Dr. Rosen is a Board-Certified Psychologist, the Founder and Director of The Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders, and Founder of The Children’s Center for Psychiatry Psychology and Related Services.
Dr. Spinner and I recently presented a session on The Uses of Virtual Reality in Social Anxiety Treatment for the National Social Anxiety Center.
View the presentation on The Uses of Virtual Reality in Social Anxiety Treatment here.
Exercise has long been viewed as being beneficial for physical health, but in recent years there has been increasing interest in using it as an effective, natural treatment option for mental health issues like depression.
I have noticed that many people who seek treatment in our clinic aren’t aware that exercise can improve their mental well-being. They might view it as a stress reliever or know that they “should” exercise for their overall health, but they don’t have any idea that this form of treatment can be worth considering alongside more traditional therapeutic strategies.
As junk food and technology have become more prevalent in our kid’s lives, physical activity has plummeted – creating a public health crisis that needs to be addressed. With this unhealthy trend intensifying each year, it is essential to take action now before future generations are subjected to its damaging effects.
The Children’s Center for Psychiatry, Psychology and Related Services is offering a Social Skills group facilitated by Terri Samuels, MS and Marsha Glines, PhD. Groups will focus on developing positive relationships, improving healthy coping skills and facilitating social communication.
Lately, likely due to the increased coverage on television and in social media, many people have been coming in to see me saying they have poor attention, they can’t focus, and they think they may have ADHD. Some do, some don’t.
While individuals may feel like they can’t focus, not everyone who comes in needs treatment specific to that complaint. An inability to focus is frequently due to depression or anxiety, or other things going on in their lives that are affecting their ability to concentrate. Treating for ADHD when that is not the primary issue can make the actual problem worse.
From going to festive events we may have little interest in attending, to having to make room for extra family members or guests in our homes, the pressures of the holidays can weigh heavy on mental wellbeing.
Finding meaningful ways to manage these stressors, such as setting boundaries and taking mental health days off from shopping sprees or other errands, can help to reduce these pressures and make this season a bit more enjoyable.
For this month’s Consult The Expert interview, I spoke with Seth Grobman, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist here at The Anxiety Center. Dr. Grobman has been practicing traditionally for more than twenty years. When the covid pandemic hit, he pivoted to telehealth so he could continue to treat patients during the shutdowns.
Today, telehealth is still very much a part of his practice, as it is with the other clinicians in my office.
For this month’s Consult The Expert interview, I wanted to discuss something that may be a little controversial – namely the breakdown of family and tradition in a culture of influential media and news coverage, along with how this is affecting people’s values, mindset, and beliefs.
For this month’s Consult The Expert interview, I spoke with Brittany Schulman, Psy.D. She is a licensed clinical psychologist here at the Center and has a special interest in the diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Most of us have heard about ADHD, but may have only a vague understanding of the condition, so I asked Dr. Schulman to tell us what ADHD encompasses.
This month, I talked with Vanessa Finkelman, Psy.D. As a postdoctoral fellow, she will be treating various anxieties and mood disorders at our center, beginning in September. One of her special interests is in working with those who are challenged by social anxiety, which is the fear of being judged or negatively evaluated in social interactions.
“When considering an eating disorder diagnosis, it is important to look beyond a person’s weight or body type. Instead, look for the behaviors that cause medical issues. These can be things like extreme dieting and losing a lot of weight in a short amount of time, missed menstrual cycles, and low heart rates.” — Eric Spinner, Psy.D
Fever, chills, bumps, rashes, sore throat, sniffles, headache, oh my – could having any of these symptoms mean you might be seriously ill?
In the age of COVID-19, and now monkeypox, experts have seen a rise in people experiencing anxious feelings about their health. Social media and the internet – and therefore self-consulted medical advice – exacerbate these worries.
As we have watched the Covid-19 pandemic unfold, the focus has been on vaccines being the key to getting us safely through the crisis and back to our normal lives. When they first came out early this year, adults were clamoring to get the jab. Since then, many parents have eagerly awaited FDA approval for their kids to be eligible as well, especially since mask-wearing is optional in some school districts.
Parents often avoid setting limits for their kids because they think doing so will upset the child. Not setting boundaries, however, can lead to an unhappy child who doesn’t know how cope with difficult feelings, which is an essential life skill.
School is starting up for the 2021 – 2022 education year and most districts are returning to in-person learning. While some kids and parents deal with anxieties during any given school year, COVID-19 and the Delta variant are still very much in the news, which has added more uncertainty for everyone.
Virtual learning took place this past school year and many kids may now find it difficult to adjust to being away from the safety of their homes. Those children who already suffered with pre-existing depression or anxiety might have an even more difficult time adjusting than normal. Even well-adjusted children may experience undue stress.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected our world in so many ways and we aren’t in the clear yet, despite vaccine availability. The virus continues to evolve, which is especially concerning if you’ll have children attending in-person classes this fall; as children head back to school, they do so under the specter of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
No one can deny that 2021 has been a momentous year. It has had a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly for sure. It has at times been frightening, confusing, comforting and educational. We have witnessed a very unusual presidential election, a subsequent denial by some of the validity of the election and an unheard of polarization of our peers and lawmakers. Most critically, we have endured a gift that keeps on giving; the novel coronavirus that has killed countless people world-wide and more fellow Americans than we would have ever anticipated. We have had to learn the meaning of the word epidemiology as it relates to health and wellness.
As pandemic restrictions begin to ease, parents are finding out just how reliant their kids have become on their screen time. For many families, shut downs forced us to turn to virtual entertainment. Schools went totally online. We dramatically increased our online communications with the loved ones we couldn’t see in person. The result is that now, more than ever, we’ve embraced the virtual world – and many children are finding it hard to break their screen time “addiction.” How dangerous is screen time for our kids and how can parents restrict their online time?
As the pandemic lingers, life as we used to know it continues to elude us. One of the most significant adjustments has required children (and parents) to adapt to the challenges of virtual learning. While we’ve become more adept at navigating through online studies by now, one of the things that kids still miss most in remote schooling is the academic and social enrichment that being in a classroom provides.
As 2020 draws to a close, many of us are experiencing pandemic fatigue. We’re all tired of wearing masks and social distancing. Most of us just want to go back to traveling, enjoying time with family and friends, and the normal world we used to know. This is the time when it is so important for our mental health that we keep a positive outlook and not allow boredom and pessimism to creep in.
