De-Stress

With all the tragedies in the news lately, it’s hard not to crawl up in a ball and hide under our covers. Feelings of stress and impotence abound. When we are anxious, we feel more threatened by any challenges confronting us. When we are extremely distressed, our bodies may shut down – to the point where we are …

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A Spring of Anxiety

Many of us in the Northeast suffer from what is commonly referred to as SAD.  Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), is the time between November and March when the temperature drops and the sun goes down at 4PM. Why then is everything not all better when spring rolls around?  Rational thinking would lead one to believe …

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Inside and Out

As a therapist, I often hear my patients share similar feelings about the frustration they feel in their respective challenges.  A common sentiment is,  “overall, my life is going well and anyone would look at me on the outside and think I’m good, but they have no clue how much I am struggling day-to-day.” The …

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Emotional affairs.

I recently had a friend ask me if I thought an emotional affair was dangerous. She asked me this question because she has been having some difficulty in her marriage and she found herself being drawn to a close family friend. They had a lot of shared history and she felt comfortable talking to him. …

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What’s the secret to making romantic love last?

Dining and Differentiation What’s the secret to keeping passion alive? There’s no one best answer, and every couple is different. But many therapists, myself included, talk about something called “differentiation” as a key factor. Differentation means being able to take care of yourself, as a separate person, while you’re in intimate dialog with your mate. …

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Inifidelity at the office — and how to avoid It.

Yes, it could happen to you. You’re human. Because they’re there. The most common reason romantic love happens with coworkers is simply because they’re there. We spend a lot of time at work — often more total time with our coworkers than our family members. That’s just the reality of the modern workplace. We’re built …

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It’s just psychological…or not.

Fortunately, the normalization of psychotherapy has facilitated a shift in stigma reduction of mental health issues. The good news is that disorders that were never talked about are now household names, warning signs of emotional instability are now taken more seriously, and the general attitude towards seeking help has improved. However, the bad news is …

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All the single ladies — Part 3; a new ism.

As I wrote about in my previous blog entries, I read a very interesting article by Kate Bolick, who cites Bella DePaulo. DePaulo, a social psychologist, created the term “singlism”, which is the “stigmatizing of adults who are single [and] includes negative stereotyping of singles and discrimination against singles”. In her book, Singled Out, she …

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