Compassionate Care, by referral.

What Are Your Needs?

Peace of Mind

Peace of Mind seems so unattainable for many. Relaxation training and mindfulness can help to quiet the mind.

Think Differently

Our experience can be much more stressful if we interpret them in maladaptive ways. Cognitive therapy can help develop a revised perspective through “reframing” and cognitive restructuring. 

Feel Differently

Troublesome emotions are often the result of our perspective, biases, and habitual negative thoughts. Some people have excessively strong emotions while others seem rather devoid of a rich emotional life. Trauma and a life of having others invalidate our feelings can leave lasting scars. Therapy can help process traumatic experiences, navigate around negative thinking, and question unkind thoughts about ourselves.

Relax or be less tense

Self-soothe

Strong emotions can overwhelm rational thought, disrupt effective communication, and cause one to be misunderstood by others. Negative self-statements (internal dialogue) may only worsen the situation by contributing to biased perception. Relaxation, meditation, and mindfulness can lead to the development of the ability to quell disruptive emotional reactions, develop an internal sense of calm, lower bodily arousal (fight or flight), and set the offer a choice in how to respond instead of responding negatively and automatically.

Sleep Better

Individualized forms of cognitive therapy can help reduce symptoms of insomnia. This approach includes sleep restriction, sleep hygiene, reconditioning, relaxation, meditation, and reviewing attitudes and beliefs about sleep.

Act Differently

Bad habits and unhealthy lifestyles can be changed. Change starts with awareness and acceptance and is reinforced by a commitment to take control. Strong emotions can lead us to act in ways that we would not otherwise endorse. Learning emotional self-regulation can free us to be the people we want to be.

Relate Differently

Improved communication skills and improving the ability to understand another’s point of view can learn to more harmonious relationships. Especially important is the ability to effectively communicate feelings. This sometimes requires that we bocome better at recognizing and naming our feelings, especially negative ones.

Change How You Respond to Stress

Stress can not be avoided. Its effects on our body and mind can be minimized though. Relaxation therapy, meditation, and biofeedback can change our response to stress.

Increase Motivation

As humans, we have an amazing ability to create a goal and formulate a plan for obtaining those desired results. Each step, vision, plan, and action can break down.

Increased Resilience

No matter how clear or vision or well formulated our plan, challenges are likely to present themselves. We can learn to be better able to roll with the punches and stay on track.

Increase Commitment

Awareness is important to achieving any of the goals mentioned on this page. Critical as well is acceptance of the current situation and commitment to change. Motivation is the desire to change, commitment is the ability to stay the course. It requires resilience. Setback are part of the process. Avoiding an attitude of defeat is an important step. Remember “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.” There is considerable wisdome encoded in that old tune.

Increased Self-control

Most of the problems listed here do not respond well if we apply the same kind of effort that we would if trying to overcome a physical obstacle. Instead a different kind of self-control like that used by an accomplished musician is required. Relaxation training, meditation and biofeedback are all useful in how to develop this second type of control.

Reduce Medication Needs

Medication may be necessary in some cases to alleviate psychological pain or impediments. Cognitive therapy, relaxation, meditation, and lifestyle change can often reduce the need for medication. For many conditions, like major depression, reseach indicates that a combination of medication and cognitive therapy is the most effective means of alleviating the problem.

Availability:  I have a waiting list at times and am only accepting new patients if referred to me by their physicians.

In-person sessions may be available again in mid-2024.

 

Listen to Settle Into Stillness, a preparation for mindfulness practice created for my patients and students.

Listen

Request a complimentary brief telehealth consultation.

(914) 666-0060 or [email protected]

Solutions for other therapists

How Can I help you?

Relax your body

Handle stress better

Feel better

Think more openly

Accept things you can’t change

Change your habits

Be a better listener

Explore feelings

Sleep better

Worry less

Be less anxious of medical settings

Panic attacks are episodes of intense physiological arousal accompanied by a fear of dying, going insane, or losing control. Panic attacks are the form of anxiety that I have had the greatest success treating. They are often treated ineffectively when standard protocols are applied.

Most Panic Attacks Can be Easily Controlled

Equipment in my office give me the ability to monitor the physiology of the person experiencing panic attacks. The key variable is usually the way in which carbon dioxide is expelled from the body prior to , and during, a panic attack. Once this variable is identified the problem can be corrected rather easily with a simple breathing technique, but it is not the one usually taught to patients.

Phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder require additional treatment components. Most notable is ERP or exposure with response prevention. Avoiding or escaping situations that give rise to anxiety symptoms is the best way of making those symptoms stronger. First they are taught how to relax, become mindful of one’s building anxiety. Then they are able to actually reduce the anxiety with self-control techniques. This prepares the individual to become gradually exposed to situations, thoughts, or bodily sensations that tend to produce their anxiety symptoms. By gradually increasing the exposure to what some call “triggers” the symptoms begin to decrease. They are essentially starved or extinguished due to lack of reinforcement.

Depression

Depression is a thief that constantly robs you of the joy of living. Major depression is a biochemical problem that may require a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Cognitive therapy has an excellent track record in treating depression. Cognitive therapy for depression involves a combination of behavioral activation, a systematic re-engagement of the individual in activities (exercise, those found to be pleasurable previously and others) and cognitive restructuring. Cognitive restructuring examines the negative or otherwise unhelpful thoughts that lead to negative feelings, especially about self. These thoughts are brought to light in order to examine their accuracy. I do not believe that major depression is brought on by negative or incorrect thinking. I do believe that it is a complex biochemical condition in which these types of thoughts serve to perpetuate and worsten. If an individual is taking antidepressant medication cognitive therapy can help to reduce the dosage needs and the time during which medication is required.

Trauma

We all face challenges in our lives but sometimes our experiences are overwhelming. Trauma can cause lasting changes in people, including changes in brain activity. There is no pill for trauma or grief. Compassionate treatment which supports the individual emotionally while helping them integrate the traumatic experiences into the totality of their life experience is often the most effective approach. Combining non-judgemental listening with relaxation, meditation and even biofeedback help the individual develop the emotional resilience required to develop a new perspective. Sometimes panic or symptoms of depression must be targeted first as they will perpetuate the traumatic response and impede recovery.

Insomnia

In recent years there have been significant advances in the use of cognitive therapy in the treatment of chronic insomnia. Before beginning any treatment for insomnia the possibility of physical illness, anxiety or depression should first be assessed. Cognitive therapy is usually brief and addresses one or more of the following factors: arousal levels, activity levels, the sleep environment, pre-bedtime activities, attitudes and beliefs about sleep, exercise and stimulant use, and what to do if sleep does not come as desired. Treatment may also address anxiety and/or depression if present.

Coping with Medical Illness

Coping with Cancer

Receiving a diagnosis of cancer is a shock for any patient or family member. In many cases it is no longer as bleak of a prospect as it once was. Each year treatment improve and new medications are developed to help manage the side effects of treatment. We are often anxious to begin treatment immediately. Sometime we are asked to struggle with a whole new world of treatment options – with little upon which to base our diagnosis, or even our questions.

Coping with Injury and Disability

Early in my career I worked in the area of rehabilitation psychology, specifically with individuals who had sustained severe traumatic brain injury and spent months in coma. Working with these people after they emerged from coma required a very different approach. They needed coaching, not analysis. They often had hidden strengths, skills, and mindsets that were crucial in supporting them as they re-learned everything from how to walk to social skills. Learning how to cope with a chronic illness like multiple sclerosis or autoimmune disorders can require similar support along with help to see that a life with limitations is still worth living.