Weather and health

I don’t really believe in coincidence that is the reason I am writing about the weather today. Last Friday I was thinking about our strange Dutch weather and posted about it on my Facebook wall, not 10 minutes later I came across an article about the relationship between weather and moods. Now that was too big a coincidence to pass up.

Is there a coincidence between the weather and our moods? Some people think there is, some think there isn’t.  I belong to the group who think there is. Why otherwise do people get winter depression? [And as my friend Vilma Kuzmiene told me summer depression as well] As soon as the days get longer, some people start to feel down.

I can think of the following reasons [both physical and psychological]:
•    We need sunlight [vitamins] to stay healthy and as the sun loses its strength we lose the vitamins.
•    Women can feel less mobile during the winter months. If you don’t like going out in the dark you are housebound many hours of the day in winter.
•    The cold can affect your muscles making them stiff and painful.
•    Staying warm despite the cold takes up energy.
But as Vilma said there are reasons for summer depression as well:
•    Constant heat for sometimes weeks or months on end can make people prickly.
•    Heat can make people sick, especially the elderly and people with physical problems. Fighting the heat takes energy.

For those who live closer to poles mid winter and midsummer can play havoc on the system. There will be weeks were there is no darkness or no light. Our system needs the clue that the sun gives us, to tell us when it is time to go to sleep and to wake up.

How does this all affect me?

My moods are not affected much by the temperature. I have to admit that I do love the long evenings in summer, when I find it easier to set out on my own. I used to be a person who loved spring and fall and did not like the extremes of summer at all. Until about 6 years ago I began to notice that a good, warm summer gave me a lot of reserves for the winter. My muscles soak up the heat and store that energy. So my body still dislikes the heat [I find it hard to concentrate when the temperature reaches 30 C and above] my mind is now much more motivated to endure it and even enjoy the benefits. Is was very interesting for me to observe that change. Last year we had no summer to speak of here and I am beginning to notice it.  That meant it was time to take care of myself.  In February I will be spending a week in Lanzarote to soak up some sun.

Please tell me about you. Does the weather affect your moods or your health? And what do you do to stay on top of it?

how much to share with clients?

 Irvin Yalom's books inspired me long before I became a counsellor. I think I picked up the first book I read by him during the mid nineties. And since then I have read most of his books. 


One that really struck a cord was "The gift of therapy" which I have reread a couple of times since buying it several years ago. In this book Yalom shares some of his wisdom with therapists who are just starting out.


The great thing about this book is that it shows the therapist as a human being with faults and worries of his own. I like how he writes about himself and dares to be vulnerable. 

There is always the debate of how much therapists should share with clients. Should they share if there is something going on in their life? Should they tell a client if they have been through something similar as the client is facing right now? That is an ever ongoing debate. As I work with client groups who are going through the same thing I have gone through [being highly sensitive & living with chronic pain] I do share when it comes to those areas. Also because it is relevant to therapy. But there is a fine line between not sharing enough and sharing too much about your private life and one that we always have to keep in mind.


And yet I am an admirer of the kinds of books written by therapist who do share some of their lives with us. Another great favoriet of mine is "The unquiet mind" written by Kay Redfield Jamison in which a psychiatrist openly talks about her own struggle with being manic depressive. 


I think that if a therapist is at ease with what has happened in his or her life and worked through it and found balance it can often be a great bonus when this is used in therapy. As long as she is always critical of why she is sharing certain info with clients and to make sure that is has value.

More on online education

This week I want to talk some more on my favorite topic. Education for counsellors. If you read my post regularly, you will already know how important that is to me. That is the reason I qualified myself as an online counsellor next to my f2f diploma's in counselling and coaching. For those who want to train for online counsellling this course is starting next week.

But being a counsellor means you keep learning, I think curiosity is a great trait to have for a therapist. This week I am attending a counseling conference that takes place in Second Life. [it will be on until saturday so you can  still catch some of it. This is the 3rd year the virtual conference for counsellors is being held in Second Life. [if you don't feel secure enough in Second Life onlinevents is streaming it live from their website and you can still participate in the chat!] It is an excellent oppertunity to network, learn more about what is going on in the world of online counselling, new technologies and learning a lot more about virtual worlds and their possibilities. The starting day yesterday already had some very interesting topics. Most interesting yesterday was a discussion by Kate Anthony and DeeAnna Marz Nagel with the director of an upcoming documentary login2life. This documentary focusses on the positive sides of Second Life, how virtual worlds can be a haven a support for people with dissabilities. I can't wait to see the whole documentary!

I want to mention another online conference as well. Normally I do not go for paid conferences , but for this one I am making an exeption. The practice building conference is organised by Casey Truffo. Her book " How to be a wealthy therapist" is like a bible to me. A lot of therapists have problems with charging money for what we do and this book has helped me see that I am worth it! Marketing a practice is strangely enough not a part of most therapy training programs. That is were books and conference like this one come in. You gain so much knowledge and it is also such a great oppertunity to network and get to know other therapists. This alone can lead to business oppertunities somewhere in the future.