In the first two episodes I talked about whether or not therapy works, shared my personal journey with mental health, and covered different types of therapy programs. Today I want to shift gears, and start covering different ways you can take action to improve your mental health. We’re going to start by talking about how to stop negative thoughts.  Getting sucked into negative thought patterns can really derail your mental health and make it extremely challenging to make any progress in your life.  Luckily, acceptance and commitment (ACT) therapy offers a powerful way to stop negative thought patterns, and it’s called Cognitive Defusion. In this episode I cover:What Cognitive Defusion isHow to create distance from negative thoughtsHow to define and identify negative thoughtsHow to notice and label thoughtsHot to evaluate whether thoughts are factual and let them goIf you've sturggled with negative self talk then I promise this episode will help you. To make sure you never miss an episode and to stay up-to-date on all the latest mental health content from around the web and Not Quite Zen subscribe to our newsletter.  And, to leave feedback about an episode just visit notquitezen.co and fill out the contact form.

In this episode I wanna talk about how to find the right therapy for you. This is a question that’s often overlooked. If you’re thinking about starting a therapy program, you’re most likely asking yourself, “where can I find a good therapist,” and that’s an important question, but you may first want to consider the different types of therapy that are available. But worry not, I’m going to help you work through this question.If you haven't already, please go to notquitezen.co and sign up for the newsletter. You will get an email once a week with helpful mental health content, including the latest from Not Quite Zen, and we’ll never send you spam. Also, if you want to leave feedback about the episode you can join the Not Quite Zen Facebook group, or use the contact form on the website. 

If you've ever struggled with mental health, then you've probably questioned whether therapy really works at least once or twice. My name is Tony Hardman, and I’m a regular guy (not a therapist) who has dealt with depression, anxiety, anger, and a host of other issues throughout my life. I've been in and out of therapy since I was a teenager, so by the time I was in my thirties, I really started to question whether or not I would ever get better. One day when I was feeling defeated, I asked my therapist, “does therapy actually work, or am I going to have problems forever?” Her response was basically, “yes, it works, and I know it works because it worked for me.”  At the time, I was satisfied with her answer, but I also took it with a grain of salt because I thought, "of course she believes it works, she's a therapist."Look, therapists are amazing, but most therapists won't share a lot about themselves with you. Finding someone else to relate to can be really hard. So, before I answer the question, "does therapy really work," I want to share my journey with you so that you know what I overcame. Check out the blog and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.notquitezen.co No spam, just a weekly email with helpful mental health content. And, click the link to join the Not Quite Zen Community on Facebook.

Welcome to Not Quite Zen, I'm your host, Tony Hardman. I just a regular guy who has struggled with mental health most of my life. Luckily, after years of therapy, mindfulness practice and meditation I’ve changed and grown into a calmer, happier more balanced person. As anyone who struggles with mental illness can tell you, there are good days and bad days, and that’s why I’ve created this podcast. If you’ve ever felt anxiety, depression, anger or struggled with the challenges of daily life then this podcast is for you.  Join me every other Tuesday where I’ll cover a wide range of topics like:·      Does therapy actually work?·      What is happiness and how can you find it?·      How to deal with anxiety in relationships·      What is mindfulness and how can it improve your life·      And so much more.Subscribe today! And, click the link to join the Not Quite Zen Community on Facebook.