Practice-base studies show that cognitive-behavioral techniques are effective in the treatment of children’s mental health problems such as depression, generalized anxiety, school refusal, social phobias, specific phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma and sexual abuse, and eating disorders. Two phases of CBT treatment in children includes: 1) Psycho-education, where children learn to recognize…
My 8th grade algebra teacher was a very kind and patient woman named Mrs. Collier. Math has never been my thing, and I found myself totally at sea in her class. She never embarrassed or shamed me, and she was available if I wanted help in solving the problems at hand. Somehow, I scraped by…
Lorna Hayim-BakerLicensed Clinical Social Worker When two people love each other is it true that they will always make each other happy? I do not think “happy” is a fitting adjective to use when discussing marital goals or one that describes a committed and loving relationship between two people that have said “I love you”…
Adolescents’ reaction to the news of divorce could be anywhere within the spectrum of intense anger, sadness, and depression to no reaction at all. Adolescents who express their feelings accuse their parents of “ruining their life”, “ being selfish” and “ inconsiderate”. They may also act up as being the “victims of their parents’ decision”.…
Why does music makes you happy, transport you to another place, give you chills, or just plain make you feel better? What makes you tune in and choose to turn on your favorite music to move your mood up a beat and all in just a few minutes or even less? Music has…
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 3.2million Canadian youth between the ages of 12-19 are at the risk of developing Depression. Shocking? Right. Children and adolescents can develop depression if they are/ have experiencing/ experienced: Huge pressure from school, society, or family Stressful transitions, such as changing school, neighborhood, city, or country A major…
What Is Love? Today’s word is love. A lot of conflict happens because people have different definitions to this simple word. Most of the time, I think those definitions are wrong. So what is love? After all the poetry, music, books and movies on the subject, you’d think we’d have this one down by now.…
As a psychotherapist specializing in group therapy, I often hear the following comments and questions from clients in my practice: “Group? Why Group?!” I like talking to you privatelyWhy should I share my deepest darkest struggles with a bunch of strangersI already take care of others and not myself, won’t group be the same?That’s too…
Understanding Secure and Insecure Attachment John Gerson, Ph.D. It should be our goal as parents to raise our children to be secure people. Fortunately, most of us have implicit knowledge of the behavioral ingredients that combine to promote security. That implicit knowledge most likely comes from the lucky experience of having been parented by parents…
After more than 25 years of working within a managed care paradigm, I have spent the past year transitioning into a Private Pay Practice. In my early years as a private practitioner, I can remember scrambling to apply to any and every insurance panel out there. For several years, as more and more of my…