The mental health culture in Irish history has been a dark one, but this is rapidly changing. No longer are “get on with it” or “get locked up” the only options. Psychotropic drugs can help, but psychotherapy is still a mystery to most people.
Psychotherapy is a subtle human and artistic field that is also becoming a scientific field. It can work because the human brain and mind are 'neuroplastic'. All that means is that the human mind and brain can be positively re-programmed. With a computer, press delete, and it’s an instant change. It is not so quickly and easily done with our mind and brain, but it can be done. Many people feel trapped in their misery and constriction, without a clue as to how to free themselves.
There are basically three aspects of our being that need reprogramming attention:
1. Self-esteem.
2. Dealing in a balanced way with powerful human emotions. They are not just feelings, but powerful biological events that can heal or kill, bring peace or misery. Emotions define our humanness.
3. Negative, false, embedded beliefs, such as “no one will ever love me”, and other self-fulfilling negative imprints.
The reprogramming of the mind and brain can take place in several ways: (a ) spontaneously, when life just teaches us a truth we didn’t know before; (b ) through skilled psychotherapy or counselling with a gifted helper; and (c ) by learning and applying various techniques that we can practise on our own.
One of Prof Harvey Wasserman's abiding interests is in discovering techniques to produce positive change for people (including himself ), and then teaching them to his patients, students, and to people who attend his workshops. "I have learned many of my expansive exercises from the great teachers of the past 50 years: Virginia Satir, Milton Erickson, Al Lowen and many others," he said. "I have studied with native healers around the world and created original neuroplastic experiences of my own.
"In my Expand Your Life workshops, I teach simple exercises that help with depression, anxiety, and other emotional problems. They help participants to identify negative thinking and the beliefs that limit personal growth and expansion. Feedback from participants from previous workshops indicates that when a person learns neuroplastic exercises and then practices them at home, they are very often able to make dramatic improvements in their life." The next series of Expand Your Life workshops will take place on Saturdays, September 30 and 7 and October 14.
The workshops are open to the general public. All in the healing professions are also invited to attend. "You will find the experiences professionally and personally useful," Prof Wasserman said.
The price is €5 per workshop so that anyone who wants to can learn how to expand their life.
Going to all three workshops would be ideal; any individual workshop will be useful.
More information and reservations are available through Eventbrite at www.eventbrite.ie/e/expand-your-life-in-3-weeks-tickets-35933706684
