New York City's Correctional System Gets a Clue about Treating Mentally Ill Inmates
posted by Carrie Steckl, Ph.D. on May 17th 2013
"Imagine that you work at a prison and are faced with disciplining a mentally ill inmate. What would you do? Would you give the inmate a brief time out? Refer him or her to the staff psychologist to develop a treatment plan? Talk to the inmate to try to determine what may have triggered the disciplinary problem? These might all be good options. But according to an article in the New York Times, none of these strategies was practiced over the last several decades in the New York City correctional system. Instead, any inmate who broke the rules, whether or not he or she was mentally ill, was sentenced to solitary confinement. " More...

Sadistic Personality Disorder: The Cleveland Tragedy
posted by Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. on May 17th 2013
"How is it possible that one human being can perpetrate such pain and suffering on other human beings as happened in Cleveland with the three women who were kidnapped as teenagers and held in captivity for ten years? Not only were they held captive but were beaten, raped and dehumanized in every way possible. Why... " More...

Breaking the Spiral of Negative Thinking
posted by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on May 16th 2013
"When you’re feeling depressed, the part of your brain that is responsible for impulse control, executive function, and rational thought is not as active. This is the prefrontal cortex and studies have shown a reduction in activity in depressed brains. Yet, when depressed, the brain seems really good at making negative interpretations about all kinds of things and it seems so convincing and believable. What follows are physical lethargy, uncomfortable emotions or continued numbness, and more isolating behavior. Here is one good think to consider doing when depressed to nip downward spirals in the bud. " More...

On Becoming More Perceptually Objective, Empathic and Accurate: Or Getting Your Head Out of the Clouds of Negative Assumptions and Premature Judgments
posted by Mark Gorkin, LCSW ("The Stress Doc") on May 16th 2013
"After an exhilarating five days in the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park, the flight home quickly brought me down to earth. This trip also revealed how bias can easily cloud our thinking and judgment. The focus of this essay is about my capacity for too quick and negative assumptions about the sleeping mother's motives and seeming parental inattention. Actually, I had made a common perceptual mistake and misjudgment based on a social psychology framework called "Attribution Theory."" More...

Change How You Think and Change Your Life
posted by Carrie Steckl, Ph.D. on May 14th 2013
"Sometimes things come full circle. I hadn't realized that this summer marked 25 years since my high school graduation until I received an email from one of my favorite high school teachers. He asked if I'd be interested in speaking at the high school honors banquet this year. It was only then that it dawned on me that I had graduated a quarter of a century ago! I also recalled that in May of 1988, I gave a talk similar to the speech I had been asked to give this year at the honors banquet. " More...

The Cleveland Tragedy, Complex PTSD
posted by Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. on May 14th 2013
"Three young women were just freed from a ten year kidnapping ordeal in Cleveland. They had to live their captivity in the dungeon-like confines of a house. There, they were raped, starved, beaten and kept in chains by the man who kidnapped them. They were treated in the most dehumanizing ways possible." More...

Being an Outstanding Steward of Life Itself — What We Can Learn From Animals
posted by Will Joel Friedman, Ph.D. on May 13th 2013
"Undoubtedly it is our excesses, and not necessarily our deficiencies, which help create our ill health and pain, dissatisfaction and unhappiness. This results in less health, pleasure, fulfillment and zesty, juicy living. When we honestly decide and commit in actions to release and buy out of excesses, our blockages to well being dissolve like fog meeting bright sunlight. Is being a good animal in taking care of our daily needs as mammals and human beings so difficult? Bears, deer, rabbits, mice, dogs and cats know how to do this far better than we apparently do. When shall we humans? It is essential to life, if nothing else is. What exactly does it take to be a "good animal" for us humans? " More...

7 Reasons to See a Marriage Counselor
posted by Sally Connolly, LCSW, LMFT on May 13th 2013
"Are you and/or your partner unhappy in your marriage? Do you wonder if a marriage counselor can help you? Most couples wait a long time after a problem develops before they ever ask for help. The longer that a problem goes on, the more likely it is that positive feelings and behaviors will erode and disappear. A marriage counselor may be able to help you resolve the problems that you are experiencing. " More...