Looking for a "Great Life"
When presented with important choices in their lives, clients often ask me "Is this the right choice?...Is this OK?..." The clear answer for that is "It depends!!!". What is right for your life...
View ArticleHealth Benefits of Walking
Those of us who are lucky enough to be able-bodied and perfectly capable of putting one foot in front of the other should be walking at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Why? Because walking...
View ArticleTrauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Life can be hard at times. For many of us, hardship comes in the form of a traumatic event that takes place unexpectedly. This could be the abrupt loss of a loved one, a violent assault, chronic abuse,...
View ArticleMindfulness: Does it work?
Mindfulness is "in" these days across health care and business settings. But beyond being cool, does it work? Or better, what is it good for? Always on top of popular trends, the Harvard Business...
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Why We All Have Troubled Relationships
When I worked in Marketing early in my career, one of my PR colleagues used to say "if 4 out of 5 dentists recommend Crest toothpaste, the only one that has something interesting to say is #5!". I...
View ArticleMarijuana for Mental Health: Is it Smart?
With marijuana being recently legalized in California, questions about its positive and negative effects on health overall and mental health in particular have intensified. There is an appropriate...
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Psychotherapy for Sleep Problems
Everyone has a sleepless night every now and then. What we do - and don't do - during the day, how we eat, what we drink, how much we exercise, our environment, our mental health, and how much stress...
View ArticleDepressive Triad: I suck, the world sucks, and it will be like this forever!
Dr. Aaron Beck was one of the pioneers in developing the theory and applications behind Cognitive Therapy for the treatment of clinical depression. In Dr. Beck's views, depression does not stem from a...
View ArticleHow to Get Started with a Mindfulness Practice
If you are dealing with many stressors in your life and feeling overwhelmed from time to time, you may have come across a suggestion to start a 'mindfulness' practice. First of all, what is...
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What is TEAM-CBT therapy?
TEAM-CBT is a framework for providing evidence based psychotherapy. It was developed by Dr. David Burns, MD, Adjunct Emeritus Professor at Stanford School of Medicine. What is Evidence-Based Practice...
View ArticleModels for Anxiety Treatment
Anxiety is a natural affective and somatic response to a perception of threat. As I mentioned before, it is our body's natural "alarm system" informing us that a potentially dangerous situation lies...
View ArticleCognitive Distortions Twist Your Thiking
As we go through our busy days, we are asked to form spur-of-the-moment opinions about the events around us. Someone says hi? [They want something from me!] Someone fails to say hi? [I have done...
View ArticleAnxiety vs. Fear: What is the difference anyway?
A client recently shared with me a video of actor Will Smith talking about the fear that he felt before he was scheduled to go on a skydiving trip. That prompted a discussion around the difference...
View ArticleMindfully Going Through Your Work Day
My colleague, Dr. Leah Weiss, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, published this thought-provoking article in the Harvard Business...
View ArticleWhy Helping Doesn't Always Help
Some clients go through years of psychotherapy without attaining meaningful change in their lives. When we look deeper into those situations, it is easy to understand why. Their reality is such that...
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A Bit about Positive Psychology
In evidence-based psychotherapy, we most often depart from the premise that the client is unwell. We diagnose disorders based on set lists of symptoms and tailor treatment to particular presenting...
View ArticleSelf-care While You Wait for Psychotherapy
Often times, it is hard to find the right therapist, at the right location, available on the right days, and at the right price. If you are having trouble finding someone with whom you can connect,...
View ArticleThe Power of Exercise in Preventing Depression
As we start the new year, several of us have 'new year resolutions' that may include goals to eat healthy, exercise more, learn new skills, sleep better, travel, etc. If you picked the exercise...
View ArticleEmpathy: What is it, really?
Empathy is a fundamental ingredient of any psychotherapy treatment. It is so important in TEAM-CBT that it gets its own letter in the acronym: The 'E' in TEAM actually refers to the phase of treatment...
View ArticleSelf-care by Building a Life you Want to Live
Self-care is "in." At work, with friends, and even at home, we often hear about and proclaim the benefits of self-care. Popular self-care ideas range from a hot bath or a manicure to a fancy spa...
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