Author: Dodi Lam, LCSW

March 16th, 2020

Have you ever asked yourself, “I’m at a transition point in my life, where do I go from here?” As a therapist, I have many clients who are at this point in my life. They are stuck about next steps. Sheila has come to therapy to talk about her sadness. She sits across from me and appears forlorn. There is a pallor to her face, she is plain-looking, and her speech lacks inflection. In fact, there is sadness in her eyes. She looks …
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March 4th, 2020

“I can’t do it!” “Sure you can, honey; you’re great at this.”  “I’m so dumb.” “No, you’re not. You’re one of the smartest kids in your class, your teacher even told me so.”             Sound familiar?             Have you ever wondered, “Why does my c …
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Author: Eitan Zerykier, LCSW

December 3rd, 2019

What is it like when you cannot find an item that you need, your child whines, or you see someone toss an entire meal’s worth of McDonald’s wrappers and soda bottles out their window? Frustrating, annoying, and disgusting? Our brain automatically sends us messages in response to what we see, hear, or experience around us. What we do next defines how we live our lives. No one will remember what you were thinking, only how you behaved. …
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Author: Lisa Twerski, LCSW

October 22nd, 2018

When we are children, our parents can imbue us with a healthy sense of self. They love us and we feel loved, they show confidence in us and we feel self-confident, they esteem us and we feel self-esteem. They may do this by expressing these things directly. They may do this by giving us the opportunity to try and succeed or fail, showing us that we have them by our side no matter what. There are many ways parents can seek to imbue us with this he …
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Author: Rachel Rosenholtz, LCSW-R

June 5th, 2018

There are a lot of parenting books out there. You would think that any parenting issue could be solved by simply following the well charted path as laid out by the professionals in the field. You will have a great relationship with your kid. Homework? Piece of cake. Bedtime? What could be more fun? Yet, the reality is that raising children is anything but simple or straightforward. People sometimes reminisce about when their children were younger …
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Author: Rachel Rosenholtz, LCSW-R

March 13th, 2018

In today’s fast paced modern world, the experience of life is assaulted upon by a relentless barrage of stress and pressure. Mommy is rushing to get everyone out of the house.  Mommy and daddy are getting ready for work and I am hurriedly escorted out of my home onto the school bus. I arrive at school and spend the next seven to eight hours jumping from one subject to another. I have to keep my finger on the place and I am expected to …
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Author: Elizabeth Carmen, MHC

December 2nd, 2014

Regardless of how organized, calm, or put together someone may seem, we all know that stress is inevitable. People have different stress thresholds and “little things” may stress some people out more than others, but no one avoids it completely. From personal experience, most people know that stress can wreak absolute havoc on the body, leading to: headaches, stomach issues, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep issues, sexual i …
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Author: Sara Teichman, Psy.D.

November 26th, 2014

Are you the cool mom? The mom who is young in attitude, spirit, and dress? Can you be mistaken for your teenager’s sister? Have you succumbed to the allure of Forever 21 or are you striving to win points in your teen’s eyes? Well, here’s the thing. Despite well-intentioned efforts to keep up with the times, many a daughter still sees her mom as irrelevant. Being young at heart, it seems, does not bridge the generation gap. There …
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Author: Tzvi Pirutinsky, Ph.D.

November 26th, 2014

Choosing the right career can be a difficult and anxiety-provoking process. Will I enjoy it? Will I be good at it? Will it provide an adequate livelihood? Will my family support this choice? On the other hand, it is also an opportunity to actively explore and discover more about yourself and the world, so picking the right career can be exciting, informative, and even fun.
Of course, since everyone has different skills, interests, experienc …
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Author: Harriet Cabelly, LCSW

November 26th, 2014

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”   – Viktor Frankl   Throughout life, people transcend their adversities in different ways; some people can go through a lot and be able to rise above and live well, and some people simply succumb to their circumstances. This mani …
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Author: Chana Mark, LCSW

November 26th, 2014

Many parents use a system of rewards and punishments to help change children’s behavior. This idea has come down to us from behavioral psychology as part of what is known as “operant conditioning.” This phrase is simply the following: Reinforcement means increasing the frequency or duration of desirable behavior. “If you go to bed on time for the whole week, I will give you a prize at the end of the week.” Punishment …
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Author: Marlene Greenspan, MA, LPC

November 26th, 2014

From anxiety to trauma, fear is a feeling of many colors. Colors and musical notes have a certain resonance or intensity that may vary with the emotion the artist wants to evoke. Feelings are emotions and also have stronger or weaker intensities, depending on the way a person is expressing those feelings inwardly or outwardly. Fear may begin with a mild feeling of worry or concern about someone or something that can escalate to the vibrancy of p …
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Author: Micki Lavin-Pell, Marriage and Family Therapist/ Dating Coach

November 18th, 2014

When many couples first get married, they begin to focus on the practical aspects of the relationship, namely, money. They begin to think about how to have a secure future by making the most sound and profitable financial investments. It is then that many couples begin to forget about what drew them together in the first place-love, sharing, caring, the fun stuff.  In a sense many couples start to put all their eggs into the financial basket …
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November 18th, 2014

Ensuring your child's success after divorce. Ever wonder why some children with parents who have divorced fare better than others? Respecting these ten rules of post-divorce parenting can be a powerful contributing factor to your child's success after a divorce. Keeping these rules will not only help the children, it will help you too. 1. Give your child the gift of not having to choose between their parents. Asking children to cut off from exte …
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Author: Dr. Batya L. Ludman

November 14th, 2014

Life seemed easier when we were growing up and in a less fast paced world, children had a chance to play and be children. How then in the year 2014, with all that is going on around us, do you raise your children to be resilient? Resilience, the ability to roll with the punches, to experience life's challenges and not just bounce back but  thrive, is critical for all of us, individually and collectively as a community. This is especially so …
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Author: Elizabeth Carmen, MHC

November 14th, 2014

I’m going to take the risk of being blunt and ask, I wonder how many girls have been told they aren’t good enough because of their weight. From personal experience in the Jewish community, I know that this happens to plenty of young women, but I don’t think it’s unique to that community. Young women and even young girls are being sent this message- both directly and indirectly- all the time, whether it’s about findin …
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Author: Elizabeth Carmen, MHC

November 14th, 2014

Audrey Hepburn wasn’t the only one enamored by Tiffany’s. The pretty white silk ribbon, the robin’s blue bag, promising something amazing inside… What is it about shopping that’s so therapeutic to people, sometimes even leading to severe addictions? Companies like American Express and Visa thrive off of people who believe the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping”. This morning, I wen …
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Author: Ovadia Trepp, MSW, LCSW

October 8th, 2014

For the purpose of this article we will be discussing two types of problem that impact marriages – couple problems and individual problems, and two types of therapy – marital and individual. Like the handyman who needs to know the details of a job before deciding upon the right set of tools to bring along, it's helpful to recognize the type of marital issue you are facing when choosing one type of therapy over another. So what is a co …
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Author: Linda Kalman, M.A., M.S.W., P.S.W.

August 6th, 2014

 The stigma of mental illness is alive and well, and kicking....hard. Recently, an able-functioning client told me that when she tried to seek care for her mental health needs, the resource staff seemed almost afraid of her. It wasn't the first time she had experienced this. And sadly, it wasn't the first time I had heard it. In fact, many years ago, I personally saw the reticence (disdain?) in some of the professionals I met, as I attempted …
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Author: Dr. Batya L. Ludman

July 23rd, 2014

Having returned from an international conference on grief and bereavement I received strange looks from friends when I said the conference was excellent. For those of us who work daily with issues around loss, it is nice to be able to have an open forum for discussion of such a difficult area with over seven hundred colleagues from around the world. After all, bring up the topic of death with your family and friends and they bolt. No one wants to …
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Author: Micki Lavin-Pell, Marriage and Family Therapist/ Dating Coach

July 23rd, 2014

In this day and age of fast food, cars, dsl and everything else that is supposed to make our lives convenient and more enjoyable, we are instead using the ability to do things quickly as an excuse to be able to do more. The conveniences afforded to the current generation were intended to help free us up, not bog us down.

As a result of our overburdened lives we barely have time to sit and revel in our achievements, and deepen and stren …
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Author: Joel S. Rosenshein, Ph.D.

July 3rd, 2014

A parent needs to be very aware of the maturation levels of children in general and certainly of their own child's maturation. The milestones of development within the first three years of life are key reminders to parents of how their child is developing.   This should include sitting up, beginning to crawl, walking, talking and of course relating to their environment in a positive way. Before seeing a therapist about these issues, a paren …
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Author: Tzudek Stern LMHC, SpEd

July 3rd, 2014

Children do not come with instruction manuals, but there is a time in every parents’ experience when they wish they did. Most parents can truthfully state that there was something about parenting that was surprising, confusing, befuddling, or all of the above. One of those times can be when children exhibit emotional or behavioral problems. When is a problem behavior so extreme that parents should seek help? When are a child’s tantru …
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Author: Ellen Cornfeld, CNT

July 3rd, 2014

Few things are more painful for parents than watching their child grapple with their relationship with food. Sometimes it is a slight nuance noticed- a sudden ‘dislike’ for a certain food, or the disappearance of a cake. All seem to have what appear to be reasonable explanations …..”Oh, it gives me a stomach ache,” or,”I’m really trying to eat healthy now-that’s not good for you.”   Wha …
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June 11th, 2014

It would be outstanding if it would be so simple to improve one’s marriage just by itemizing “10 do it yourself fix it solutions”. However, based on my experiences with couples, I have seen some common threads that can be utilized to help any marriage gain a positive momentum assuming that the spouses are not suffering from severe mental and or personality disorders. That is a different venue altogether. Couples have a tendenc …
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Author: Audrey Grazi, LCSW

June 11th, 2014

As a graduate social work student in 2008, my vision for helping people was exhilarating and somewhat idealistic. My favorite part of the school semester was going to the NYU bookstore to purchase the required books for my classes and browse through some of the other sections to see what the future would bring for the other courses that would be coming my way. I didn’t know what to expect from the group therapy course I was about to begin, …
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Author: Jenny Sassoon, LMSW, Professional Certified Family Coach & Relationship Educator

June 11th, 2014

As I am growing my business while working with others to help them improve their relationships, I realize that the same concepts apply to both building a business and to building better relationships. I refer to this conceptual approach as the “3 C’s” – Commitment, Consistency, and Cultivation. Commitment Anything we set a goal for requires commitment and follow-through.  A business requires one’s commitment and …
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Author: Dvorah Levy, LCSW

May 28th, 2014

Ideally, for a couple to work on their marriage, it is best to have both partners come in to therapy. Unfortunately though, that doesn’t always happen. Many times one spouse cannot convince his/her partner to join him/her, and that’s when one partner ends up in my office alone. What happens then? Can couple therapy actually work with just one partner? Sara felt very criticized by her husband. He tended to point out the very thing that …
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Author: Mark Staum, LCSW

May 28th, 2014

Consider the following exchange between Jack and his mother: Jack: I would really like to go to Brian’s house for a sleepover. A few other kids in the class will be going as well. Mother: Well, I don’t really like Brian so much. I don’t like it when you guys are together! Jack: Why, what are you talking about? He is a really good friend of mine! Mother: It doesn’t matter, you are just not going! In the above example, we s …
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Author: Barry S. Horowitz, LCSW-R

May 31st, 2013

The most important message regarding signs and symptoms of possible victimization is that these possible indicators may be nothing more specific than hints of high reaction to stress. There are many sources of stress in the lives of children which can range from starting a new school year; bullying from peers; looming final exams; upcoming family simchot; or illness/death in the family. Current or past abuse or neglect is only one possibility. Any individual symptom doesn't mean the child was abused, but several of them, or one which is dramatic, may mean that you should begin assessing more closely.
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Thomas Merton once asked, "What can we gain from traveling to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?" I love this quote. To me, it so well illustrates a downside of modern culture.

We have computers that with a mere click can access all sorts of information; we are "connected" through email, phone, and more; and yet how connected are we with our innermost selves? How often do we stop and li …
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John Walkup, MD is a wealth of knowledge... the parenting skills that he professes apply to the
anxious child, a child with attention difficulties as well as children without any clinical diagnostic criteria.

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Video of Dr. Michael Jenike talking about OCD
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by Fred Penzel, PhD
Over the years, I have written a number of articles about the treatment and acceptance of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. These are all very practical issues, to be sure, however, another practical issue I would like to inform you about has to do with getting your insurance company to cover the cost of treatment. If you are lucky enough to be able to pay for your treatment out-of-pocket, then this article will probably …
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I confess.
I have Munchausen by proxy
I want to cause pain and suffering, on purpose, to my 10 mo. old
granddaughter. We go to the hospital. People wonder.
Nobody knows for sure.
I fly under the radar.
I look and act normal. I am the grandpa.
But I keep thinking "I want to mix my BP meds into her food."
She will get sick. They will call the ambulance.
These are the thoughts that go t …
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Hair styles for boys changed radically in 1964. That was the year the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Instantly, every kid in America wanted to drop the ubiquitous "crewcut" and grow long hair. At that time I was 11 years old and living in a small town in northern Wisconsin - and I had a terrible secret. One fateful day, while we were playing dodge ball in gym class, my terrible secret, was exposed. My teacher had spotted a massive bal …
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Introduction The purpose of this article is to recommend strategies for social workers to deal with attachment problems in adoptive families (adoptive parents and adopted children). Forming a strong bond is one of the most important challenges for an adoptive parent and an adoptive child. Two to four percent of families in America include an adopted child (van den Dries et al., 2009). When adoptive parents adopt a child, the process of attachme …
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By Fred Penzel, Ph.D.

I have been actively involved in the treatment of OCD since 1982, and have treated over 650 cases of the disorder. There is a certain body of information that can make anyone's attempts at recovery more effective. You may not like some of the things on this list, as they may not be what you wish to hear. You don't have to like them. However, if you wish to change, you will need to accept them. The concepts of …
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These days, people are talking about recovery from mental illness. This is a great step forward. What does recovery mean? There are many perceptions
and definitions of recovery. When we look at the recovery literature, we see that it has been variously used to mean an approach, a model, a
philosophy, a paradigm, a movement, a vision and skeptically, a myth.



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Naomi was outwardly happy, active in her community and her children's schools, and working part-time in a satisfying job when she came to see me. "I'd
really like to get in shape, but just don't seem to be able to stay on a diet, or get the exercise I know I need."



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