Whether you are among the 45% of Americans who usually make New Year’s resolutions, or you are in the 38% who never make them (Statistics Brain Research Institute, 2015), chances are at some point you have wanted to make a...
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 18 with a...
Honoring lost loved ones can help ease grief Despite the wealth of books and blogs on the topic, the experience of grieving is, in many ways, uncharted territory. Grief is personal and variable. You may think you know how you...
As if there isn’t enough built-in stress this time of year, the conversation around December holidays has a new wrinkle. The topic of how to acknowledge and celebrate the holidays has taken on greater importance in recent years —...
Honor the Spirit of Giving The holiday gift-giving season is in full swing and got us thinking about ways to honor the true meaning of “giving.” (Hint: It has little to do with buying stuff that most people don’t really...
More than any other time of the year, the holiday season emphasizes family. Images of happy families gathered around a Thanksgiving feast are all over television commercials and magazines. Everyone seems to be making plans to be somewhere with family....
How did my kid become a bully and what can I do about it? So, it turns out your sweet bundle of joy is not so sweet to everyone. Perhaps you’ve suspected this, but have chosen to chalk it...
Teenage years are full of challenges as we all try to figure out how we ‘fit’ into the world around us. A lot of that experience is painful, especially when we find that we don’t ‘fit’ at all with some...
In our third and final post for the Media Coverage and Mental Health series, we explored how the news stigmatizes mental illness and misrepresents the vast majority of those who seek mental health care. Most Americans had likely never heard...
This is the second of a series of three posts looking at how incessant media coverage in this day and age of sensational, and too often disturbing headlines, can impact your mental health. In our first post, we explored the...
Over the next three posts, we’re going to look at media coverage in relation to mental health through the following questions: What are the general effects of the deluge of information media coverage feeds to the public? How does the...
Marta Oko-Riebau, MA A successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. – Mignon McLaughlin Remember that time when you were madly in love with your partner? It was enough to be in the same room...
Marta Oko-Riebau, MA Let’s hurry to love people, they vanish so quickly And all that’s left behind are empty shoes, a deaf phone… Only what’s unimportant drags on forever, That what really matters happens much too quickly… Don’t be certain there’s...
By Marta Oko-Riebau Ever since I started studying psychology I began to encounter people’s mistrust associated to my profession of choice. Friends started to joke, “You must have diagnosed all of us already,” (and based on their behavior I knew...
By Marta Oko-Riebau Linda and Jerry were a great couple. They truly enjoyed each other’s company, had great conversations, and laughed a lot together, even six years after they got married. There was one thing however that was not great:...
By Marta Oko-Riebau “I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.” – Norman O. Brown I have always been fascinated with personality and its impact on our lives. Personality determines how we interact with the environment, and...
by Lisa Ransford, LPC, CACII What is it that you find most difficult about committing to the process of psychotherapy? There’s usually some degree of fear – fear of the unknown, fear of what you’ll discover, fear of change. But...
By Marta Oko-Riebau Note: In psychology there is a differentiation between the terms “feelings” and “emotions”, but for the purpose of this blog I will use these terms interchangeably. According to George Orwell, “Not to expose your true feelings to...
By Marta Oko-Riebau This post is about your right to communicate your thoughts, wishes and intentions in a clear manner. It is about assertiveness. Most of us occasionally forget about this important right and then have to suffer the consequences...
by Marta Oko-Riebau “I can’t get to sleep, I think about the implications of diving in too deep, and possibly the complications… Especially at night – I worry over situations I know will be all right, perhaps it’s just imagination…...
By Marta Oko-Riebau Ava always wanted to have a house with a garden and a Siamese cat that she would call “Sphinx”. Growing up at her parent’s apartment she was not allowed to have pets because her parents considered them...
Matthew Campeau, M.A. What do you want, but are afraid to pursue? Perhaps it is a new career. Or the ability to speak your heart and mind, and not apologize. Perhaps you want to end a relationship to something or...
by Marta Oko-Riebau, MA Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is one of my favorite books of all time. The title itself describes a state that many of us are just too familiar with. It is a state of dissatisfaction,...
Joel Silverman, MA LPC discusses couples and the importance of integrating the values and expectations that originated from their families of origin to improve communication and understanding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vh4qOLrmy8 Joel Silverman, MA LPC works with people who have experienced trauma...
By Hazel Field Melmed, LCSW A recent “Time Magazine” cover story explained the value of “mindfulness”, and they described the health benefits that come from being “in the moment.” In thinking about this important state of mind, it occurred to...
by Marta Oko-Riebau, MA Grow old along with me… Two branches of one tree… Face the setting sun when the day is done… This is a beautiful vision of a relationship that lasts until the end, presented by John Lennon in his...
By Lorraine Lipson, LPC For over a month now, the tragedy of Malaysia Flight 370 has been intensively covered in the media. Such awful events can create a myriad of fears and feelings. Do you remember where you were when you...
This last week has been filled with family obligations, work deadlines, new opportunities, and not enough down time. And… it’s not because I have been forced to do things that I didn’t want to be involved in, quite the contrary,...
By Lisa Taggart, MA Candidate Is Pink the New Blue? I attended a baby shower recently, thinking that the theme of the shower was the baby. Actually, it wasn’t. The theme was about gender. The parents had chosen to learn...
By Michele Battle, MA, NCC I never liked the term “Empty Nest”. To me, it sounded like a bleak, hollow place where youth and laughter once reverberated. Then suddenly, the children leave, and only silence and the prospect of aging...