Author: Naomi Sternberg, M.S., L.C.M.F.T.

June 1st, 2014

It would be outstanding if it would be so simple to improve one’s marriage just by itemizing “10 do it yourself fix it solutions”. However, based on my experiences with couples, I have seen some common threads that can be utilized to help any marriage gain a positive momentum assuming that the spouses are not suffering from severe mental and or personality disorders. That is a different venue altogether. Couples have a tendency …
0 comments

Author: Allan J. Katz

What does it mean to be addicted to work?

Workaholism is merely a reaction to a need to be right, to be in control. According to Judith Sills, Ph.D. in Excess Baggage, "You are an organized person who treasures productivity. If you had a psychiatric label it would be obsessive & compulsive, and you brag about being a workaholic."
0 comments

Author: Mindy Hajdu, MS, LMSW

November 27th, 2012

Moshe and Sarah have been married for 5 years. Moshe describes Sarah as controlling and critical. Sarah describes Moshe as withdrawn and aloof. The conflict between Moshe and Sarah has increased with time, causing each to feel disillusioned with the other.

Just as in mainstream society, our community too has its share of couples living in a state of mutual disconnection and contention. The reason? "He needs to change!" she wags her finger. "She needs to wake up and smell the coffee!" he rebuffs. Each holds onto his or her position tenuously. Until then, husband and wife pass by like ships in the night, living two very lonely lives.
0 comments

About a year ago I received two invitations in the mail, two Bar mitzvahs within two weeks of each other. Both boys were from one-parent homes. From one of the invitations, I was able to gather that it was going to be a joint party, meaning both mother and father were making one party together.The other invitation only had the name of one parent on it. When I saw it my heart broke, and I cried. As a divorced single mom, I was sad for this soon t …
0 comments

             Surie entered the therapist’s office with cautious optimism. Several people had recommended this particular counselor which gave her hope that her anxiety and depression might be lessened. She had seen one or two other professionals for similar symptoms in the past and had experienced some relief. What she really hoped for was that the antidepressant medication that a …
0 comments

November 27th, 2012

Shmuel is an 8 year old boy who cannot tolerate changes in his routine and if
things do not go the way he expects them to, he can erupt into a tantrum that
terrifies his mother and his siblings. For example, one night, Shmuel wanted to
read a book that his brother was reading and promptly took it out of his brother's
hands. His mother tried to educate Shmuel that it was inappropriate to do that
but Shmuel just didn't unde …
0 comments

Author: Lisa Twerski, LCSW

July 27th, 2014

Differentiating Between Dysfunction, Disorders and Domestic AbuseIt can be very confusing to people who feel abused in their marriage, to try and determine if the cause is a dysfunctional relationship that may have some abusive features, a spouse with a mental illness or domestic abuse. In fact, some of the abusive ways one may be treated by their spouse, may be similar from situation to situation. …
0 comments

Author: Aviva Barnett

March 4th, 2013

Have you contemplated psychotherapy and counselling feeling unsure which approach to choose? Well help is at hand now with this whistle stop tour of different types of therapies, providing an insight into each approach. So let’s start with a well known name most people have heard of Mr. Sigmund Freud. Freud was the grandfather of the psychodynamic movement. Freud observed women suffering from hysteria and diagnosed them, interpreting their symptoms.
0 comments

Author: Marlene Greenspan, MA, LPC

May 28th, 2014

Death, at any age, means painful finality. Whether the deceased was a friend, spouse, sibling, parent or child, the loss of this dear person is permanent and the ones left behind feel abandoned and alone. There is no further opportunity to share thoughts, experiences, ideas and apologies. No further opportunity to be companions along the way. The loved person is here no longer and that conclusiveness is all-encompassing. This realization of final …
0 comments

March 11th, 2015

Dr. Shoshi Lewin     Social History: Client is a middle aged married employed male. Client was born to a lower class family and was originally employed as a stable boy. He worked his way up to the ranks through his prowess in the military. He became king through his first marriage to Vashti, daughter of Nevuchadnetzar. He is the ruler of 127 nations. He has been married twice, has one son, and has hundreds of women in his harem. Clinica …
0 comments

Author: Dr. Yisroel Susskind, Ph.D.

September 1st, 2012

For years, I have taught clients that Torah forbids us from acting and speaking in anger. We have a right to take unilateral action to protect our legitimate needs; that action should be done with calmness, courage, determination and forcefulness; but without anger, hatred, resentment or vengeance. People need to communicate their hurt, clearly and directly, and that communication is obscured when they speak in anger.
0 comments

The purpose of this article is to recommend strategies for social workers to deal with attachment problems in adoptive families (adoptive parents and adopted children). Forming a strong bond is one of the most important challenges for an adoptive parent and an adoptive child. Two to four percent of families in America include an adopted child (van den Dries et al., 2009).

When adoptive parents adopt a child, the process of attachment usually takes place naturally, however, there are sometimes impediments to forming secure attachments. Insecure attachment in its different forms can affect the adopted child's relationships in the future, as well as self-concept and self-esteem.
0 comments

Author: Reizl Kessin MHC

May 12th, 2013

Shloimy looks lovingly and tenderly over at Rochel, his kallah. He has awaited this moment his whole life. He cannot believe how blessed he is to have found such a sweet and understanding person. He can't wait one minute more til they can be alone at last and share their future together. Rochel is just as eager to wed Shloimy. His kind eyes and empathetic smile make her feel safe at last. She can finally escape the insanity of her family's house and begin a new journey filled with hope and possibilities for a happy new life.
0 comments

Author: Shuli Sandler, Psy.D.

August 19th, 2014

Recently, I met with a lovely middle-aged man in my office. His calm demeanor and mellow style made him quite likable and easy to get along with. When he described a childhood with a chronic history of aggressive outbursts, I was surprised. He disclosed, somewhat shamefully, an incident where he had lashed out at a classmate out of rage and frustration when he was being teased, and ended up physically hitting and punching the child. Even now, man …
0 comments

August 25th, 2012

Leah Abramowitz The very words put fear into the hearts of everyone who hears them: dementia, Alzheimer's disease, cognitive decline, organic mental illness. We live in a generation when the number of people affected by dementia has ballooned beyond imagination. Everyone knows someone who suffers from a progressive deterioration of the mind: memory decline, inability to learn, impaired judgment, distorted orientation to time and place or behavio …
0 comments

August 25th, 2012

Dr. Miriam Adahan As a teenager, I suffered from occasional panic attacks, social anxiety, and more than the usual amount of teenage angst. In today's drug-obsessed society, I would certainly have been given psych meds; thankfully, back then, it was expected that maturity would bring greater resilience and awareness. And so it was. Over the years, I developed numerous skills to help calm myself. I also learned that all normal people have ups an …
0 comments

Like most of you, I enjoy the comforts of living in the modern age. Cutting edge technology has provided me with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation in my car, a BlackBerry in my pocket to communicate with others around the globe, and medical advances that saved my left hand when I fell off a trampoline many moons ago as a teenager. However, it is also abundantly apparent that there are a number of drawbacks to life in this era. One, w …
2 comments

Author: David Rosmarin, Ph.D.

February 25th, 2014

According to the Gallup Poll and Pew Forum, more than 90% of Americans believe in G-d, and religion is “very important” to more than 50% of the population. In fact, even in the least religious enclaves of the country (e.g., New Hampshire), nearly a quarter of residents attend religious services weekly and more than two-fifths pray on a daily basis. Furthermore, even in this increasingly secular period of history, spirituality continue …
0 comments

November 27th, 2012

Rates of anxiety among young people in America have steadily increased over the
past fifty to seventy years. Today, five to eight times as many high school and college
students meet the criteria for diagnosis of major depression and/or an anxiety disorder.
As many as 20 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 16 experience some
type of anxiety, compared to the 5 percent of kids worldwide with attention deficit/
hype …
0 comments

Morris N. Mann, Ph.D. If you google parenting and self-esteem you will find there are close to 2 million results. It has become an accepted that the primary job of parenting is to build your child's self-esteem. A typical argument is put forward by http://www.EffectiveParenting.org, which came up number one on a Google search. It reads as follows: "Children learn their first lessons about self-esteem from their parents. If children feel good ab …
0 comments

By Dvorah Levy, LCSW The initial image that came to mind was of a heart surgeon losing his patient on the operating table. That is what I was thinking when Sara called me saying she had decided to divorce Avi. They had begun therapy ten weeks prior. It was to be a last attempt at saving the marriage, but I knew at the time that my work was cut out for me. At a certain point in a relationship, when there has been a history of discord, feelings of …
0 comments

March 4th, 2013

The initial image that came to mind was of a heart surgeon losing
his patient on the operating table. That is what I was thinking when
Sara called me saying she had decided to divorce Avi. They had begun
therapy ten weeks prior. It was to be a last attempt at saving the
marriage, but I knew at the time that my work was cut out for me.
At a certain point in a relationship, when there has been a history of
discord, fee …
0 comments

In Zmiros Friday night we say that Menucha V'simcha Ohr Layhudim, calm and happiness are a light for the Jew. How appropriate this is in our times, how much we long for Menucha from our anxieties and Vsimcha from our depressions. True that we are in a world that moves faster and the responsibilities and pressures are more than ever before. The flip side is that Hashem always creates the solution before he sends the problem. The solutions are amo …
0 comments

Author: Dvorah Levy, LCSW

May 28th, 2014

Ideally, for a couple to work on their marriage, it is best to have both partners come in to therapy. Unfortunately though, that doesn’t always happen. Many times one spouse cannot convince his/her partner to join him/her, and that’s when one partner ends up in my office alone. What happens then? Can couple therapy actually work with just one partner? Sara felt very criticized by her husband. He tended to point out the very thing that …
0 comments

Author: Chana Kaiman, LCSW and Miriam Yerushalmi, MS

January 5th, 2015

Definitions of Hate: Repulsion Intense dislike Disliking an unappealing object The desire to eliminate the “enemy” Eliminating the “other”   Origin of Hate: Hate is the opposite of love; it is a deep and passionate emotion that is essentially destructive. A convenient excuse for dysfunction, ineffectiveness and misfortune, hate assigns blame to the vulnerable. The need to protect self-esteem, reduce fears and strength …
0 comments

Author: Rabbi Dovid M. Cohen, Esq.

March 4th, 2013

I once heard a story about asingle man struggling to find a spouse. His main challenge was his insistence that a potential matepermanently welcome his widowed mother into their marital home. A friend suggested that he speak with the great authority,HaravShlomoZalmanAuerbachzt’l. The single man shared with the Ravhis delicate predicament. The Rav validated the man’s approach as acceptable.Sometime later, the man met his “bashert,” the special women willing to live along with mom. They returned
0 comments

Author: Audrey Grazi, LCSW

May 28th, 2014

As a graduate social work student in 2008, my vision for helping people was exhilarating and somewhat idealistic. My favorite part of the school semester was going to the NYU bookstore to purchase the required books for my classes and browse through some of the other sections to see what the future would bring for the other courses that would be coming my way. I didn’t know what to expect from the group therapy course I was about to begin, …
0 comments

Author: Kalman Canant, LCSW

February 25th, 2014

Bracha showed up late to her job late that morning on September 11, 2001. To her shock, nothing was left of her coworkers and acquaintances. Everything was destroyed by the terrorists. By the time Bracha made her way to my office 10 years later, it was still a struggle to even leave her residence. In addition to teaching Bracha coping tools of how to manage her PTSD symptoms, a main healing factor was her developing a belief perspective about the …
0 comments

Author: Michael J. Salamon, Ph.D.

November 27th, 2013

In a 1943 paper entitled “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Dr. Abraham Maslow, a prominent psychologist, proposed what has come to be known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The Hierarchy, often pictured as a pyramid, contains five levels of needs thought to be common to all. These five levels are a road map that each individual must fulfill as they progress to the pinnacle of self-actualization, the goal point of need at which a person overc …
0 comments

February 19th, 2013

By Pamela Siller

The phone rang once, but was ignored.  However, the caller was persistent, and the pattern was repeated.  Mrs. Rosen sat at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. She did not need the caller ID to tell her that her daughter’s school was calling yet again. Leah’s problems started when she was a young child.  Her early tantrums were passed off as the normal “terrible two’s,&r …
0 comments

David looked down at his hastily scrawled "to do" list. First he needed to buy 613 tickets for the Mega Millions. He knew that he would win, because he was using the number Hashem had used specifically as a guide for him to follow. Next, he had to buy 18 hamsters and gerbils, 36 cats and birds, and 72 pedigree dogs to open a specialized pet store for the Jewish community. He already had his eye on a storefront in the center of Avenue J in Brookl …
0 comments

November 27th, 2012

BIPOLAR – NOT A LIFE SENTENCE

By Dr. Miriam Adahan

Chaim* was admired in yeshiva for his incredible diligence. His days were consumed
with learning and he could be found in the Beis Midrash almost 24/7. For him, sleep was a waste
of time.Great things were forecast for his future until neighbors found him lying in the middle of
the street in Geula, hallucinating that he was Moshiach. Medications stopped h …
0 comments

by Rabbi Shlomo Slatkin MS, LCPC Have you ever wondered what prompts couples to give up on their marriage? While there are certain events that can push a marriage over the edge, many couples are successfully able to weather a lousy marriage for a long time. Other than infidelity, I have observed that therapy is often the cause for one spouse to throw in the towel and give up. No, I am not referring to bad marriage therapy that often sounds like …
0 comments

February 19th, 2013

Lili Grun, LCSW
Rabbi Richard Louis Price M.D.



The theme of boundaries is woven throughout Jewish culture. This theme is apparent in the first human action. Adam delineated between human and animal, and created a boundary of identity for each animal through naming. Avraham was called  haIvri  (“the one from the other side”) because he distinguished himself from others, standing one side of a spiri …
0 comments

We are pleased to inform you that BINA is sponsoring a two-day intensive training seminar for mental health and rehabilitation professionals, Brain Injury Family Intervention (BIFI): An Evidence Based Approach - Practical Approaches to Effective Intervention after Brain Injury. The seminar provides a valuable opportunity to learn from leading professionals in the field. Presenters will be Drs. Jeffrey Kreutzer and Emilie Godwin of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center, leading experts on traumatic brain injury, family adjustment, and family therapy. Dr. Kreutzer is the creator of the BIFI. Please see the attached brochure for program details.
0 comments

Author: Sara Teichman, PsyD

May 13th, 2013

Tantrums, especially when they are thrown in public, are no fun. Even in private, they frustrate us and make us wonder what has happened to the child we love. Interestingly, tantrums are often cited as the most challenging issue that parents face.
0 comments

February 19th, 2013

“My student’s mother is impossible!” exclaimed Mrs. Melamed to the teachers.  “Her son’s pants are always falling down an inch.  I’ve been making an extra check box in red next to his homework with the word ‘belt’ to remind Mom.  She fills out the rest of the homework but ignores ‘belt;’the next day, this kid’s pants are falling down.”  Ever sympathetic, t …
0 comments

  In facilitating an historic program last year, New York Help Center in conjunction with Interborough Developmental and Consultation Center and NEFESH International was at the forefront of providing an abuse prevention program that involved the participation of many Yeshivas throughout New York. This program encompassed educating educators, parents as well as children with the skills children need to be safe from abuse. Well respected expe …
0 comments

Author: Jenny Sassoon, L.M.S.W. Last summer, I read one of the best novels I have read in a long time:  "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.  I was inspired by this novel in many ways, and there is one piece in the novel that particularly spoke to me as it relates to building healthy self-esteem in children and young adults. One of the main characters in the novel is a maid named Aibileen.  Aibileen is responsible for cleaning and watch …
0 comments

Author: Jenny Sassoon, L.M.S.W.

March 4th, 2013

Last summer, I read one of the best novels I have read in a long time: “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. I was inspired by this novel in many ways, and there is one piece in the novel that particularly spoke to me as it relates to building healthy self-esteem in children and young adults. One of the main characters in the novel is a maid named Aibileen. Aibileen is responsible for cleaning and watching a two-year old little girl named Mae Mobley. This little girl’s mother often openly criticizes her two year-old daughter for not doing the right thing (i.e. what her mother wants her to do.)
0 comments