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5 Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Weight in 2015
By Suzanne Farmer, Psychologist (Cand. Reg.) Do you make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight every year? For many of us, losing weight can be difficult, but maintaining a healthy weight is even more of a challenge. Consider these 5 things to help maintain your healthy weight goals in 2015: 1. Losing weight requires…
Read MoreTop 5 Tips for Getting the Most out of Therapy
By Halifax Psychologist, Brad Peters So you’ve decided to embark on a course of therapy. It will be a commitment of time, energy, and finances. Yes, you could do a lot of other things with the money it will cost for a handful of sessions, but the potential payoffs are huge. What price would you…
Read MoreDefense Mechanisms in Therapy
By Halifax Psychologist, Brad Peters This video is all about defense mechanisms in therapy. I define defense mechanisms as having two main parts: 1) they are denials or distortions of reality, and 2) they operate unconsciously (outside of our awareness). The main function of a defense mechanism is to relieve psychological tension and anxiety about…
Read MorePsychotherapy is like Physiotherapy
By Halifax Psychologist, Brad Peters For many people, the process of psychotherapy is mysterious. This post will attempt to make it less so – by highlighting key features it shares with the practice of physiotherapy. Initial Interview and Therapeutic Goals As part of their initial assessment, physiotherapists will tend to ask three basic questions: 1)…
Read MoreHow to Understand and Talk about Suicide
By Halifax Psychologist Brad Peters Each year approximately 3,500 Canadians commit suicide – a figure only slightly below the number of deaths due to colon and breast cancer. In 2012, a local survey found that about 1 in 5 students in Nova Scotia seriously considered attempting suicide, with female students being more than twice as…
Read MoreMental Health Tips for University Students
By Halifax Psychologist Brad Peters Well, it’s that time of year again when Halifax is bustling with university students – approximately 30,000 within the greater metro area alone! University life can be stressful, and students would be wise to take care of their psychological health. With that in mind, here are some ‘tips’ to anticipate…
Read MoreFifty Shades of Grey: Making Sense of Sadomasochism (S&M)
By Halifax Psychologist, Brad Peters Many of us are familiar with, or have at least heard of Fifty Shades of Grey – the book (and soon to be film) that became one of the most significant pieces of pop culture in the last couple of years. The story revolves around a female college student who…
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