Insight Counseling and Consulting Services

09/10/2026

09/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19D977k96n/

September is Su***de Prevention Month. After being a Psychiatrist for over 40 years, it's clear to me that suicidal thoughts and brains work differently.

Amen Clinics has scanned hundreds of patients who have attempted su***de and many more who have thought about taking their own life. The SPECT scans of these patients revealed abnormalities in the brain, especially in these areas: 
* Temporal Lobes: Brain SPECT imaging shows that people with suicidal thoughts and su***de attempts often have abnormalities in the left temporal lobe. In an Amen Clinics study, we saw left temporal lobe problems in 62 percent of our patients who had serious suicidal thoughts or behaviors. 
* Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): After reviewing nearly 300,000 functional brain scans related to behavior it is clear that head injuries are a leading cause of mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety disorders, panic disorder, PTSD, ADHD/ADD, substance abuse, psychosis, borderline and antisocial personality disorders, dementia, and aggression. Concussions and TBIs also increase the risk of su***de. When the brain has functional damage due to a head injury, it’s critical to heal the brain in order to overcome any mental health problems. At Amen Clinics, 40 percent of our patients have had a significant brain injury.
* Prefrontal Cortex: A large-scale study by researchers at Portland State University found that about 22 percent of people who died by su***de were legally intoxicated at the time of their death. Brain scans show that alcohol lowers function in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in impulse control, judgment, and decision-making.
* Anterior Cingulate Gyrus: People with overactivity in this area of the brain tend to get stuck on negative thoughts, which is one of the traits we see in people with suicidal thoughts and behavior.

08/26/2026

Happy National Dog Day from our therapy dog, Forrest!

08/24/2026

08/24/2026

Sometimes we are afraid to set boundaries with our kids because we think saying 'no' will harm them. Everyone needs to learn to tolerate hearing 'no'. Those that can't often turn out to be abusers. https://carolineabbott.com/2019/03/rebuilding-your-childrens-trust/

08/24/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/183Bwzvgc9/

Shifting your thoughts from “I’m overwhelmed” to “I need to focus on what matters most and go slow” de-escalates the nervous system by initiating top-down cognitive regulation to interrupt the body’s survival response. When you think “I’m overwhelmed”, the brain perceives a massive environmental threat, triggering the amygdala to activate the sympathetic nervous system (“fight-or-flight), spike cortisol, and impair working memory. Intentionally changing your self-talk acts as a psychological brake. The directive to “focus on what matters most” forcefully re-engages the prefrontal cortex, shifting the brain from a state of emotional panic to executive problem-solving, which suppresses the hyperactive amygdala.

Simultaneously, the instruction to “go slow” serves as a direct safety signal that lowers the physiological fight-or-flight response. The brain continuously monitors internal thoughts to assess environmental safety; demanding a slower pace actively contradicts the biological urgency of a stress response. This cognitive shift activates the parasympathetic nervous system (“rest-and-digest”) via the vagus nerve, which reduces your heart rate, slows respiration, and stabilizes blood pressure. By combining task prioritization with a physical command for deceleration, this reframe transitions your biology from an anxious, reactive state of threat survival to a grounded, restorative state of focused calm.

Check out the comments section for more psychological reframes🧠❤️

06/04/2026

Not just in ourselves, but in others as well.
Let's keep this in mind when out and about.
The angry aren't "angry".
They're:
*sad
*confused
*fearful
*overwhelmed...and don't know how to express it.