Jason McCartyJan 10, 20143 minFinding SubstanceThe word substance has my attention lately. There is something both conceptually satisfying about it as well as experientially...
Jason McCartyNov 21, 20132 minThe Annoying thing About ChangeI’ve written elsewhere that you have to change to change. Pretty simple, right? But yet we all struggle with this. Even the smallest and...
Jason McCartyDec 28, 20124 minThe Journey and Stimulation of My Work with the AddictedI’m not sleeping well these days. My psycho-philosophical work with my addicted clients in treatment is too ripe a ground to explore...
Jason McCartyNov 7, 20115 minLetting Go of Your Partner’s AddictionTerm: I’m going to use the term “addicted relationship” to mean when one person has an addiction and the other does not. Being in a...
Jason McCartyAug 22, 20112 minMomentumFor people quitting addiction, one of the most difficult aspects is not the actual quitting, is not accepting they have a problem, it’s...
Jason McCartyJun 13, 20112 minFour Noble Truths of AddictionBuddhism is founded upon what Siddhartha Gautama realized were the four noble truths of human existence. I want to take those four noble...
Jason McCartyJun 6, 20115 minShame and Modern ThoughtOne could say that a huge reason people seek therapy or struggle in life is due to some aspect of shame. Shame is a sense that something...
Jason McCartyMay 16, 20113 minFeeling StuckLast week I wrote about change and how we need to take action in order to change. Sometimes change is also in how we see the world,...
Jason McCartyMay 9, 20112 minYou Have to Change to ChangeOne of my favorite authors, Irvin Yalom, MD, is a psychotherapist who has written a book entitled Existential Psychotherapy. I’m sure I...
Jason McCartyApr 24, 20111 minDestroying Old PatternsIn a brief addendum to my last post on Addiction is Good For you, I would like to share a quote from Rollo May (1977) in his book, The...
Jason McCartyApr 19, 20114 minAddiction is Good For YouI’ve written before on the idea that addiction can give a person reason to look more deeply into his/her life, resolving issues, hurts,...
Jason McCartyJan 18, 20113 minAddiction and PotentialThe more I work with the phenomenon of addiction, the more fascinating it becomes as an extremely dynamic coping strategy – dynamic in...
Jason McCartyNov 20, 20105 minAddiction in RelationshipsI work with couples that are trying to mend their relationships after or during the impact of an addiction. There is a typical dance...
Jason McCartyAug 31, 20105 minWe’re All AddictsI believe a major problem in how the general public, as well as some professionals, sees addiction is that it is too narrowly defined....
Jason McCartyJul 21, 20103 minBoundaries with Addictive BehaviorsI’ve written a lot about having compassion toward those struggling with addiction and that we need to remove a lot of the moral...
Jason McCartyJul 13, 20104 minHarm ReductionHarm Reduction is a philosophy that is surrounded with a lot of controversy, confusion, and intrigue. What is it? What does it really...
Jason McCartyJun 26, 20103 minHow to See Relapse PositivelyWhen someone struggling with addiction has a relapse it can feel like the end of the world – for both themselves and their loved ones....
Jason McCartyJun 8, 20102 minInner PeacePeace is found, not through repressing experience, but through acceptance of whatever comes up. (Thomas Bien in his book Mindful...
Jason McCartyJun 1, 20104 minSalving DeprivationOne use for addiction in a person’s life is to fill up the emptiness. We all do many things to fill the “hole” in our lives. I have...
Jason McCartyMay 18, 20104 minWhy Counselling?What is counselling? What goes on in a counselling session? It is just for those with real messed up lives, right? No, not true. It is...