Notes From The Couch

Whether a parent has a baby, toddler or teen, sleep is a problematic issue at some point or the other for most families. Sometimes it’s questioning whether they are spoiling the baby, or should they let them cry it out. Sometimes it’s toddlers and young children sleeping in the family bed and parents being unsure …

I have taken much of the summer off. I have enjoyed spending time with my kids and getting my own mental break. But now it’s time to switch gears, the email are coming in from clients, viewers and parents asking about back to school readiness. I have a 3 part series I have been doing …

Over the years I have worked with many blended families. In most cases both parents bring children into the mix and they are wanting guidance as to how to best blend their families and also to understand what their new roles are. Most adults understand that their role as a step-parent is different than that …

This is a question that I get asked a lot out of what seems like genuine confusion. Parents say to me that on one hand they hear that depression and suicide in children is reported to be linked to parental pressure but on the other hand they think they should set high or at least …

We have all been there before…something is going on with your neighbor, a friend, your boss, or your in-laws and it’s time to confront something that you would really rather avoid. I have found in my practice and personal life that people would rather have a root canal than confront someone. Every day I hear …

For the past several months I have been consulting with parents about their child’s overall readiness for college. This is now a thing- an unofficial set of criteria to determine your child’s preparedness to be independent, out of the home and ready for much greater responsibility. I will share what we have been working on …

There are a host of reasons that a child will say that they don’t feel love from their parents. Age, experience, temperament and the way a parent expresses love are factors. This comes up quite a bit, mostly with tweens and teens. They will say that they don’t feel that their parents love them. So …

This is a topic that comes up for both girls and boys. How a parent responds to it is important. Often, parents are unsure what to say or do and often dismiss it by saying something like the child is being ridiculous and that they should know they are beautiful. In this session note, I …

Happy New Year everyone! One of my resolutions for this year is to create a regular, ongoing digest of what happens behind the scenes in a day in the life of a therapist. I will share my personal thoughts about sessions, mental health subjects or experiences that I encounter. I hope you will enjoy this …

The response to last week’s session notes blew me away! Thank you to everyone who took the time to send me a note, asked me to add someone and for those who forwarded it. I also had requests for topics, so as they come up, I will write about them. Until then, let’s dive into …

Friendships and bullying are regular topics that I discuss with kids from third grade and up. It is amazing how young it starts with kids feeling left out, mistreated and like no one likes them. I hope you will learn something from this case and thank you all again for your incredibly kind words of …

This week was one filled with headlines about scores of girls who were sexually abused by their team doctor sometimes with their parents present in the room. These stories are not exceptions, they are harsh realities we all live with but don’t like to talk about. So, today I thought I would share my experience …