Daniel Davis, LMFT

  • Home
  • Counseling Services
    • Relationship Counseling
    • Career Counseling
    • Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
    • Spiritual Transitions
    • Addiction Treatment
    • Trauma Treatment
    • Couples Counseling
    • Depression Treatment
    • Anxiety Counseling and Stress Management
    • Anger Management
    • Grief and Loss
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • About Daniel Davis
  • Client Forms
  • Contact

Symptoms of Depression

December 1, 2015 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

“People need to realize that their thoughts are more primary than their genes, because the environment, which is influenced by our thoughts, control the genes.” Bruce Lipton

Depression is complicated. It is dominated by sadness or low energy. We may lose interest in what was once important to us. These symptoms can have various origins. Depression is overdetermined, meaning there are biological, psychological, social, and spiritual dynamics.

It is possible to see depression when looking at a brain scan. It is clearly a biological phenomenon. Not only our genes play a role, but sleep, food, and exercise also affect depression. We may be predisposed to depression, because our parents or grandparents suffered from depression and carried the genes. Yet research from the science of Epigenetics dramatically changes assumptions about depression.

Epigenetics literally means above the gene. The main idea is that the surface area of a cell determines the health of the cell, not the gene. The gene is merely a blue print for the cell. The signals that the cell receives at the surface area of the cell determines whether a cell thrives. If the cell is in a toxic environment, then the cell will respond defensively. If the cell is in a nourishing environment, the cell will grow and thrive. The signals that the surface area of the cell receives are thoughts, feelings, food, and drink.

Dr. Richard Davidson says that “there is no more effective way to produce localized and specific changes in the brain than behavioral or mental interventions. Behavioral or mental interventions can produce more specific biological changes than any currently known biological method that is known – medication for example.” Taking medication effects the entire body, not just the small areas of the brain related to depression. We are given a long list of side effects, when the pharmacist hands us medication for depression.

Our thoughts, feelings, and behavior affect our depression. If I am self-critical in a destructive way, this can magnify depression. It is important to change our thoughts. Sixty-five percent of our thoughts are redundant and negative. We need to change our thinking at the subconscious level to move toward health and freedom – full remission of depression.

With depression, one is avoiding emotions that seem overwhelming or is simply unaware exist. Learning to regulate our emotions and affect enables us to feel safe expressing our emotions in a healthy way. Resolving trauma can make a big difference, enabling us to feel peaceful and energized.

Our relationships can also effect depression. Depressed people can isolate themselves and then are deprived of the energy that comes from human interaction. Our beliefs and our values can lead us to be depressed. Please watch this video on symptoms that can be related to depression:

Blog 32

Filed Under: Blog, Emotions, Uncategorized Tagged With: behavioral interventions, biological changes, Bruce Lipton, cell, depression, drink, energy, environment, Epigenetics, feelings, food, genes, interest diminished, interventions, medication, mental, nourishing, over-determined, pharmacist, psychological, redundant and negative, Richard Davidson, sadness, self-critical, side effects, signals, social, spiritual, subconscious thinking, surface area, symptoms, symptoms of depression, thoughts, toxic environment

Do You Know the Secret to Joy?

September 1, 2015 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

“Perhaps ultimately, spiritual simply means experiencing wholeness and interconnectedness directly, seeing that individuality and the totality are interwoven, that nothing is separate or extraneous. If you see in this way, then everything becomes spiritual in its deepest sense.” Jon Kabat-Zinn

What is mindfulness? I define my mind as a process in my body that is related to others and myself that regulates the flow of energy and information. Also, the tasks of the human mind are to monitor and change things. Mindfulness includes different exercises that improve my ability to monitor and modify my internal world. The basic element of mindfulness is focusing on something or some process. We can focus on our breath during mindfulness meditation. In yoga, we focus on our postures. During tai chi, we focus on movements. In qigong, we focus on the sense of motion of energy. While practicing centering prayer, we focus on words. During walking meditation, we focus on our feet. Daniel Siegel writes, that “over 100 years ago, the father of modern psychology, William James (1890/1981), said that such a practice of returning a wandering attention back to its target again and again would be ‘education par excellence.’”

There is a difference between concentration and mindfulness, according to Dr. Roger Walsh. Concentration allows us to direct our attention to whatever we wish to experience. Mindfulness enables us to explore our experiences sensitivity. Mindfulness is where we bring greater awareness to each activity. We are more present in each moment. Another gift of mindfulness is that we catch subtle experiences of which we usually remain unaware.

Dr. Walsh writes mindfulness “enhances our awareness of relationships, the world around us, and the world within us.” It also frees us from our automatic mindless reactions and heals the mind. According to the National Institutes for Health, there are 18 million Americans that practice meditation of some kind. Meditation improves the health of our body as well as our mind. It lowers the risk for cancer and heart disease. Meditation makes us happier.

Please watch this body awareness mediation video with Judith Peterson and learn about the path to joy.

Most of our thinking is subconscious. Only a small part of our brain is engaged in conscious thinking. The areas of your brain that are engaged with consciousness thinking will process about forty nerve impulses per second on a normal day. The brain areas which are involved with activity outside of your consciousness will process forty million nerve impulses per second on a normal day. Only a fraction of your brain is engaged in conscious thinking.

Donna Eden and David Feinstein write that “your subconscious mind is the storehouse of the lessons life has taught you as well as your natural abilities and intuitive wisdom. Along with countless automated actions as mundane as putting on your shoes, your subconscious mind holds innumerable instructions for more complex actions and has access to transcendent sources of inspiration for solving the bewildering problems life presents and for pursuing your most creative aspirations. While your subconscious mind is an enormous sound guidance that is available 24/7, it also stores past hurts, self-limiting beliefs, unresolved conflicts, and dysfunctional behavioral strategies. So it doesn’t always work to your advantage.”

Bruce Lipton cites studies that reveal 65 percent of our thoughts are negative or repetitive and unnecessary. Our mind is thinking thoughts that are not important and disturbing most of the time.  Additional studies indicate that people spend 50% of their time awake not thinking about what they are doing, but something else. When our mind drifts away from what we are doing, we become unhappy. There is another problem with a mind that strays from the present moment. As our mind wanders, our subconscious mind takes over. This is when we do things that interfere with our own success. We undermine our desires, because of our subconscious thinking.

We have repetitive patterns in our subconscious thinking that lead to behavior that is not flexible and responsive to our present set of circumstances. For example, a husband may be talking with his wife and experiencing fear from a memory about his dad when he was 5 years old. Fear is a signal of possible danger. His thinking and energy is preparing his body and mind for crisis. He may not be able to listen well, because he is scanning for what is dangerous in what his wife is saying. He may want to end the conversation and leave, because he is afraid. These reactions and his poor listening have an effect on his wife. She doesn’t feel understood. Her husband’s reactions do not make sense to her. The more that he has conversations with her where he is not present, the less trust the husband and his wife will have with each other.

Dr. Ron Siegel traces these type of reactions to the harsh lives of our ancestors who lived and survived great dangers millions of years ago. He describes the mechanisms of our brain that make us miserable. These are the reactions:
1. Focusing on what is bad
2. Being stuck in a stress response – heart beating faster, muscles tense, sweating, acid released to stomach for digestion
3. Comparing myself to others
4. Avoiding what is unpleasant
5. Envisioning a future with assumptions of what could go wrong

The good news is that our brains are flexible. At any age, we can acquire new information, process the new knowledge in our brain, and develop new ideas. As a result of our learning, we think differently and our brain physically changes. The idea that “I am who I am” is false. You can remake yourself, like remodeling a house. The name of this is plasticity. Our brain changes as a response to each new experience, each new thought, and every new idea we learn. At any age, our brain is like playdough; we can move it and shape it.

Dr. Joe Dispenza writes that meditation can change how the brain works. He described the research. Meditation alters brain wave patterns. Another benefit of meditation is that it grows “new brain cells that are the product of inner mindfulness . . . . Most of the participants (in the research study) were average people with jobs and families, who meditated only 40 minutes a day.”

Please watch this video by Santa Clara County’s first Poet Laureate, Nils Peterson on the gift of focus.

Key Words:
Blog 19
Blogs by Daniel Davis, mindfulness
Joe Dispenza, meditation changes the brain
Donna Eden and David Feinstein
William James
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Bruce Lipton, negative and redundant thinking
Nils Peterson, presence
Judith Peterson, mindfulness
Ron Siegel
Daniel Siegel, mindfulness
Roger Walsh, mindfulness
brain adaptability
meditation
mindfulness
“Do You Know the Secret to Joy?”

Filed Under: Blog, Mindfulness, Uncategorized Tagged With: adaptability, brain, Bruce Lipton, changes, Daniel Siegel, David Feinstein, Donna Eden, Joe Dispenza, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Judith Peterson, meditation, mindfulness, negative and redundant thinking, Nils Peterson, presence, Roger Walsh, Ron Siegel, William James

Have You Ever Overreacted With Someone You Love?

August 4, 2015 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

“Jesus formulated the conception of psychological projection two thousand years before depth psychology: ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye with never a thought for the great plank in your own eye?,’” writes Dr. Edward Edinger.

Carl Jung defines projection as when we see something in someone or something else, unintentionally, because of our subconscious mind. Dr. Bruce Lipton says that only five percent of our thinking it conscious. I am aware that I am typing at this moment. Yet my mind is active in many other ways – beating my heart, regulating my breath, digesting the hamburger I ate for lunch, and missing the woman I love. Therefore, ninety-five percent of our thinking is subconscious, meaning we are not aware of it. What we project onto a person or thing is part of our own mind or we might say Soul. Dr. Marie Von Franz writes that when we are projecting, we see something that is not there or only there in a small way. Usually there is a small part of what is being projected in the person or thing; rarely is there nothing in the person or object of what is projected.

Robert Johnson writes “when we awaken to a new possibility in our lives, we often see it first in another person. A part of us that has been hidden is about emerge, but it doesn’t go in a straight line from the unconscious to consciousness. It travels by way of an intermediary. We project our developing potentials onto someone, and suddenly we’re consumed with him or her. The first inkling that something in us is attempting to change is when we see another person sparkle for us.”

We may fall in love. Another example of projecting is when I can see my teacher as knowing everything. Another is when Jeff sees his dad as being mean and stupid. While it is true that people can be highly intelligent or stupid, a projection is an exaggeration. This problem with thinking is called, cognitive dissonance. Jeff thought his dad was so powerful and nice, but now Jeff’s dad seems dumb and nasty.

Where do projections begin? In the case of romantic love, we fall in love with someone who reflects the positive and negative qualities of our parents. Let’s say Jeff’s dad is a kind person and an engineer who works with computers. His dad is bright and does nice things for Jeff. Yet when Jeff’s dad gets mad, he yells and says things that do not make sense. If this is the case, Jeff will likely fall in love with a woman with kindness and intelligence. Yet she may have a temper and say irrational things at times. John Sanford points out that when we project on our beloved or anyone else, we either undervalue them or over value them. I may fall in love with someone and not see many of their faults. We may see the worst in our teacher and not see their sincere attempt to teach us something of value.

We can ruin our marriage with projections. A husband may demand that his wife have more sex, when he actually may need to develop his ability to connect with others by developing his social skills. A wife may complain to her husband that he does not talk, when she may need to learn to be quiet and listen to herself by writing in her journal or doing counseling. Intimate relationships work when they support the growth of each partner, children, other family, or friends. A marriage is a way to grow, but it also can be a way to avoid growing up.

It is helpful to make notes about this process of understanding a projection. I can learn to separate my projections from other people and things. First, I know that I am projecting when I have an emotional reaction larger than the situation. When I feel a great deal of anger because someone spit toothpaste on the mirror, then it is way too big – an exaggeration. To find out where it originates from I focus on the feeling of anger. I close my eyes and feel the sensations in my body. I notice where they are located in my body. Do I feel heat in my face and tension in my arms and hands? Just notice. Write it down in your journal.

Then, I close my eyes and relax, breathing slowly and deeply for a few minutes. Next, I focus on the event, like seeing the toothpaste spit on the mirror. I feel the anger and notice the sensations of anger in my body. Then, I let my mind wander back in time to the earliest time I felt the same way. This memory often represents the origin of the projection. It also is a part of a neural network in our mind. This is like a tree which has a negative thought and emotions as its root, like I am a filthy pig. The memory is my mother screaming at me, because someone obviously spit on the mirror of our family home. My mother yells at me and says, “You are a filthy pig!”

Watch this video from and learn more about how to work with projection.

Note: Carl Jung identified both a conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The Subconscious Mind was partly conscious and partly unconscious. Dr. Jung asserted that the Unconscious Mind is “really unconscious,” meaning we know nothing of it by our conscious mind. We can only see the influence of the Unconscious Mind in the Subconscious Mind. Modern research on the Conscious Mind and the Subconscious Mind differs in language from the writing of Carl Jung, but supports many of the general ideas of Dr. Jung’s writing during his long career and life that ended in 1961.

The term “Neural Network” relates to modern therapies like EMDR that work with the brain and its functioning. These “Neural Networks” are composed of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and memories – some conscious (Explicit Memories) and some subconscious (Implicit Memories).

Blog 15

Filed Under: Blog, Projection Tagged With: beam in eye, Bruce Lipton, Carl Jung, conscious mind, defines projection, Edward Edinger, EMDR, explicit memories, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, implicit memories, Intimate Relationships, Jesus of Nazareth, John Sanford, Marie Von Franz, marriage, neural network, overreaction, psychological projection, quote, reclaiming projections, Robert Johnson, romantic love, Subconscious Mind, subconscious thinking, unconscious mind

“Do-It-Yourself” Resources

Access an ever-growing library of “do-it-yourself” informational and instructional videos, articles, and blog posts in over 30 different categories ranging from “Calming Oneself” to “Balancing Your Brain” to “Self-Care” … [GET STARTED…]

About Daniel Davis, LMFT

I create an environment where clients experience their unique significance, authentic empowerment, and profound acceptance and collaborate with clients to identify solutions to their current crises. For more information on how I can help you, contact me today by calling 408-249-0014 or emailing info@danieldavislmft.com. I look forward to speaking with you! Read More…

Connect with Me

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Search This Site…

Location

I provide Virtual Counseling, E-Counseling, and Online Counseling and Psychotherapy Services as well as Phone Therapy Sessions to residents of California. As such, you can access any of my services at a location of your choosing. Please contact me today for more information and to find out how I can help you!

Contact Me Today!

To further explore how I can help empower the changes which will make your life more meaningful and content, use the contact form to ask any questions you have or call me at 408-249-0014 to schedule an initial consultation.

Connect with Me

Want to keep up with what I'm doing as well as received helpful tips and suggestions? Join me on...

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
verified by Psychology Today

Daniel Davis, M.A., LMFT
Counselor in Santa Clara, CA
Professional Seal for Daniel Davis

Daniel Davis, LMFT - Virtual Counseling, E-Counseling, and Online Counseling Services in California.
 
Copyright © 2023 Daniel Davis, LMFT · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use

Therapist Website by AbundantPractices