Blog

Depression:  Identifying and Understanding

Clinical depression is one of the most common psychiatric illnesses.  It affects approximately 10% of the population during a person’s lifetime.  A depressive episode is defined as a period of time lasting at least two weeks during which a person experiences five or more depressive symptoms.  At least one of those symptoms has to beRead More

I Can’t Get In Everything I Want to Say

Getting to the End of a Therapy Session One of the most frustrating things that can happen in a therapy session is getting to near the end of the session and hitting upon a topic that you really wanted to discuss that day.  You somehow did not get around to talking about it till theRead More

What Do I Say?

One of the most common sources of anxiety that clients feel has to do with feeling like one doesn’t know what to say.  Oftentimes clients worry that they are supposed to have a list of things to go over.  They will mentally prepare for the session in order to make sure they have sufficient thingsRead More

I’m Nervous About Starting Therapy

It is not uncommon for a person to feel nervous about starting psychotherapy.  After all, you are being asked to start talking extemporaneously to someone you have never met about things that are intimate, oftentimes sensitive, and sometimes painful.  Many of us are not used to having anyone in our lives with whom we canRead More

Why Does My Therapist Not React More?

There are some things about psychotherapy that feel very natural.  There are other things that feel artificial at times.  One of the examples of the latter is the degree to which a therapist maintains a neutral demeanor.  Some therapists are more strict about this than others.  Some may have trained in more classically-oriented programs whereRead More

Psychiatry vs. Psychology

The field of professional mental health providers unfortunately has inherited and created a confusing terminology when it comes to understanding what types of providers do what.  The most obvious source of confusion arises from the very similar terms, psychiatry and psychology, or the practitioners of those fields–psychiatrists and psychologists.  It is easy to understand howRead More