Looking forward to all my seminars and conferences this year. Here is a preview

It has been an exciting year. One of my main interests is PTSD. I have briefly talked about it and this year the conference will be examining the impact that Trauma, Violence, Civil War, Mass Migration and Environmental Disasters have on our work in the field of mental health. What will be even more exciting is that I will be among therapists from other countries. I always enjoy meeting new people and it is always a learning experience for us to share. It is clear and the message is finally getting across that climate change will eventually impact us all. I am also excited about spending a full day conference examining how the changes in the law regarding assisted suicide will affect us as therapists. I have been reading about the topic and preparing myself to understanding what the needs will be. I have also been watching segments from a program regarding "Athiesm". It is a two part documentary type and begins with group therapy of people indicating that they are Athiests. I was surprised that the group had bad experiences with the concepts of religions from their family of origin. For example one person felt relieved that he no longer believed in God, because he now no longer suffers from viewing himself as a sinner. A woman was upset because the last time she had any interaction with her mother she was told she would pray for her. Had her mother left it at that it would not have been too bad, but the prayer held a negative notation. The group had not suffered because of the belief in God, but because of the concepts from people who believed in God. Therefore, I deduced that if people who believe in God judge and are mean to others than their actions and cruelty are seen as coming from God. If God is good, how could people who believe in God be so cruel, so therefore God is cruel. I found this very interesting because I could not understand why there is a movement against God, rather just dismissing God, if one does not believe. However, this now makes sense to me. What was also clear was the misunderstanding of the Bible. Contradictions were brought forth indicating the irrevalence of the gospels but it is so much more complicated. So, I will be including more information regarding that. My next topic for Abnormal Psychology will be Addiction. The DSM has been amended as I have previously stated and what is considered "addiction" has been altered to only one addiction. However, in my experience patterns I have seen in alcohol addiction, sexual addiction, drug addiction, gambling addiction etc... have several characteristics shared. Addicts lie, addicts feel shame, addicts deny their addiction, addicts cannot be reasoned with about why they should stop their addictions. Addictions affect the whole family. No addict wants to be an addict. However, I do work with addicts and try to lead them to rehab for recovery. Though addiction has never been my interest, I have learned that it is a major problem and therefore needs to be addressed. So my next topic from my psychology notes will be about addiction. One thing I will recommend to any family member who is dealing with an addict is not to give them money. They will use that money to support their addiction. If you are a family member and want to give them money for therapy, I would recommend not to. What I would recommend is that there is an agreement between the client, family member and therapist for some transparency regarding payment directly to the therapist rather than to the client. A therapist has a strict obligation to protect their client's privacy. However, this privacy is meant to protect the client, not encourage fraud or crime. The only way I can think of protecting all parties is with some agreement so that funds are never used to nurse the habit. Please feel free to comment. What do you think?