Recently, someone who I have treated for several years was in my office and as he described some stress that he had experienced when he was training a new employee and it seemed to me that his level of stress was much higher than it needed to be considering his coping skills and ability to…

An opinion piece in the New York Times [January 22, 2016] by Richard A. Friedman discussed recent brain research regarding memories and a medication that can help the brain let go of fears, with the example of being fearful of spiders, by blocking the activation of a fear conditioned response.  Merel Kindt and her colleagues…

I have recently been reacquainted with the long term impact of bullying by someone who sees me who had experienced severe depressions, some anxiety and negative views of herself.  Her mood improved considerably with medication and interpersonal therapy and yet there was a residual anxiety that responded to lorazepam [ativan] taken every few days and yet…

So, what is good about grief? Grieving is considered something that we need to do if we want to be able to cope with losses. Bereavement is another word used for grieving. WebMD defines grief as an emotional reaction to a loss. Grief type feelings can occur after a number of different types of loss,…

I continue to be amazed by all the different ways that post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms can present themselves as my patients cope with the fears related to past traumatic experiences.  I have witnessed manic and psychotic symptoms, conversations with angels inside their head, hearing music coming from outside their brain, paranoid thoughts and overwhelming feelings…

I have previously blogged about this quote from de Saint-Exupẻry’s The Little Prince.  The full quote is, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”  In the book, this quote is spoken by the fox and to the Little Prince after the fox has taught…

One of my patients told me a story that exists on the internet in a number of different versions of basically the same story.  The story revolves around a family going out to eat and the waitperson takes their orders and comes to the youngest child who says, “I’d like a hotdog and a coke.”…

I heard an interview on National Public Radio that aired March 11, 2016 [StoryCore.org] with Francois Clemmons.  Clemmons had been on “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” for many years and he was the first African American to have a recurring role on a children’s TV show.  He shared that one day after hearing Mr. Roger’s say something…

Recently a number of my patients wondered if they were being too nice to some of their friends or family members. So what is too nice?  For that matter, what is nice? In exploring this further, it seems that being too nice is often connected to doing things for others that is really their responsibility…

For some reason I listened to Phil Collins singing “You’ll Be in My Heart” from the Tarzan movie.  After I listened to it I realized that I was singing to myself “I’ll be in your heart.” It seemed like a big difference and I wondered why I was doing this.  I will often follow my…