Most of us have heard of obsessive compulsive disorder? However, what is obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)? Stuart Ralph, host of The OCD Stories podcast, interviewed clinical psychologist Dr. Steven Phillipson about the difference between OCD and OCPD. Phillipson explained that OCD is a disorder…
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…
CBT SoCal’s Dr. Jason von Stietz recently attended a mindfulness seminar led by George Mumford. The seminar, held at Insight LA in Santa Monica, focused on the use of mindfulness in improving not only one’s performance (e.g. sport, career, art) but also life. Mumford gained…
Dr. Jason von Stietz has recently become the new co-chair of the Los Angeles County Psychological Association Sport Psychology Special Interest Group (LACPA Sport Psychology SIG). In his position as co-chair, he will collaborate with Dr. Sari Shepphird, a sport psychologist who founded the SIG.…
Why do some people pull out their hair? Why do some people continue to pull out their hair even when they create large bald spots that leave them feeling embarrassed and ashamed? The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors defined trichotillomania as the repetitive pulling…
A great parenting book I highly recommend is Ross Greene’s The Explosive Child. Even if you wouldn’t describe your child as “explosive,” (i.e. tends to throw tantrums, show inflexibility and defiance, and generally cause frustration for adult figures) it can benefit anyone raising children. The…
Experiencing negative emotions is not fun. Most people do not typically enjoy them and make great efforts to avoid them. However, negative emotions give us invaluable information that helps us to guide our lives. In this 4-part series, we are reviewing the value of negative…
Guilt and shame are usually viewed as negative emotions. They make us feel uncomfortable and remind of us of our shortcomings. However, like other negative emotions, they provide us with valuable information. It is only when the severity of our guilt or shame becomes extreme…
Negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger, are usually viewed as experiences to be minimized or avoided. At times, the experience of these emotions can even be viewed by society as character defects or as a lack of resiliency. However, negative emotions such as these…
This past month, MEL Magazine’s Adam Elder interviewed and quoted CBT SoCal’s Dr. Martin Hsia for a series on irrational fears. More specifically, Elder and Hsia collaborated on pieces focused on fears of crowds (Agoraphobia), fears of germs (akin to Contamination OCD), and fears of…
Often times, positive emotions are viewed as good and negative emotions are viewed as bad. This leads people to resist or avoid experiencing negative emotions. This idea seems to make sense intuitively. However, negative emotions are not necessarily things to be avoided, as they provide…
On occasion, athletes find themselves in a “flow state” or in “the zone.” During these moments, they effortlessly perform at their best. They lose all sense of time and perform without thinking. If someone can string enough of these moments together it is often referred…