Resilience in facing the “once-in-100-years” rainstorm in Hong Kong

The, what is called, the “once-in-100-years” rainstorm happened last Friday in Hong Kong shut down the whole city and caused a lot of damage and injuries.  Given this unexpected rainstorm, many people may face some degree of inconvenience or disruption in their lives.  For those who live in the more severely affected areas, this sudden …

How to use mindfulness to reduce reassurance seeking in OCD?

People with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) have both obsession and compulsion.  Obsession is the occurrence of unwanted intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that evoke anxiety and discomfort for the individual.  Compulsion is any repeated mental acts or overt behaviours that one uses to temporarily reduce anxiety and discomfort caused by the obsession.  Reassurance seeking is …

Ruminations in depression as an avoidance coping

One of the main features of depression is negative cognitions about self.  It is common for us to see people in a depressive episode to engage in continuous negative thought process.  They sometimes told us that they were unable to stop themselves from this thinking mode even they knew that it was not conducive to …

When someone feels angry, is he or she really angry deep down?

One of my clients told me that she had an intense temper outburst after knowing her boyfriend lied to her about going out with another girl.  She was so angry at him and broke the TV at their home.  She also shouted loudly at him for a while and found herself cannot calm down.  Later, …

The lack of focus of the mental states of oneself and others in people with Borderline Personality Disorder

It is common for people to say that it is difficult to understand the behavior and thinking of people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).  One of my clients with BPD threw temper towards her husband for not replying her text messages related to her request for accompanying her to a medical appointment.  In the dialogue …

Pain is inevitable in our life and suffering may be avoidable

After seeing the movie, Oppenheimer, I discussed with my friends about if we were Oppenheimer, would we decide to lead the Manhattan Project given the possibility of being involved in political dynamics and experiencing intense ambivalence of having great success in history and contributing to destructive actions in wars.  Given the ambiguity of the possibility …