CBT SoCal has offered therapy online via secure video platforms for years prior to the outbreak of Coronavirus. However, the current pandemic has challenged many businesses and services, including our own, to move exclusively online – at least for the timebeing. Some people feel that speaking…
Image credit: Keloland.com News about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has all of us on high alert. Cities worldwide are on lockdown, and more cases are being reported all over the world every day. Here in Southern California, Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health declared…
How can I be absolutely certain……? ….that I turned the stove off before I left the house? ….that I WON’T be exposed to deadly bacteria after touching a public doorknob? ….that I WON’T actually fulfill the image in my head about pushing someone into…
A Summary of “Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation” by Gabriele Oettingen, Psychologist and Researcher We’ve all seen inspiring memes, or heard the messages to “Just stay positive!” “Think on the bright side!” or “Dare to dream big!” It’s often considered basic…
Seeking Professional Mental Health Care: Do Degrees Matter? Ph.D. Psy.D. M.D. M.F.T. L.C.S.W. Let’s try to get clear on the different types of mental health professionals. When initially seeking out help for mental health concerns, such as Anxiety or Depression, one can easily feel overwhelmed…
One issue that suffers of Harm OCD should be aware of is the fact that many people are not well informed about this form of OCD, and often misinformed about OCD in general. As with many things that require experience and expertise, correctly diagnosing and…
Harm OCD is an extremely distressing subtype of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder that can have debilitating effects on one’s mental health. To briefly review, in Part 1 of this series, we outlined some of the core themes of Control, Certainty, Responsibility/Guilt, and Character, which Harm OCD sufferers…
Postpartum depression is a phenomenon that may be familiar to many, even those who do not have children of their own. However, much less widely known or discussed is the anguish of Anxiety or OCD in the Perinatal and Postpartum stages, which affects an estimated…
Very few things are considered as morally egregious and devastating as the inappropriate sexual treatment of minors – and for good reasons of course. The term Pedophilia is used to refer to individuals who experience recurrent and intense sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviors involving…
Harm OCD is a common subtype of OCD in which the sufferer has unwanted and intrusive thoughts of doing something harmful to oneself, or to someone else. This form of OCD is often especially troubling because it can cause someone to question their own basic…
Kristin Howard, LMFT practices at CBT SoCal‘s Glendale office and with the Counseling Center of Loyola Marymount University. Jason von Stietz, Ph.D.practices with CBT SoCal in the Torrance office, Whittier College Counseling Center, and has a special interest in Sport and Performance Psychology. Winter has come, and CBT…
Photo credit: UW Health. In October 2010, a colleague and I went to hear Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn speak at UCLA. Kabat-Zinn developed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and is a leading figure, researcher, and theoretician in adapting mindfulness for practice in psychotherapy, mental and medical healthcare. He…