When we think about the term “acceptance”, many people believe that this means either condoning a situation or behavior. Not so. Acceptance is not an excuse to be passive, to give up our rights in a matter, or resign ourselves to continued abuse. Quite the opposite. Acceptance is actually a proactive stance. Radical Acceptance, one […]

Years before COVID-19 emerged and quickly took over our society, I was conducting phone sessions as well as in-person office visits with clients. Mid-March of 2020, when it became clear that I could not in good conscience continue to see clients in person, possibly endangering their health and my own, I moved exclusively to phone […]

Very few of us are strangers to depression or anxiety in some form, whether it be a mild but unpleasant funk for a few days or a more serious mood disorder lasting months or even years. After all, just being alive usually means that we’ve ridden the emotional rollercoaster, be it due to a personal […]

Most of us associate having the flu with not only coughing, sneezing, and sore throat, but also intense fatigue, apathy, brain fog, irritability, and loss of appetite. Being sick can wreak havoc with our emotions and throw us psychologically off-balance. It’s common to feel as if our “get up and go” has got up and […]

Is it possible to be “too” optimistic? Certainly. Between the two poles of optimism and pessimism there exist a continuum. On one end are the optimists who border on delusion and refuse to face reality. The quote “Denial is not a river in Egypt” comes to mind. On the other end of the spectrum lie […]

Insomnia and depression have a “what came first, the chicken or the egg” sort of relationship. Most people who habitually struggle with sleep will acknowledge that this takes a toll on their mood. Indeed, insomnia can frequently predate an episode of depression. On the other hand, one of the common symptoms of clinical depression is […]

You probably already know at an intuitive level that after feeling anxious and stressed for awhile, your mood tends to dip a bit. Maybe you’re just mildly dejected, or perhaps you develop a full-fledged depression. Researchers at the University of Washington have recently discovered that a neuropeptide called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), which under normal conditions […]

Depression can be a vicious cycle. When circumstances or continual stress cause you to fall into a depressed mood, chances are that the thoughts going through your mind, be they about yourself, other people, or life in general, are anything but uplifting. They’re often more along the lines of “Why bother”, “I can’t handle this”, […]