MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Anxiety Anonymous -  Steps to Wholeness Appreciating the addictive quality of anxiety may open the door to a different way of finding relief and enable you to be more patient with yourself. Conventional therapy has been limited in helping because it does not reach to the deeper roots of anxiety in the human psyche. Therapy, including medication, addresses the symptoms and not the underlying cause in the human condition. In the 1930s, it became clear that psychology had failed in treating alcoholics. Carl Jung, the renowned Swiss psychologist, announced the failure and the need for a spiritual conversion. He called alcoholics “frustrated mystics” who looked for the Spirit in the spirits. Bill Wilson, a hopeless alcoholic, found recovery outside the walls of traditional psychological treatment. He and Dr. Bob Smith founded the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous and formulated the Twelve Steps as the guideposts of recovery. They realized from personal experience that only

  Dr. Ortman writes -  I wrote three “Anonymous” books for recovery from anxiety, depression, and anger. I view these mood states as similar to drug addictions that can be relieved by working the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. The seeds for these books were planted in my childhood. I was raised in an alcoholic family where I learned about the tragedy and power of addiction. As an adult, I sought healing and growth through therapy and participation in Adult Children of Alcoholics and Al-Anon groups. In graduate school, I wrote my dissertation on treating those with a dual diagnosis, that is, with both a substance use and mental health problem. Working with my patients in private practice for the past thirty years, I observed that many suffered from chemical dependencies and process addictions, such as gambling, shopping, and sexual acting out. I further noticed that many of my patients who suffered from anxiety, depression, and anger felt possessed by their moods and powerles

  Excerpt from Anxiety Anonymous Déjà Vu All Over Again All addictions begin with “stinking thinking.” After many experiences of the soothing effects of alcohol, a tranquilizer, the budding alcoholic begins to believe that she can find happiness in a bottle and cannot live without it. She continually tells herself, “I need a drink,” whether she is anxious, sad, angry, or happy. She rationalizes many reasons for drinking. Over time, as the addiction takes hold, she becomes more preoccupied with the thought of drinking. It becomes her obsession. She begins to plan her life around drinking opportunities on weekends with friends or at home alone to chill out. Her obsession with drinking spills over into compulsive behaviors. She develops drinking routines, going to the same bar every Friday evening, meeting the same people. Cocktail hour, with the same drink, mixed in the same way, happens every day at precisely 4:00 p.m. She may make rigid rules for herself to assure herself that she is n

The following guest post by Dr. Dennis Ortman, psychologist, former priest, and MSI Press author, will form the basis of a forthcoming book on coping with pandemic conditions, called The Pandemic and Hope . POST-PANDEMIC STR ESS DISORDER  By Dennis Ortman, Ph.D.     I have a fantasy. President Trump will eventually announce victory over the Coronavirus. He will declare, “We have won the war. We have shown our greatness as a nation in working together to defeat this invisible enemy.” He will then express gratitude to all the healthcare workers, who risked their lives, those who supported all the essential services, and the entire nation. He will also report remarkable progress on a vaccine and treatment. American ingenuity again triumphs. Hopefully, this day will come sooner than later.  However, while the war may be won on one front, another remains, the inner battle against fear. We cannot rest on our laurels. Many have aptly compared this epidemic

Something invisible has stopped the world in its tracks, humbling us, making us aware of our vulnerability. It is the Coronavirus. Despite our technological prowess, we are not the masters of the universe we imagined. Mother Nature still rules. As the world-wide epidemic sweeps across America, President Trump has declared war on this invisible enemy. He has mobilized the forces of scientists, healthcare workers, and business leaders to combat the virus. As a psychologist, I am among the ranks of the battle-ready. The front-line workers confront the enemy face-to-face in the patients they treat. They are the hospital service people, aides, technicians, nurses, doctors, and first responders. I admire their courage and salute them. They risk their lives daily, inadequately armed, and many have fallen in the fight. I am a back-line worker as a psychologist, fighting another invisible enemy, fear. Pandemic panic can be as contagious and pernicious as COVID-19. Living in Michigan, o

Insecure Attachment  A child is born completely helpless, dependent on his parents for survival. He cannot feed, clothe, or shelter himself. His parents care for his every need, not only his biological needs but especially his emotional ones. Without love and affection, a child cannot thrive and grow to emotional maturity. Because of his utter helplessness and dependence on his caregivers, a child is hard-wired, like other animals, to form an attachment bond with his parents. That bond keeps the child emotionally engaged with the parents and elicits their nurturing. Parenting is a fine art, more an art than a science, requiring maturity, wisdom, and generosity. It requires maintaining a fine balance between many opposing behaviors. It is like keeping a violin string at just the right tension to produce beautiful music, neither too loose nor too tight. In the midst of change, parents need to guide their children by being neither too strict nor too lax. Children require calm dire