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Skeletons, Ghosts, and Halloween Costumes; The Inner Shadow

by Stephanie McCrackenOctober 27, 2014 costumes, counseling, halloween, holidays, mindfulness, psychology, psychotherapy, sexuality0 comments

Skeletons, Witches, and Ghosts, Costumes are more than just for fun. It is that time of year, high autumn, with the emblazoned oranges cascading upon the tree lines, carved pumpkins checkering the streets and yards of American homes. All of the store isles, featuring costumes of frightening ghosts and skeletons. We venture out to enjoy the pumpkin patches, haunted houses, costume parties and...

Share Your Love, Revive Your Love, Photo Contest with Prizes!

by Stephanie McCrackenOctober 1, 2014 counseling, couples therapy, personal growth, psychotherapy0 comments

#Reviveyourlove Of all of the things that we share on social media and otherwise, our successes, “I am so relieved! I finally graduated!” Our location “Strike, checking in at Hollywood lanes bowling alley come on down!” How inspiring to be virtually plugged, the possibility for connection in ways which can be meaningful and significant. The opportunity to influence, to brighten,...

Tight Hugs I Like; A Psychotherapists Musings

by Stephanie McCrackenSeptember 23, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, couples therapy, marriage counseling, mindfulness, psychology, psychotherapy0 comments

Tight Hugs I Like; A Psychotherapists Musings Tight hugs we like It could be risky to admit this but here it goes anyway, I judge people, in social settings I categorize to such a grand degree, some may say I can hardly help myself. You see, I rank people based on how they hug. When it comes to hugs, they are certainly not all the same. For example, my grandmother, she was a woman who knew...

Serenaded by Fire; Dancing with Anger- A Psychotherapist’s musings…

by Stephanie McCrackenSeptember 4, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, elephant journal, mindfulness, personal growth, psychotherapy, wisdom0 comments

Anger Management As written by us and featured in Elephant Journal http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/09/serenaded-by-fire-dancing-with-anger-a-psychotherapists-musings-stephanie-mccracken/ Experiencing and acting upon anger, despite its steeping potentials, is often shrouded in uncertainty and even guilt or shame, causing many people to attempt its subterranean burial. Due to cultural and...

“How to work Through Guilt, a Psychotherapists Musings”

by Stephanie McCrackenAugust 26, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, elephant journal, marriage counseling, psychology, psychotherapy0 comments

Hope is the thing that floats Written by us and as featured in Elephant Journal http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/09/how-to-work-through-guilt-a-psychotherapists-musings-stephanie-mccracken/ Guilt. Certainly we all know that haunting sensation. Even the most conscientious and heroic among us will experience guilt from time to time. Those living a socially mindful life often can’t escape the...

Intimacy; The Art of Distance- Musings from a Psychotherapist on Couples Counseling

by Stephanie McCrackenAugust 15, 2014 counseling, couples therapy, marriage counseling, psychotherapy0 comments

in·ti·ma·cy /ˈɪntəməsi/ Show Spelled noun, plural in·ti·ma·cies. 1. The state of being intimate. 2. A close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving relationship with another person or group. 3. A close association with or detailed knowledge or deep understanding of a place, subject. 4. An act or expression serving as a token of familiarity, affection, or the like: to allow the intimacy...

“Birds and The Bees Redux; Sex Talk, A Psychotherapists Perspective”

by Stephanie McCrackenAugust 4, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, marriage counseling, psychology, psychotherapy, sexuality0 comments

“Birds and The Bees Redux; Sex therapy, Psycho-therapuetic perspective ” Sexual Connection Seduction, Eroticism, Arousal, Desire, Consent, Sex, Orgasm, Connection. How do you perceive those words? Are they lurid? Dirty? Enchanting? How intimately do you introspect upon your very own sensual conduct or is this a thought so frighteningly formidable that consideration is cast towards the shadows,...

Loving a Consciousness Demanding Woman-Thoughts about Couples and Therapy

by Stephanie McCrackenJuly 10, 2014 couples counseling, couples therapy, marriage counseling, psychotherapy0 comments

Stepping outside of yourself Consciousness what? Scratching your head in preponderance of this striking terminology or perhaps you are yourself a woman considering the appropriateness of such a label for your very self? Has the world sometimes labeled you a tough cookie, or suggested that your exultant expectations are otherworldly? If you are a man who has known her you certainly will...

The Sweet Song of the “Good Woman” Thoughts From a Marriage Counselor aka Couples Therapist

by Stephanie McCrackenJune 24, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, couples therapy, marriage counseling, personal growth, psychotherapy, sexuality1 comment

The Sweet Song of the “Good Woman” Thoughts From a Marriage Counselor aka Couples Therapist For those of us who are a part of a long term relationship, partnership, or marriage, there are endless competing demands, changing circumstances, ever evolving human structures, that constant flux of exchanging our time, attention, affection for the expectation that our partner will to attenuate...

Shining Summer Solstice, Peaceful Gatherings and Personal Growth

by Stephanie McCrackenJune 20, 2014 counseling, personal growth, psychology, psychotherapy0 comments

The solar energy and entrance of summers dance beckons forth beads of perspiration and the cherry blossom glow if sun-kissed cheeks. It is time to celebrate the summer solstice and this year the earth has proffered abundantly with her flourishing landscape smiling faces pleased to be enjoying more of life outdoors. Moods seem to be heightened and Peaceburgh united in celebration of earth’s...

Couples Therapy, Talking The Talk-Loving Communication

by Stephanie McCrackenJune 18, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, couples therapy, marriage counseling, psychology0 comments

“To truly listen to another means that you are open to their ability to change you.” Anonymous In working with married and long term couples, it is noticeable that those inevitable conflicts often spring from certain specific contexts and behaviors. While communication itself is a wellspring, influenced by depths of current which underlie its thrusting façade, the primary source of...

Bisexuality, Examining The Facts; A Weekend of Pride

by Stephanie McCrackenJune 13, 2014 couples therapy, marriage counseling, psychology, sexuality0 comments

bisexual GLBT Couples “All great novels, all true novels, are bisexual.” Milan Kundera With the kickoff of Gay Pride weekend, sexual orientation is something that may be on the minds of many here in Pittsburgh. Particularly I would like to examine the nature of bisexuality, as some may call it, “one foot in/one foot out” or as other scholars may tend to think, a more realistic...

On the Border and Crossing The Line, Recovering from a Close Encounter of Another Kind

by Stephanie McCrackenJune 9, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, couples therapy, psychology, Uncategorized0 comments

For any of you who have felt yourself a part of a relationship which was dizzying in its highs and staggering in its lows, no matter how brief or long, your head very well may be feeling woozy in recalling the rapidity of its pace. While there are indeed many personality types and pathologies which can lead themselves to destructive cycles in the interpersonal domain, we will today briefly...

Dishes and Dustpans, Couples Therapy in the 21st Century

by Stephanie McCrackenJune 3, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, marriage counseling, Uncategorized0 comments

Dishes and Dustpans, Couples Therapy in the 21st Century Sweeping, chopping, dusting, mopping. It sure does take an obscene number of passes with the Swiffer to maintain gleamingly clean floors, not to mention streak free stainless steel and mirrored surfaces! Churning out all of that elbow grease but to be honest, how much time does one have left to maintain a vague notion of assembly on...

Love, Marriage, and Single, Couples Counseling and Relationship Cycles

by Stephanie McCrackenMay 23, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, marriage counseling, personal growth, psychotherapy0 comments

Love and relationships, the eternal dance of distance and estrangement from love, we are all in the process of moving closer and farther away from loves enchanting melody. While marriages and long term relationships have their own challenges there too are many reasons why single life can be a stress of its own, particularly as men and women are recently divorced or just plain single in there...

Anxiety; Pills and Possibilities, A Psychotherapists Musings

by Stephanie McCrackenApril 30, 2014 counseling, mindfulness, personal growth, psychology, psychotherapy0 comments

Who among us has not suffered from feelings of anxiety at some point in his or her life, it is common enough to be among the more often seen symptoms which bring an individual into a therapist’s office. Even for the most staunchly healthy psyches anxiety is a typical benchmark which exists in a range of degrees within the human emotive process. Depending upon you as the individual and the...

Spring;Bloom Beautifully Inner Landscape, from the land of Psychotherapy

by Stephanie McCrackenMarch 24, 2014 counseling, mindfulness, personal growth, psychology, psychotherapy, Uncategorized0 comments

At long last spring is finally before us, warming sun beams serve as a reminder that winters darkness is ebbing, unfolding to a new time of the year. Before we can finish with a blink of an eye the landscape will be blushing a cool green, the growth of all that only a month ago, was cloaked in hardened winter, a stern remembrance of the branches and twigs formerly befallen with the chilled...

Marriage Counseling-My Love had an Affair—Repair or Run?

by Stephanie McCrackenMarch 19, 2014 counseling, couples counseling, couples therapy, marriage counseling, sexuality, Uncategorized0 comments

Even strong marriages suffer sometimes As a psychotherapist who offers marriage counseling, affairs and their aftermath are sometimes ironed out amidst my office couch. Both parts of the couple struggle to make sense of the betrayal and its costs, they often seek a professional to find the answers to questions such as; should we stay together, should we separate, will our...

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