Does your mind often drift to an imagined future of negative scenarios? If so, you just might be a worrier. When we worry, we’re essentially making negative predictions. Worry is the tendency of your mind to make a beeline to the worst-case scenario overlooking all the other possible scenarios, including the best-case and the most […]
Category Archives: CBT
Procrastination
Procrastination is a habit closely tied to anxiety. When we’re anxious about working on a project, the decision to postpone it reduces our anxiety in the short term. This reduction in anxiety reinforces procrastination making it more likely we’ll procrastinate again. But over the longer-term, procrastination maintains our anxiety because the unfinished work is looming […]
Finish Strong!
coAs the year comes to close, we tend to look back and assess the progress we’ve made towards our goals and set new ones. But because of negative biases in our thinking we’re more likely to focus on what we haven’t done rather than what we have, or on how we’ve stagnated rather than how […]
Habit Formation
If you’ve struggled to develop healthy habits like meditating or running in the morning, here are some tips from the science of habit formation. According to Dr. Andrew Huberman, a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine, a habit is something that your nervous system has learned consciously or not. Learning takes […]
Get curious!
Want to make your life a little more interesting? Get curious. Curiosity is an inner drive to know or understand. It motivates us to seek out the answers to previously unanswered questions and find solutions for unsolved problems. Studies show that because naturally curious people enjoy the search for knowledge, they can sustain their interest […]
In Defense of Narcissim
Some of my favorite clients are narcissists. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. So, I’ve been a little concerned about the bad rap narcissists are taking lately in the media. As a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of personality disorders, I’m here to tell you that not all individuals with narcissist personality disorder […]
Election Anxiety
On edge about the election? If so, you’re not alone. According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association, 76% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans have found the election stressful. And that doesn’t even include independent voters. Heightening election stress is the perception of many that the fate of the nation turns on […]
Let go of your ex
If you’re hung up on your ex, you’re not alone. Surveys show almost half of all single people look at their ex’s social media profiles. And, while an occasional glance is not problematic, too much looking back can interfere with your moving forward. So, why do we do it? Unlike current relationships, past relationship are […]
Stop quitting on the finish line
So many times in life we feel like quitting. Maybe, we’ve been pursuing the same goal for a while, and it feels like we’re not getting anywhere. Sometimes quitting the best option. But most of the time when we quit we’ve given up too early. You can probably remember times you were about to quit […]
Invite sound in
So often it’s the case when we practice mindfulness we think we need to have silence. We may look for a quiet place in our living space to practice. Before the quarantine, we may have gone to a meditation studio. Then, when we hear noise we respond to it as an unwanted intrusion. Living in […]