Be Benevolent
posted by Rick Hanson, Ph.D. on Feb 7th 2012
"Benevolence is a fancy word that means something simple: good intentions toward living beings, including oneself. This goodwill is present in warmth, friendliness, compassion, ordinary decency, fair play, kindness, altruism, generosity, and love. The benevolent heart leans toward others; it is not neutral or indifferent. Benevolence is the opposite of ill will, coldness, prejudice, cruelty, and aggression. We’ve all been benevolent, we all know what it’s like to wish someone well." More...

Religion, What Should a Therapist Do?
posted by Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. on Feb 6th 2012
"According to an article in The New York Times, Julea Ward, a teacher and an Evangelical Christian, was studying for a master’s degree in counseling at Eastern Michigan University. As part of her training, she was required to treat clients as part of her training. She asked that any client who was in a homosexual relationship be referred to another student counselor. She stated that, as a result of her religious beliefs" More...

Some "Views" of Everyday Life
posted by Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. on Feb 4th 2012
"I had an experience this week that I know my readers will find interesting. The experience got me thinking about the nature of reality and perception... In fact, I have to stop and consider what I just wrote. After all, what I found to be so interesting you,..." More...

Who is Changing the Lives of Our Kids?
posted by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on Feb 3rd 2012
"In the past few years we’ve been witness to many natural disasters from the 2010 7.0 earthquake hit in Haiti, affecting an estimated 3 million people, to the floods of Afghanistan, to Hurricane Katrina and many more. During that time, I created A Mindful Dialogue: A Path Toward Working with Stress, Pain and Difficult Emotions where 100% of the profits go to Save the Children. The book raised a few thousand dollars that I'm hoping benefited many children around the world. But this isn’t the only thing out there that is available to benefit the children of the world. This post is meant to raise awareness around who and what is out there to help change this world from the ground up, with our children.. " More...

OCD and College Accommodations
posted by Janet Singer on Feb 3rd 2012
"An interesting article recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal. "A Serious Illness or an Excuse" is worth reading and talks about what is happening on college campuses across the country: The number of students requesting accommodations has skyrocketed, and more of them than ever have some form of documented mental illness. While OCD in particular is not mentioned, this disorder is common enough to presume that it is present on college campuses." More...

Are You Harming Your Children Through Praise?
posted by Jeremy Fink, LCSW on Feb 2nd 2012
"What if I were to suggest that praise and encouragement might actually be harmful to your child? This suggestion may likely sound unreasonable and traducing of traditional child-rearing and educational practices; however, I advocate that under certain circumstances, praise can be damaging to the development of your children and may actually thwart their success and experience of happiness later in life. " More...

Private Practice Software
posted by Terry McLeod on Feb 1st 2012
"Professionals who need an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for a private practice have a number of options, and the trick to finding software that works for the individual practice is settling on one of them. My advice is to get a list of as many products as possible with a little information on each of them off the web and read it. Then, narrow the field to a half-dozen or so based on initial research and check their web sites out. " More...

When is Compassion Idiotic?
posted by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on Feb 1st 2012
"The term compassion has received a lot of attention lately. In some circles the word has lost its luster as when anything is over used. However, compassion is critical to ourselves, our relationships and our world. But here’s a side of compassion you need to know about that may not be the healing quality we’re all looking for. " More...