My wife and I recently watched [again] the movie “Juno.” It portrays the life experiences of a teenage girl who becomes pregnant and decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption. The relationship of Juno to her parents, boyfriend, girlfriend and future mother of her baby, are all beautifully portrayed. After the…

Recently, a young adult patient concluded that “it’s not external.” She had this awareness after we had been trying to understand the reason for conflicts in her life. It had become clearer to her that when she was upset with others, it was really something about herself that was bothering her. At first, this idea…

When I was in college, I used to frequently change answers on tests. Almost every time I ended up changing a right answer for a wrong answer. Studies have found that abut 80% of the time we change right answers to wrong answers. I only stopped doing this after one of my professors would go…

It is easy for each of us to underestimate the amount of stress that we experience every day. I have found that many of my patients experience increased stress when they watch the news on TV. The focus of the news is often on violence and offers no hope for change. It is not possible…

Recently the Washington Post had an article about a woman named April who after a traumatic event had suddenly become psychotic and unresponsive being diagnosed with catatonia [a condition often associated with schizophrenia often with severe withdrawal from human contact, odd behaviors and often being nonresponsive. Then twenty years later still unresponsive she began to…

One of the reasons that I am not a provider for medical insurance [so my patients have to pay out of pocket for my services] is that reimbursement is very restricted and the medical insurance companies justify this by suggesting that a reasonable and customary amount of time with a patient to help them with…

Recently a woman who I have been treating for anxiety relate to post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] had started taking a low dose of lithium to lower her anxiety level. It has been helpful and she then reported that instead of very intense prementrual syndrome symptoms that included anxiety and a strong feeling of impending…

People who have come to me for help have taught me the importance of actually listening to others without our reacting to what we are hearing. This can be very difficult to do unless we actually tell ourselves that this is what we want to do. It is easy to react [and self righteously respond]…

I was recently listening to a sermon being delivered by a minister at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. The sermon was on” carrying your cross,” connected to the saying that “we all have our cross to bear.” I do not want to discuss the Chrisitan meaning ascribed to this but the meaning…