Many of us create New Year’s resolutions, entering January with a surge of motivation, only to find that energy vanishing by February. You may decide to set an important resolution and feel ready to change your life. But a few weeks later, the goal starts to feel overwhelming, or life gets in the way, and … Read more
Have you ever sat down to watch one episode of a TV show, but then decided to watch just one more and just one more – until you eventually went to bed much later than planned? Or gone out to dinner and told yourself you weren’t going to eat any complimentary chips, only to find … Read more
It’s 6 AM and your alarm rings. You know you need to get up to start your day, but the bed is so comfortable. While you WANT to stay in bed, you feel you SHOULD get up and get to work. What do you choose? Most people report that they sometimes, or even often, struggle … Read more
Anxiety is an inevitable part of human development. However, for many children, anxiety goes beyond occasional worry and becomes a daily struggle that interferes with their happiness, school performance, and relationships. In fact, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health issue among children and adolescents, affecting millions of children worldwide. In the United States … Read more
As parents, we often find ourselves wondering why our child struggles with certain tasks, melts down over seemingly small issues, or resists routines that others seem to manage easily. Dr. Ross Greene, a clinical child psychologist and author of The Explosive Child and Raising Human Beings, offers an approach that shifts the question from “What’s wrong with this child?” to “What’s … Read more
Body image is a concept defined by how a person appraises their own physical appearance in relation to some external standard. Just as a person can develop a positive body image, there is also the potential for a person to be dissatisfied with it. Negative body image alone is not a diagnosable psychiatric condition and … Read more
A traumatic experience is essentially one of powerlessness. Whether it’s in the context of a physical or sexual assault, medical trauma, natural disaster, or armed conflict, we do not have the power to fully control the situation. The overarching theme is chaos, a loss of control or ability to help ourselves or others in the moment. … Read more
Over the past few years, couples have found themselves navigating not only personal challenges but also the weight of current events. World politics, ideological differences, and economic shifts can all add a layer of stress that affects how we relate to one another. These issues do not stay outside the home. They influence how we … Read more
Unemployment can affect almost all aspects of life. How can you take charge of your life so that you do not succumb to passivity, helplessness and despair? One way of looking at unemployment is to normalize it. For example, 41% of people are unemployed at some point in their lives. So you are not alone. … Read more
Sometimes it seems like the term emotion regulation is everywhere: in trainings for school-aged children, trainings for corporate employees, podcasts by mental-health professionals or random celebrities, apps designed to improve quality of life, etc. However, many people aren’t sure what the goals of emotion regulation are. Here’s a common, somewhat simplified definition of emotion regulation: Emotion regulationinvolves … Read more
Prior to my graduate training, I worked for several weeks in 2010 as a cameraman covering the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Through interviews and friendships with survivors and relief workers, I was struck by the fundamental and functional role of beliefs, and just how powerfully they can direct our experiences. As … Read more
Have you ever decided to stop or decrease a behavior that was causing you harm, but —despite your efforts to do so—eventually you found yourself engaging in the behavior just as much as you ever did? If so, you may have told yourself you were weak, lazy, selfish, or had other qualities that meant something … Read more
What is stress? When life demands more from you than you can give, you will start to feel stressed. A small amount of stress can help you focus on a task. But too much stress, or stress that lasts for days or weeks, is dangerous for your mind and body. You may find that you’re ordering … Read more
It’s that time of year again, when the pressure to make big sweeping changes is at its highest. The familiar sales pitch of “New Year, New You!” is everywhere. It’s as much a part of the holiday season as eggnog, twinkling lights, and ugly sweaters. So why not ride the New Year wave and take … Read more
All parents have expectations of their children, whether we realize it or not. It turns out that many of us don’t think about what those expectations are until our child has violated them. We realize after the fact that we don’t think it’s ok if our child takes things off the grocery store shelf without asking, … Read more