Your Inner Child (IC) is the collection of unprocessed emotions from childhood and adolescence that continue to shape your adult perceptions, reactions, and behaviors. When what you feel doesn’t align with what you think you should feel, it’s often your IC signaling unresolved experiences that need attention.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is more common than you might think. Often hidden behind seemingly positive traits, like attention to detail, cleanliness, organization, or a strong sense of responsibility, it can, in reality, be overwhelming and debilitating.

Imagine receiving the universally dreaded message from your supervisor, partner, or best friend:

"We need to talk."

Those four words, vague and without context, immediately spike your anxiety. "This can't be good," you think. But for your brain, that simple thought isn’t enough. You need to know exactly what's coming. In fact, you'd rather face bad news right now than sit with the discomfort of not knowing.

How far does a hamster get when running in an exercise wheel? Now imagine forcing it to keep going without a break. Exhausting, right? That’s exactly what happens to your brain when you overthink.

You may think it’s only considered an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) when you engage in repetitive hand washing or persistent counting. Is it still OCD if there are no obvious ritualistic behaviors?

No matter how stressful your life is, there’s always a chance to practice mindfulness, even if it’s just for a few minutes a day. Mindfulness means doing one thing at a time, with your full attention, and with acceptance. To apply Mindfulness you just need to focus on the present moment, concentrating on whatever you happen to be doing at the time -walking, driving, having a conversation, playing with your pet, and so on.

Predicting the worst-case scenario on a regular basis keeps our mind on constant alert, interfering with our quality of life. Do you find yourself always projecting into the future and being bombarded with “what ifs?” Do you find yourself unable to keep up with all the disasters coming your way? Do you experience panic attacks, migraine headaches, muscle tension, IBS, sleeping problems or irritability?

Having high standards, as well as being organized, hard worker and good at budgeting may be seen as good qualities to have until our tendency to be perfect becomes problematic. We’re so overly concerned about rules and order that our anxiety easily increases over the smallest, unexpected event and words like “workaholic” “control-freak” and “perfectionist” are thrown at us more often that we’d like.

A panic attack is an acute increase of anxiety that resembles a heart attack. When you experience a panic attack, you feel as if you are going to die, or that you are losing your mind, that there’s something wrong with you and it will never end. Pounding or racing heart, breathing difficulties, sweating or chills, weakness, dizziness, nausea, and tingly hands are some of the symptoms that people suffering from panic experience while having an attack. If you ever had these symptoms and your MD has ruled out heart problems or any other medical condition, you may suffer from a Panic Disorder.

“I can’t do this”, “no one likes me”, “I am ugly”, “I am not good enough”, “I have no talent.” If you ever told yourself any of these statements, or any other negative statement, you are familiar with that inner dialogue that limits your ability to accomplish more, makes you feel awful and impacts the way you come across to others.

When faced with the dilemma of having to make a choice, some of us will take a few minutes to ponder the pros and cons before making an informed decision and then jump into the abyss. Others will feel like they are tight to a pole and must pick a method of torture, picturing themselves in pain, no matter what they decide.

DBT is a hybrid of different therapies and techniques, but it mostly originated within the Cognitive-Behavioral approach. DBT uses the CBT techniques in a much more flexible and less judgmental way, and it also adds Mindfulness, skill-building and acceptance techniques.

CBT or Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is based on the premise that emotions are caused by thoughts, not by outside triggers. When something happens to us, or someone tells us something, we immediately interpret that information in a certain way that causes a feeling or emotion. By addressing our thought process, the way we think, our self-talk, we understand why we feel what we feel. By learning to challenge and reframe our thoughts, we manage our emotions.

The pandemic has accelerated the shift toward Telehealth when years ago that was an approach only used in very specific cases and settings. Some people had difficulties adjusting to the new way of providing and receiving therapy. Many wondered if the quality of the service would be affected by practicing it online.

Starting therapy for the first time can get very scary and nerve-racking. You are asked to talk to a stranger about the most private and vulnerable parts of yourself. There are no standard guidelines on what to expect or how the interaction will go so you are throwing yourself into the abyss. Is it worth it? It depends on what you are looking for when you make the decision.

I’ve had clients apologize for crying during the session, for saying something bad about a relative or friend or for talking too much. This is like apologizing to the grocer for buying too much food or too little., for buying too many sweets or not enough veggies.