Blog

new posting on Anxiety

Posted by on Dec 10, 2019 in Blog

It has been along time since there has been a new posting on anxiety on this web site. I apologize to you for this and hope that they will come on a steady basis again. I am still in practice treating anxiety and depressive disorders. I continue to practice in the cities of Oakland and Fremont, California. Anxiety is something that every human experiences. It is part of our basic makeup. The problems come in when we have significant difficulty in coping with it. That is, difficulty in coping with the thoughts, images or scary pictures that underlay the anxiety. In ACT (Acceptance and Commitment therapy, a form of CBT or Cognitive Behavioral therapy) we work on how to defuse, or back off, from buying into these worries. We also recognize that a major part of problemic anxiety is how much we struggle with the feelings or sensations that come along with the anxiety. If you are struggling with anxiety and want to try the type of psychotherapy I use and send me an e mail....

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Overthink or Rumination

Posted by on Nov 1, 2018 in Blog

Do you overthink or suffer from Rumination? Now there is a new type of therapy called Rumination focused CBT. I just received training in this. In my view it treats overthinking, worrying and rumination as a behavior. The idea is that it is something you learned earlier in life that now has become a habit. Like any type of habit it could be reversed although that may not be as easy as we may want it to be but not impossible. I am sorry I have not written for awhile but I was dealing with an illness. In the future I will discuss more around the issues of overthinking as well as coping with a serious illness. Thank you all for your patience....

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Managing physical pain

Posted by on Feb 22, 2018 in Blog

Managing physical pain by using Behavioral techniques that may include CBT and ACT can help in coping with it better. It certainly is very important to have the pain evaluated by a medical doctor. Managing it on a psychological basis can both involve dealing with the thoughts that come with pain as well as the acceptance of the pain sensations. Thoughts like this is going to last forever or I will be miserable forever are actually not helpful to get hooked to although your mind produces them. It is important to realize that not everything the mind tells you is helpful. If you buy into the thoughts that are previously listed then you will feel terrible. If you learn to change your relationship to these thoughts you may not like the sensations of pain you feel but you may not feel so hopeless and...

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Coping with relationship stress

Posted by on Feb 15, 2018 in Blog

Coping with relationship stress varies according to what the issues are. In my practice it seems to me often that people are stressed in their relationship because their are communication problems in their relationship. If we could stay on top of this by using good communication skills then it is possible to have a better relationship and feel better as well. I often recommend the book The Feeling Good Handbook by Dr. David Burns. It not only offers great material on learning Cognitive Behavioral therapy (CBT) but also has what I believe are excellent chapters on building communication...

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Dealing with a loss

Posted by on Feb 8, 2018 in Blog

Dealing with a loss may become complicated. This may happen in at least two ways: how you cope with your emotions and how you cope with your thoughts. Today’s blog will focus on coping with emotions. Losing someone or a pet or property can be sad and painful. If you try to avoid feeling these painful emotions they are likely going to haunt you. So it would be helpful to practice the acceptance of these emotions and the sensations that come with them. Feel and observe them. It can be really helpful, if you believe this, to remind yourself they are in a better place and feel that strong positive emotion that comes with it. But don’t chase that feeling at the expense of avoiding the negative...

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Coping with worry

Posted by on Feb 1, 2018 in Blog

I have tip of the week for coping with worry. That is, try postpone getting hooked to a worry to a better time of day that you could allow 15 minutes so you could worry all you want about that worry or additional worries can be added to this 15...

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