Treatment Of Security?

As I spend more and more time around cancer patients in treatment...
it becomes ever more apparent they feel safer near their doctors or primary
treatment facilities. For some just being in the same town is
a security lifeline which permits them to live day to day with less anxiety,
fear and concern for their conditions. Ironically for most, even being released
to go "home, home", (real home towns), creates great tension and
apprehension that they will not taken care of or that something will happen
to them while they are back in their own homes with their families.

I spoke with a survivor of breast cancer of many years. She told me that
even for her...she worked in a hospital, and preferred to be at work during
her treatment period as it made her feel more safe. "If something happened,"
she said, "I was in the right place."

Makes you wonder about celebrities, since that is who we hear about ....like
Michael Jackson. Perhaps it isn't the medical treatment they seek as much as
the security of having a medical professional at their beck and call. Even sadder in his case... the doctor may not been there for him medically, or more importantly did not provide the safety and security Michael Jackson may have really been seeking.


Jodi H. Underhill MEd. LMHC Licensed Mental Health Counselor & Certified K-12 Guidance Counselor License #MH9166 Phone: 386.747.7148 Fax: 386.873.4311 http://www.junderhilltherapy.com/

"Pity Party"

Ever wake up and just cannot shake some very powerful
thoughts about your life? Many will call themselves "depressed" or say they need a "mental health day".

Perhaps even before the end of this day or the next, folks tend to begin to sheepishly apologize for taking this time to soothe themselves  or receive what they would like to get from others...attention to "negative feelings" such as sadness, fear, regret, frustration or anger.

I can't help but wonder if people should give ourselves this time more often and make it "OK"? Perhaps we could avoid many of the bigger issues such as anger problems, anxiety disorder or true clinical depression. Many of those concerns stem, though not entirely, from the build up of feelings over time that we tend to deny or push down in order to get through our day to day lives. For many this is becoming tougher all the time.We will not always get from others what we need or feel "heard" therefore building up frustrations. Many feel it is selfish to validate their own feelings, but, perhaps a "pity party" once in a while, might just be an effective "self help" prescription?




Jodi H. Underhill MEd. LMHC
Licensed Mental Health Counselor/Online Therapy
Phone: 386.747.7148 Fax: 386.873.4311