Author: queentracey1

By Dr. Perry, PhD

“Turning feelings into words can help us process and overcome adversity.” ~Sheryl Sandberg

Our emotional responses to everyday life events do not always take a linear path from perception to a reaction. Every day we encounter an endless assembly line of external stimuli that we must quickly access, process and classify. Our brains must categorize these happenings and life moments quickly in order to respond appropriately. Often our subconscious will identify some event as potentially threatening to our sense of self and to our place in the world. Our subconscious will respond by redirecting the impulse away from ourselves towards an external object. This object can be a person, animal or inanimate object. We can also redirect our impulse to an activity. This redirecting of our original impulse is known as psychological displacement.

According to Sigmund Freud, “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its…

By Dr. Perry, PhD

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have been told by more than one patient that the word “gratitude” has become very cliche. They are constantly being told to be grateful as if it is a fix all to their problems. While it may not magically do away with our problems, gratitude has been shown to have a beneficial effect in anyone’s life.

So what is gratitude and is it really such a great thing to have?

One of the best definitions I have found is as follows, gratitude is “the quality of being thankful and a readiness to show appreciation for and to return the kindness.” This is a powerful definition which contains both a…

By Dr. Perry, PhD

“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.” ~Hans Selye

Sublimation is a subconscious psychological defense mechanism whereby we take a negative impulse and channel it into a positive behavior. This is similar to displacement (click here to refer to my earlier post on displacement) but instead of taking a negative impulse, such as aggression towards one’s boss, and displacing that negative feeling onto an innocent third party such as your husband or wife, we take the initial socially unacceptable impulse and direct it towards a positive action. We seek a positive alternative form of fulfillment for the initial destructive urge. According to Freud, the strength of the negative urge would define the strength of the positive outcome.

Our initial impulses can be subconsciously directed into a number of different areas. Here are some ways that we can engage in sublimation.

1. Anger/Emotional…