Articles by Center Professionals

Happy 2008! The Center of Psychological Effectiveness is excited to begin the 19th year of working with delightful patients. It is our privilege to be invited into your lives to facilitate positive change. It takes courage to take the initiative to invite a professional to be your advocate and be a catalyst for change. We also appreciate your confidence in our professionalism and the other patients that you refer to us.

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Trauma impacts our lives in so many ways. Trauma is the sadness, emptiness, and depletion we feel when we are confronted with unexpected loss and/or violence. The more unexpected the trauma, the more difficult and extreme are the emotions.

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Parent Survival Tips

By Priscilla V. Marotta, PH.D.

The majority of parents love their children and work hard to procide them with life's opportunities. Parents need to tap into the JOY of bringing up children. Here are some tips for exepriencing the joy of parenting.

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PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIC PLANNING

By Priscilla V. Marotta, PH.D.

Psychological Strategic Planning is a key essential to a quality of life. My favorite saying is the PSP (psychological strategic planning) is better than ESP (extra-sensory perception)! What is so special about PSP? 

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WEIGHT MANAGEMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH

By LINDA KAYE, LMHC

If you are like many people, you would probably like to lose a few pounds or even a lot of weight. Maybe you have been trying to accomplish this for months or years and feel let down because your efforts haven’t worked. Being overweight puts us at risk for health problems. 

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Coping with cancer

By jossette spitaletto, MS

Initially, most people with cancer need some time to accept the diagnosis they are given, to think about what is most important in their lives, and to find support from loved ones. For many, this is a difficult time that is full of emotions. Feelings such as disbelief, shock, fear, and anger are all normal. 

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

BY: LEAH OLSHEIN, PSY.D., L.M.F.T.

You might remember Jack Nicholson’s performance in the movie “As Good As It Gets” when he suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He had several symptoms from an inability to step on cracks between sidewalk squares to bringing his own silverware to the same restaurant he frequented daily to avoid exposure to germs. This is one instance of OCD but it can take many forms and have varying degrees of severity on quality of life.

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Communication Mishaps to Avoid

BY: LEAH OLSHEIN, PSY.D., L.M.F.T.

Everyday we rely on our abilities to communicate with others. For the most part, we do just fine making our way through our daily routines. Yet, as soon as we need to speak with the people most important to us (our spouses, children, relatives, coworkers), the communication skills seem to break down.

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No More Excuses

BY: LEAH OLSHEIN, PSY.D., L.M.F.T.

You just got through another holiday season. The monotony of the routine schedule was broken with vacations, travel, family visits, no school, great food, and presents! As much fun as it was, it’s time for damage control. The damage assessment might include a five-pound weight gain, a thinned out wallet from over spending, and a messy house from visitors and festivities. Now, your New Year resolutions have been declarations to regain control by going to the gym, re-starting your diet, and working more over-time.  

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Strategies To Help Divorced Parents with School-Age Children

BY Cindy Harari, Esq

Beginning the school year can be stressful as the lazy days of summer give way to a more rigorous schedule. The hectic pace of school, extracurricular activities and parental work schedules is especially challenging for divorced families where children shuttle between two homes. Many children have had the unfortunate experience of being at one parent’s home and needing something that is at the other parent’s home. These situations create stress for everyone involved, and now is the perfect time for divorced parents to think about how to avoid them.

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Parenting After Divorce –
Cooperative, Parallel, or Somewhere In-Between?

BY Cindy Harari, Esq

One of many difficult things parents must do after divorce is deal with their child’s other parent. While some aspects of “the deal” are spelled out in documents such as temporary or permanent court orders or final marital settlement agreements, most of the “parenting” details are not explicitly written down.

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Parenting Coordination -- A Missing Piece of the Divorce Puzzle

BY Cindy Harari, Esq

Parenting coordination is a hybrid Alternative Dispute Resolution process. It is not therapy, advocacy or evaluation. A Parenting Coordinator (“PC”) provides the following services to families before, during, and after divorce: assessment, education, coordination, conflict management, mediation, and arbitration – all related to child-focused issues. Typically, the PC is court-appointed in “high conflict” cases after parents have demonstrated their inability to resolve child-focused issues. But wouldn’t it make more sense to be proactive and give families access to parenting coordination as a resource early in the process?

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Anger Management

BY HILARY W. glassER, PSY.D.

Anger is a normal and basic human emotion. Depending on how it is managed and expressed, anger can have positive or negative consequences. Feelings of anger can signal when our rights are being violated or our needs are being ignored.

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The Importance of Family Ritual

BY HILARY W. glassER, PSY.D.

Creating family rituals strengthens a family and can provide a sense of identity for a child. Family rituals give children a sense of belongingness and a feeling of being worthwhile. A ritual is any repeated, shared activity that is full of meaning and satisfying for its members.

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Why do we Fear Change?

BY HILARY W. glassER, PSY.D.

Individuals typically seek out psychotherapy with the idea of promoting positive change in their lives. Many sessions focus on a person’s desire to improve things such as their relationships, mood, health, or communication. We often discuss several changes they could make in order to promote increased happiness, security, and over all wellbeing.

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FIXES FOR EMOTIONAL EATING

BY HILARY W. glassER, PSY.D.

• Do you eat when you’re feeling sad, lonely or bored?

• Do you celebrate or reward yourself with food?

• Is there a food you crave when you’re stressed or worried?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be an emotional eater. More and more people are starting to recognize that they eat in response to emotions and moods.

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Positive Parenting Strategies

BY MARK EHRENSHAFT, LCSW

The birth of a new child is filled with joyous anticipation with hopes of a bright future and happy memories. However, challenges such as toilet training, the terrible two’s, and the trials of adolescence often leave parents at a loss for what to do in managing these difficult times.

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Stress Management and Mental Health

BY MARK EHRENSHAFT, LCSW

It has become commonplace today to hear someone talk of being “stressed out” in response to the many overwhelming demands we experience in our day to day lives. In fact, “stress is the most common cause of ill health in society … underlying as many as 70% of all visits to the doctor.”

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