As a psychotherapist specializing in part in sex, dating, and relationships, I see a lot of single people who are searching for love or at least a good guy or gal to get to know. I help them write their online profiles, figure out who would be a good match,...

Wedding season is upon us, and sure enough, with that, a host of issues is brought up that can wreak havoc on what is supposed to be a wonderful day. Throughout the year, a lot of soon-to-be married couples come to me for pre-wedding stress and anxiety. This stress can...

For many people, going to the gym is a way of life, a necessity to feel good. They join a gym so they can stick with a routine. For others, though, they buy a membership, yet hardly ever go. Fear underlies this lack of follow-through. For these people, they don't...

In this day and age of self-diagnosis via the Internet, it seems that everyone can find something wrong with themselves by conducting a simple search of symptoms online. Sadly, even young people fall prey to this. I often hear from parents who are concerned about their children constantly complaining about...

This question, believe it or not, is one I've heard so many times throughout my career from parents of male toddlers. They express concern over their son who likes to play with dolls, comb its hair, talk about how beautiful the doll is, and wonder whether their son's early interest...

To this day, I still have military spouses coming to see me for the stress of having their loved ones overseas. Even though combat there has been reduced or in some cases ceased, it still remains a dangerous environment and a hotbed of hostility. As a result, spouses who are...

Tax season is here and with it comes high anxiety, stress and fear. Paying taxes forces people to review earnings and expenses and can highlight their money woes. It can also lead to a feeling of powerlessness. No one likes to be told what to do, especially when it comes...

Many of my patients are highly educated, leaders in their industries, and among the best and the brightest. They're also perfectionists, and this can be a real problem for them as it can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression, and often wreaks havoc on relationships.

Early on, a...

When people come to see me for business coaching and to make personal changes in their lives, one of the first things I ask them to think about is who in their life is supportive of their goals, and who isn't. When embarking on change such as losing weight and...

As medical maladies become more and more accessible via a simple online search, people have much more to fear, theoretically. A minor symptom entered into Google can yield devastatingly inaccurate information. As a result, fear develops. The reactions to this are either running to the doctor for every minor ache...

A growing segment of our population and one that is sometimes overlooked when it comes to mental health is the senior population. As healthcare and medicine continues to improve the quality and length of life, people sometimes push retirement off as long as possible. In part, because they fear it....

In my 15 years as a therapist, I have met some remarkable people. People who were on the brink of suicide, only to get better and go on to achieve a fulfilling life. People who were held hostage by their fears to the point that they couldn't function, then go...

Inevitably, on Monday mornings I have calls on my office phone that came in on Sunday evening or night. More calls seem to be waiting for me then than on any other morning. Why? People stress out on Sunday nights probably more than any of the other six nights. It's...

Avoidance is probably the most common way people deal with fear, and at first it seems to make intuitive sense. After all, why would you move toward something that is painful or threatening? You wouldn't, for instance, run into traffic no matter how many times you were told, "Oh, just...

Our brains prefer predictability, certainty and control. When things are uncertain and you don't know what's going to happen next, the brain attempts to make up an ending. It writes its own narrative. There are two problems with this narrative. One, it's often not accurate. Two, the narrative is usually...

It's that time of the year again -- the time when I get a flurry of patients wanting my advice on losing weight, getting in shape, reaching career goals, and making significant changes in their lives. Like clockwork, I get countless calls from people in the first few weeks of...

As much as people want to know the motivation of the alleged perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., it's impossible to fully comprehend exactly what was going through his mind. This horrific and senseless act, though, is best explained by looking at common characteristics...

This time of the year I get a barrage of patients who feel terribly stressed due to the holidays. They complain about the crazy shoppers, miss the simplicity of the season, and are fed up with this rampant materialism and commercialization. All this leads to huge stress and the feelings...

Over the past several years I've been seeing more and more patients for Internet and social-media-related issues. Prior to 2005 they hardly existed and now it is all too common, as I see at least one new patient a week for some sort of social-media-related malady. I've seen it ruin...

Ah... it's this time of the year again. The time when all sorts of unhealthy family dynamics come into the fore due to family gatherings and obligatory gift-buying. Consequently, I see an influx of patients for family-related issues. Chief among them are grudges, as they remain one of the hottest...