feel better more quickly. And you don’t have to own a dog to keep up the momentum. Just a few sessions of DAT can give you the necessary stimulation to get back on your feet. It is like ECT without any of the risks or negative side effects. 

If you would like more information about dog-assisted therapy, call Dr. Bruce Eimer in Boca Raton, FL at 561-377-1039 for a free consultation or visit www.bruceeimer.com. You’ll be glad you did.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves Boca Raton and all surrounding areas.

Categories
Articles Depression Pain Relief

Multimodal Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression | Boca Raton, FL

If you are depressed, read this and call me anytime. . .

You know you are depressed when it is a struggle to get up in the morning. You don’t want to face the long day because you feel you have nothing meaningful to look forward to doing. Frequently, nighttime is a welcome part of your day because the day is over, and you do not need an excuse to rest. 

Depression is your mind and body telling you they are depleted. If you have been running on empty for a while, your functioning will naturally not be like it was before you lost your energy and drive. This changes your thinking patterns also. You think more concretely and you are not as sharp. Think back to a time in the past when you were not depressed but you were overly fatigued. Your thinking and performance were spotty. 

When you are depressed, your sleep patterns are disturbed, and it is difficult to get restorative sleep. So, you have less energy to run on during the day. This is the reason one component in the medical treatment of depression is the prescription of medication that can improve the architecture of your sleep. 

Depression needs to be treated multimodally. Medicine alone does not help you address the underlying issues that led to your depletion. An effective treatment program incorporates behavioral interventions, such as structuring your daily activities, affectively focused interventions to help you address the painful feelings you live with when you are depressed, sensory focused interventions to bring a little bit of pleasure – which is the opposite of pain, imagery focused interventions to transform some of the negative images in your mind’s eye, cognitive therapy interventions to change your negative thinking patterns, interpersonal interventions to get you back to having social experiences, and biological interventions such as drugs, diet and exercise.

The above seven types of interventions spell B.A.S.I.C. I.D.  If you would like to learn more about how I incorporate the B.A.S.I.C. I.D. in my Multimodal Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Depression (MCBT-D), give me a call and we can schedule a free consultation. Call 561-377-1039.

If you would like more information about Multimodal Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Depression, call Dr. Bruce Eimer in Boca Raton, FL at 561-377-1039 or visit www.bruceeimer.com.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves Boca Raton and all surrounding areas.

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Articles Depression Stress

COVID Fatigue | Boca Raton, FL

It has been a year since Covid-19 invaded 2020 and changed life as we knew it. By now, most people are suffering from COVID Fatigue. In fact, it has given rise to what I term Covid Fatigue Syndrome or CFS. The symptoms include boredom, anxiety, depression, anger, impatience, irritability, and impulsiveness. Many people feel like they can no longer wait to get out of COVID prison. People want out. People want to end the social isolation. This is understandable. However, we still need to be careful. Covid is no picnic. I went through it. You still need to take precautions. The consequences of carelessness can be devastating. Sometimes having someone to talk with who is an empathic listener with a solution-oriented mindset can help. If you are clinically depressed, brief solution-focused therapy can often help alleviate the depression. You could benefit from seeing a clinical psychologist to evaluate your depression. I am here to help. Call me at 561-377-1039 to schedule a free consultation. 

If you would like more information about Covid Fatigue Syndrome, call Dr. Bruce Eimer in Boca Raton, FL at 561-377-1039 or visit www.bruceeimer.com.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves Boca Raton and all surrounding areas.