Parenting

Psychoeducating Parents to Defeat their Child’s OCD Monster! By Jenny C. Yip, Psy.D.

“Families really need to be involved in treatment, because they really do play a part in OCD even when they don’t realize it. Whenever I had company over, I didn’t know they were all contaminating the whole house for my son.” -Mrs. Jones, mother of a 19-year-old adolescent who was successfully treated in an intensive… Read more »

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"If All You Have is a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail" by Debra Kessler, Psy.D.

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” – Abraham Maslow Seeking out the assistance of a therapist is a desperate and courageous act.  Typically, for a parent, it means they have tried and failed to help their child behave, so they have friends, get along with siblings and family members,… Read more »

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Understanding the Underlying Triggers of OCD in Children by Jenny C. Yip, Psy.D.

The diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is usually quite straightforward in adults. However, symptoms of OCD in children often manifest in different ways, which can lead to detrimental misdiagnoses. The key is to understand the underlying cause of each child’s behavioral manifestations. Let’s take a look into Nick’s symptomology and how it was approached. Nick… Read more »

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Tips for Helping Kids Handle Their Emotions

Author and humorist Erma Bombeck once wrote, “When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.” As parents, we all have moments when we would like to hide away, avoid confrontation, and wait for the quiet that follows the storm. Parenting is an incredible challenge,… Read more »

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Tips for Helping Kids Handle Their Emotions

Author and humorist Erma Bombeck once wrote, “When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.” As parents, we all have moments when we would like to hide away, avoid confrontation, and wait for the quiet that follows the storm. Parenting is an incredible challenge,… Read more »

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The Difference Between Emotional Hunger and Real Love

Emotional hunger is not love. It is a strong emotional need caused by deprivation in childhood. It is a primitive condition of pain and longing which people often act out in a desperate attempt to fill a void or emptiness. This emptiness is related to the pain of aloneness and separateness and can never realistically… Read more »

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How Childhood Defenses Hurt Us As Adults

As adults, we are often asked to reflect on the positive influences, role models, and experiences from our past that shaped who we are today. Just as often, in everything from college essays to job interviews, we are asked to retrace an obstacle we overcame, a challenge we faced head on, or a disadvantage we… Read more »

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How To Bully Proof Your Children by Building Their Resilience

The heartwrenching stories and startling statistics coming out about bullying are commanding a justified level of concern in parents. With new data revealing that more kids are affected by bullying and cyber-bullying than we ever imagined and that both bullies and victims are at higher risk for suicide, our eyes are opening to the fact that… Read more »

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Five Things You Don’t Expect When You’re Expecting: How Parenthood Impacts Your Mental Health

If it suddenly feels like anywhere you go, you’re surrounded by heavily pregnant women, it is probably not your imagination. In the United States, there are more births during the months that close out summer and ring in fall than any other time of year. The season marks an exciting and scary time in the… Read more »

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Identifying Your Child’s Attachment Style

In the following interview, Dr. Dan Siegel talks about the different types of attachment styles that individuals develop during childhood as a result of the relationship they had with their parents. Embracing the freedom to see parents as they really are literally liberates the adolescent to find his or her own way in life. The… Read more »

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