PsyMontreal Blog

Learn how to stay motivated for your New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

Whether you want to eat better, exercise more, stop smoking, or any other healthy lifestyle change, there are many scientifically proven methods and techniques that can help you reach your goals.

One method I highly recommend is using S.M.A.R.T. goals. Many people fail in their lifestyle change efforts because their goals were not SMART enough. So what's a SMART goal?

Specific: "eating better" or "do more excercise" is too vague... an example of a specific goal would be "do 30 minutes of walking per day for the next 2 weeks"
Measurable: You need to be able to take note of the times you undertake the behavior - so write it down! For example, keep a journal, or take notes on your smartphone.
Attractive: If you are not motivated to do it, if you don't feel like doing it, it just won't happen. So write down a list of all the advantages of the change you're undertaking, and all the disadvantages of the not undertaking the change.
Realistic: If you plan on changing too fast or to much, it will hamper your odds of success. So ask yourself "Is this a realistic goal?" If it isn't, then tweak it.
Time delimited: Telling yourself you will do this new behavior "for the rest of your life" is very stressful... how about telling yourself "I'll do this for the next 7 days"? By fixing a smaller time frame, you're better able to achieve the goal, which leads to more experience in undertaking this new healthy behavior. Once the time period is up, you simply "renew your contract with yourself" for another week. You then keep on renewing over and over again until the new behavior becomes a permanent habit.

Visit our website to check out more tips on how to increase motivation for healthy lifestyle changes and maintain your resolutions!

New West Island Psychologist website

2011-12-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

We're happy to present our new website providing information on PsyMontreal's new West Island psychologist clinic, such as a description of the psychotherapy and coaching services offered, as well as the bio of PsyMontreal's West Island psychologist, Jean-Marc Assaad, Ph.D. Please check it out and let us know what you think!

CBT reduces the risk heart attacks and deaths

2011-03-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

A new study shows that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) reduces the risk heart attacks, strokes and deaths in patients with heart disease! Check out the story at
www.medicinenet.com

How can a psychologist help you?

2010-12-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our blog! This is our first official post, so I would like to start with something very basic: What is a psychologist and how can psychotherapy with a psychologist help me? A French version of the information found here can be accessed at http://ordrepsy.qc.ca/fr/psychologue/definition.html

A psychologist is a healthcare professional who went to graduate school – they have a Bachelor degree and a Ph.D, for a total of seven to eleven years of university studies. Until recently in Quebec, acceptance into the Quebec Order of Psychologists (OPQ) was granted with a minimum of a Masters degree, but now all professionals applying for membership require a doctorate degree (Ph.D.).

Psychologists are trained in many different types of psychotherapies, but one psychotherapy that is proven over and over again to efficiently help people with depression, anxiety, stress, adjustment issues etc is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). More about CBT in a later blog…

Sometimes, people confuse the professions of psychologist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist.

A psychiatrist is a physician that holds a medical degree (MD) and has specialized in psychiatry, studying for a total of about seven years after a Bachelor degree. Some even go directly to medical school without a Bachelors degree (premed programme). Psychiatrists have the right to prescribe medication, and have an expertise in prescribing medications that help controls symptoms of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe anxieties, etc. Sometimes, psychiatrists have taken courses in certain psychotherapeutic techniques, but in Quebec, they rarely conduct psychotherapy.

A psychotherapist is any mental healthcare professional (including psychologists, social workers, nurses, and some psychiatrists) who conducts psychotherapy (therapy of a psychological nature). Until recently, this term was not protected, so anyone could call themselves a “psychotherapist”. Now this term has become a legal one (as of June 18, 2009! See http://ordrepsy.qc.ca/en/ordre/projetdeloi50.html for more info) and anyone using it must demonstrate adequate credentials and meet minimum training requirements. All this in order to protect the public from people who may be well intentioned in wanting to help you, but are not adequately trained in how to do so. They typically charge much less than a Ph.D. level psychologist, so people mistakenly believe they are getting the same kind of service, but for less. Not so!

Hope this clarifies…