Each year the National Institute for Mental Health reports that anxiety and depressive disorders make up the largest percentage of mental health disorders recorded in the United States among adults. This is no surprise to me since that’s pretty much all that I treat in my practice – adults with anxiety and depressive disorders. Common…
I have owned only two Samoyed dogs in my life and raised from pups, and I have to say it was one of the most rewarding decisions we made in bringing them into our family. In the same breath, dealing with the passing of those dogs, especially with children in our family, was one of…
I am a big fan of the New York Yankees and have been so for most of my life. In fact, I was just 4-years old when my father took me to my first game. I follow the team closely and I even have an extensive Yankees shrine in my home. I have enjoyed the…
Perhaps no emotion is more dysregulating and potentially damaging than anger, yet many of us receive very little education about how to understand and manage it effectively! Sure, we’ve all been told to take a breath, count to 10 and walk away, but these strategies don’t always work without a deeper personal understanding of our…
As a clinical psychologist, who has been specializing in working with kids since I started my practice more than 35 years ago, I have given my share of advice to parents on how to raise children. When I became a parent, I learned a lot about child-rearing on the front lines in raising my own…
“Call me when you get there.” This instruction has been received in some form by adolescent and adult children for as long as most of us can remember. While innocently intended to ease the anxiety of parents, the need to check in on your children (or have them check in with you) often creates conflicts…
There is something transformative about immersing yourself in a process of creation, pushing yourself to try new things, and engaging in recovery with your whole self, mind, body, and spirit. Through these experiences, you open up new avenues for emotional processing, expression, and discovery that expand the limits of what you thought was possible. They…
As another school year comes to a close, summer is the time to take a breather from the hectic months of the school year and slow down. This is a good time to allow our children to do the same as we all need down time, regardless of our age. Before going into summer mode,…
If you thought helicopter parents were bad, have you heard of lawnmower parents? The term “helicopter parent” has been in the lexicon for a number of years and most people can relatively easily define what they do: these are parents who, for a variety of reasons, hover closely over their children, monitor their activities and…
Regrettably, in today’s nonstop barrage of the 24-hour news cycle, it does not take long for a fresh tragedy to occur brought on by what appears to be a mentally disturbed person causing the headline. After the initial shock, our common reaction goes something like, “That person must be crazy!” Yet, almost at the same…