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Welcome to my Mental Health Blog!

Find professional and non-judgmental mental health information on topics including anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, loss, self-harm, suicide, borderline personality disorder, relationships, psychotherapy, Covid-19, resilience and more.

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Please get in touch with questions, comments, and feedback on e.terrighena@mind-balance.org.

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The Trauma Experience: Three Phases of Trauma Therapy

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2 min

The Trauma Experience: Three Phases of Trauma Therapy

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA introduces the three phases of trauma therapy and what to expect as you are going through them. Trauma by nature overwhelms our system and can have persistent negative effects on our mental health, including emotional, cognitive, physiological, and behavioural. The goal of trauma therapy is to help individuals to process their traumatic experiences in a healthy way, reduce the negative health impact, and achieve enhanced wellbeing. There are three phases

The Trauma Experience: The Window of Tolerance

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2 min

The Trauma Experience: The Window of Tolerance

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA on the window of tolerance and how it helps to process trauma in therapy. In therapy, we speak about the window of tolerance in which we see therapeutic effects and healing happen. But what is the window of tolerance? Keeping it simple, we can have three states of arousal with different mental, emotional, physical, and behavioural experiences. We can be in a state of hyperarousal. Here we may experience intense anxiety, anger, sadness, guilt, shame or ot

The Trauma Experience: Our Brain in Three Parts: Reptilian, Mammalian, and Neocortex

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4 min

The Trauma Experience: Our Brain in Three Parts: Reptilian, Mammalian, and Neocortex

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA explains how our triune brain encodes trauma and contributes to trauma responses even years after our traumatic experience. Understanding the triune nature of our brain can shed light on how traumatic events are encoded, processed, and may later trigger trauma responses even long after the initial event took place. Dr. Bernie Siegel introduced the concept of the triune brain in which our brain is understood as the interaction of three parts: the reptilia

The Trauma Experience: What to expect during your EMDR session

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5 min

The Trauma Experience: What to expect during your EMDR session

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA shares what to expect in your EMDR sessions. Often, we go to therapy because we have been grappling with an issue for a while and are reaching a point where we really need external help. Sometimes the step to therapy comes after all other options have been exhausted. As a result, many people go into the first therapy session with a mix of urgency, defeat, shame, and fear that maybe nothing will actually help to solve the problems they are facing. Driven

The Trauma Experience: How does EMDR help us heal from Trauma?

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3 min

The Trauma Experience: How does EMDR help us heal from Trauma?

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA explains what EMDR Therapy is and how it helps us to process Trauma in a healthy way. EMDR Therapy, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, is a therapeutic technique that enables individuals to process and heal from traumatic experiences. Research shows that it successfully reduces emotional, cognitive, physiological, and behavioural symptoms of trauma. EMDR is based on the adaptive information processing (AIP) model, which stipulates

The Trauma Experience: How can Trauma Therapy reduce our Physical Trauma Reactions?

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2 min

The Trauma Experience: How can Trauma Therapy reduce our Physical Trauma Reactions?

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA explains how Trauma Therapy can reduce our physical trauma responses. Trauma therapy tackles trauma and its effects on our mental health on four levels: emotions, cognitions, body, and behaviours. Our survival response during a traumatic experience is largely physical: We experience a fight-flight-(freeze-fawn) activation in which hormonal processes are triggered to optimize our bodies for survival. We share this with other mammals. An antelope that is c

The Trauma Experience: How can Trauma Therapy reduce our Negative Thoughts

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3 min

The Trauma Experience: How can Trauma Therapy reduce our Negative Thoughts

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA explains how Trauma Therapy can help to reduce our negative trauma beliefs. Trauma therapy tackles trauma and its effects on our mental health on four levels: emotions, cognitions, body, and behaviours. Trauma disrupts our assumptive world theory, which rests on the three fundamental beliefs that the world is benevolent (i.e. generally the world and its people are good), meaningful (i.e. generally there is a cause-and-effect between actions and outcomes

The Trauma Experience: How Can Trauma Therapy Reduce our Distress

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2 min

The Trauma Experience: How Can Trauma Therapy Reduce our Distress

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA explains how Trauma Therapy can reduce our emotional distress after a traumatic experience. Trauma therapy tackles trauma and its effects on our mental health on four levels: emotions, cognitions, body, and behaviours. Traumatic experiences trigger a range of primary and secondary emotions. Primary emotions are a direct response to the threats to our safety, for example fear or panic. Secondary emotions are indirect responses to the incident, often occur

The Trauma Experience: Our Brain on Trauma - What Happens in Survival Mode?

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2 min

The Trauma Experience: Our Brain on Trauma - What Happens in Survival Mode?

DR. ESSLIN TERRIGHENA explains how trauma impacts our brains. When we experience a traumatic event, our coping abilities become overwhelmed, and our survival mechanisms are activated. To give us the best chance of survival, relevant areas of our brain, including the limbic system, are prioritized. This enables our body to gear up for fight or flight with hormones and adrenaline. Our senses are heightened, and our responses are enhanced. Simultaneously, fewer resources are dir

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1 min

The Basic Vagus Nerve Exercise

A quick technique for reducing stress and anxiety For more information or to book a consultation with psychologist Dr. Esslin Terrighena, please contact (852) 2521 4668 or e.terrighena@mind-balance.org. #mindbalancehk #mindnlife #therapy #psychotherapy #psychologist #psychotherapist #trauma #stress #wellbeing #mentalhealth #health #onlinetherapy #covid19 #workfromhome #resilience #coping #dresslin #drterrighena #mindfulness #meditation #anxiety #depression #socialanxiety #sc

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1 min

The Butterfly Hug [VIDEO]

For more information or to book a consultation with psychologist Dr. Esslin Terrighena, please contact (852) 2521 4668 or e.terrighena@mind-balance.org. #mindbalancehk #mindnlife #therapy #psychotherapy #psychologist #psychotherapist #trauma #stress #wellbeing #mentalhealth #health #onlinetherapy #covid19 #workfromhome #resilience #coping #dresslin #drterrighena #mindfulness #meditation #anxiety #depression #socialanxiety #schematherapy #innerchild #childself #coreneeds #chil

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1 min

Quarantine Tip: Laugh [VIDEO]

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1 min

Quarantine Tip: Be Playful [VIDEO]

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1 min

Quarantine Tip: Be Creative [VIDEO]

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1 min

Quarantine Tip: Keep a Journal [VIDEO]

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3 min

Safety: The Antidote to Anxiety

Hong Kong is going through a time of uncertainty and confusion. Will we be going into lockdown? Will we be separated from our families? When will the borders open? What will happen to the economy? These questions can trigger fear as we experience a sense of helplessness and loss of control over the wellbeing of our loved ones and ourselves. Our dread and anxiety happen at five levels - in our thoughts, feelings, body, actions, and social world. It is most effective reducing o

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1 min

Quarantine Tip: Cosy Up Your Room [VIDEO]

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1 min

Quarantine Tips: Set a Routine [VIDEO]

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6 min

Quarantine: Staying Mentally Healthy

Quarantine and isolation can put stress on our mental and physical health. Here are some ways to make the most of your quarantine experience and enhance your wellbeing throughout: Set up your space Try to divide the room into different areas: work, rest, eat, play. Our brains are sensitive to context. When we repeatedly do the same activity in the same space, our brains associate the space with a certain mindset. When we sit down at our work desk, we aim for focus. When we la

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1 min

Tips for Effective Online Therapy

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FAQ

Dr Esslin Terrighena - Psychologist in Hong Kong