When I was nine, I had a bad experience while in the hospital with scarlet fever. A nurse restrained me and abruptly poked a needle into my arm, inflicting a pain that felt worse than a bee sting. I avoided having blood taken for the next 20 years, even if it meant risking my health.

I think we all have at least one area in our life that we truly want to change for the better. Quite often it is simply an issue of our "child-like" selves resisting the ideas for change brought on by our "adult" selves. So yes, I talked to myself. Out loud I might add. I must have looked mildly of a crazy person walking through Rosedale muttering words of encouragement under my breath. But I did feel better after the "talk."

"Just get a therapist — they get paid to listen to your problems." We've all heard this one before, right? The problem is, it's just not true. M...

Why is it so difficult to treat depression? Part of the problem is in our definition of the term. In fact, there are two distinct depressions: situational and clinical. It would be so much easier if we called the two depressions by different names, for then we could explain better how we feel and know better what might help.

I remember being careful with my clients, forming my questions and responses so as not to challenge them. But sometimes, after a session, I felt rather inauthentic. I knew that what I was thinking and what I was speaking were offset by "niceness."

The worst type of advice my patients describe involves dating; the most egregious being that they should "give the guy another chance." Usually this advice comes after one of my patients has gone on one or two dates with someone who's behaved pretty badly.