Your Questions About Couples Therapy Techniques

Is it polite or correct to simply request medication from a counselor/psychologist?

A little background: My LPC (licensed professional counselor) treats me for OCD and a social phobia and has been since January 2010. My LPC helped me calm the symptoms of my OCD through rational emotive behavior therapy and I am doing quite well there.

However, I have seen my counselor numerous times for my social phobia. A few techniques she gave me were good in theory but didn’t work very well for me. A new technique we discussed at my last couple of meetings has helped. I’ve been able to speak a bit more when spoken to and even went shopping on my own the other day (big step). I still find it very hard for me to speak. I keep working on it and setting small daily goals for myself because I really wanted to do it without medication (and so does she). She offered me daily medication but I declined.

Right now I have an off-brand of Xanax. It’s 0.25mg of Alprazolam and is to be taken on an “as needed” basis. Such as times of great stress and anxiety for me like going to a job interview, a party, doing a presentation in front of class, or doing a group project. I have 30 pills, no refills. It’s basically a measure of how often I use it. I’m not through the bottle but I have already taken 10 since they were prescribed to me 08/09/10. I’ve been tempted many other times but tried to do it w/o medication.

So my question is, what do you think of discussing with my LPC daily medication (or medication that is made for more routine use) to give me a little boost with helping calm my anxiety so my mind can be clear enough to do my rational emotive behavior therapy and thus I can do well in social situations? If you are an LPC, psychologist, psychiatrist yourself, what would you say if I was your patient and brought this up with you?

- Sorry if it’s a little lengthy. Thank you for taking the time to read it and to give me an answer. It’s much appreciated
I know that my LPC cannot prescribe medication but she does write letters of reccomendation to my pediatrician who will prescribe me medication (they work jointly).

What’s some good, inexpensive back massage oil, and what are some ways I can improve my back massages?

My girlfriend enjoys back massages as much as I like giving them. Now, I’m far from a professional, and it may be modest to say that I’m an above-average amateur; though I’ve been told I’m rather good, I’ve just improved over the past couple years by giving them to my significant others and a couple of friends.

The only way I’ve developed any sort of technique has been through watching a couple of other friends give back massages (none of whom are really any better than I am, now) and continuing to give them, myself, with a little feedback. I’ve never had a real massage myself, though I did go to a couple months of deep tissue massage therapy following an auto accident I was in last year, which has influenced a lot of the way I give massages (I press hard, but people seem to really like it).

So, first, what are some ways I can improve my technique, besides practice, practice, practice?

Second, I bought some massage oil (or rather, had a friend buy some for me) which I later discovered was from an adult store (I should’ve figured from its label, “Kamasutra”) and cost $15 for 8oz. It lasted me a respectable period of time (I still have some, in fact, and have for about 5 months), but I figure I can probably find something cheaper that works just as well, or better. Any recommendations?

How do I declare air fare as tax deductible ‘professional expense’ in this case?

I’ve been flying 2,000 miles to TX 2-3x/year for the past 8 years to visit my now-96-year-old father whose health has long been failing. The cost of these trips has added up to close to $10,000. Recently someone suggested that I reduce my air fare expenses this time by declaring it as a professional expense. Ie., since I am a physical therapist and my father is currently receiving physical therapy as an inpatient in a rehabilitation facility, I should ask the P.T. department if I could pay a visit to learn how they run their department, observe their treatment techniques, etc. This would be easy to do since I want to accompany my father to his P.T. treatment a couple of times anyway, and I indeed want to learn how their treatment techniques might differ from my P.T. facility’s techniques; thus the claim that I visited their department for ‘professional education’ reasons would be legitimate.

But how does one document such a visit for the IRS? What kind of proof would I need? I’ve deducted air fare for professional enhancement before when I’ve flown OOS for seminars, but in these cases my course registration serves as proof. How do I document proof of a professional visit to this P.T. department in TX so that I can deduct my air fare?
additional detail: I work for someone part-time but am also self-employed–have a part-time private practice.
Jss, it IS related to my business/work that is it is for earning income–and no, I do not have to bill my father or anyone else to qualify for air fare deductions. Otherwise air fare would not be deductible for those taking professional courses in distant states, and it IS deductible.
If you are visiting your father and are not billing him, any related expense is not deductible.

Any expense is deductible only if it is related to my business/work that is it is for earning income.
If you are visiting your father and are not billing him, any related expense is not deductible.
[Please ignore the last 4 lines in my edit to Jss above--they were accidentally cut and pasted into the edit].
Tro,
That’s not correct. I’m licensed to practice in 2 states and both states require that licensees take 30 hours of professional education courses every two years. We itemize our taxes and have an accountant. Our accountant told me recently that my professional educational expenses are tax deductible.

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Intro:

Inside an embryo no bigger than the full stop at the end of this sentence are dozens of stem cells. (*) Initially, these cells are blank slates, meaning that their fate is undecided, they have great potential. Stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they are capable of becoming any of the more than 200 types of specialized cells in our bodies.
Their almost limitless potential has no doubt attracted a lot of media attention and also made stem cells a significant focus of medical research. Imagine having the ability to return memory to an Alzheimer’s patient, restore skin that was previously lost during a fatal accident, or to enable a wheelchair-bound person to walk again. These are the scientist’s intentions however before scientists can use stem cells for medical purposes, they must first learn how to manipulate stem cells to get them to develop into specific tissues or organs.
In this paper, I will explore the use of stem cells, gain an understanding of how they work, discover their potential and look at the intense debate which surrounds the issue, with an unbiased approach.

What Is a Stem Cell?

A stem cell is basically the building block of the human body. The stem cells contained in embryos, eventually give rise to every cell, organ and tissue in the fetus’ body. Unlike a regular cell, which can only replicate to create more its own kind of cell, a stem cell is pluripotent, meaning they are capable of becoming any of the more than 200 types of specialized cells in our bodies. Stem cells also have the ability to self renew- they can produce themselves many times over.

Types of Cells:
There are two types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells come from an embryo – the mass of cells in the earliest stage of human development that, if implanted into a woman’s womb, will eventually develop into a fetus. When the embryo is between three and five days old, it contains the stem cells in which are busily working to produce the various organs and tissues that will soon make up the fetus.
Adults also have stem cells in the heart, brain, bone marrow, lungs and other organs. They are our built-in repair kits, regenerating cells damaged by disease, injury and everyday wear and tear. Adult stem cells were once believed to be more limited than stem cells, only giving rise to the same type of tissue from which they originated. But new research suggests that adult stem cells may have the potential to generate other types of cells, as well. For example, liver cells may be coaxed to produce insulin, which is normally made by the pancreas. This capability is known as plasticity or transdifferentiation. So where do scientists get the stem cells they use in their research?

How to get human embryos
Embryos can either be made via reproduction – merging sperm and egg – or by cloning. Researchers aren’t likely to create an embryo with sperm and egg, but many use fertilized embryos from fertility clinics. Sometimes, couples who are trying to have a baby create several fertilized embryos and don’t implant them all. They may donate the ones that are left over to science.
Another way to create an embryo is via a technique called therapeutic cloning. This technique merges a cell (from the patient who needs the stem cell therapy) with a donor egg. The nucleus is removed from the egg and replaced with the nucleus of the patient’s cell. This egg is encouraged to divide either chemically or with electricity, and the resulting embryo carries the patient’s genetic material, which significantly reduces the risk that his or her body will reject the stem cells once they are implanted.

How to Make Stem cells

Embryonic stem cells are derived from blastocysts – embryos that are about a week old. At this stage, the blastocyst has about 100 cells. In order to get embryonic stem cell lines, scientists remove the cells from the inner mass area region. Once the cells are removed they are placed on a culture plate with nutrients and growth factors. The blastocyst is destroyed in the process. An embryonic cell line can then be recognized, when these cells begin to multiply and divide. Under the right conditions, these cell lines can be maintained indefinitely.

Treatments:

If scientists can ultimately learn how to direct stem cells to differentiate into one type of tissue or another, they can use them for two very important medical purposes.

First, pluripotent stem cells can be used to test new medications for safety and effectiveness. A medication could be tried out on a specific type of cell to gauge its response far more quickly than it could be tested in clinical trials. For example, scientists could use a cancer stem cell line to investigate whether a new anti-tumor drug stopped the cancer from growing.
Stem cells could also be used to repair cells or tissues that have been damaged by disease or injury. This type of treatment is known as cell-based therap