The Knowledge Center

Thank The Person Who You Don’t Like

By Dr. Larry Grubb

I once worked with a man who I would feel angry towards every time we got together. I just couldn’t understand why he bothered me so much. It was only after I had a chance to think about my reaction to him that I realized that he was showing me all the things I didn’t like about myself!…

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The Emotional Bank Account

By: Dr. Larry Grubb If you are involved with Facebook you’ve probably had the experience where you read a comment a friend wrote about you and you immediately say “I can’t believe what she said about me! I trusted her! I’ll never speak to her again!” Your friend just made a huge withdrawal from her Emotional Bank Account (EBA) with you and it will take a lot of work to refill the account and repair the relationship.…

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Total Wellness and Mental Health

Your diet, what you do to take care of yourself and how you lead your life all have a direct impact on both physical and mental wellbeing. In fact, the immune system and our physiological status can be influenced by what we do on a daily basis. Dr. Nick R.S. Hall at the University of South Florida lecturing on the Mind-Body connection offered the following guidelines for maintaining a healthy body and a positive and effective psychological state: Keep blood sugar low (fasting glucose = 100);…

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The Latest Treatment Plan

Last Fall (2016) I attended the Psychiatric Congress in Miami, Florida.  Having attended their meetings in previous years, I was looking forward to hearing the latest, up tp date, state of the art, treatments and medication protocols for depression, anxiety and bi polar disorders.  The speakers were all prominent clinicians and research scientists in the field. …

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The APA Report on Stress in America

The American Psychological Association conducts an annual survey to assess overall stress levels and the sources that generate our concerns. Before 2016 the main issues were money, work and the economy. In 2016 people were becoming focused on the presidential election. Those who use social media appeared more concerned about the election (54%) than those who do not use social media (45%). …

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Adolescent Depression

Adolescence can be a challenging time for children (and their parents). Hormonal changes, physical development and increasingly complex peer relationships all contribute to psychological concerns and conflicts. Since adolescence is a time of shifting moods and changes in perceptions (‘you’re the worst parents…ever!”) it is sometimes difficult to understand which behaviors are “normal” and which behaviors represent the development of significant psychopathology.…

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Dream a Little Dream

It is common practice in psychoanalysis for the patient to report the content of dreams as part of treatment. Sigmund Freud believed that dreams were a window into the unconscious mind. Therefor, by understanding and interpreting the content of dreams the patient would reveal thoughts and images that would possibly clarify current or past experiences,…

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The Serotonin – Depression Connection

Recent articles( such as this piece from psychcentral.com have posited the notion that serotonin is not a significant component of the depressive process .Further, that drug companies, having developed serotonin enhancing medicines, began an advertising campaign to “convince” the public that serotonin was the “cure” for depression.The idea that drug companies would conspire to mislead the public is quite questionable ( although I do enjoy a good conspiracy theory).…

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The Most Powerful Treatment for Depression

The title of this 2008 study says it all: “Faster remission of chronic depression with combined psychotherapy and medication than with each therapy alone”. The study of over 650 patients with depression compared medication treatment alone to medication treatment plus psychotherapy. The results were clear: patients on medication and therapy recovered from chronic (meaning repeated episodes of) depression faster than patients on either treatment alone.…

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Worried and tense every day? It could be Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a common and recurring condition. Typical symptoms include near-daily worry, anxiety, tension, feeling on edge, irritability, and sleep disturbance. Features of panic attacks and/or social anxiety may also be present. Your primary care doctor may have already ruled out medical causes such as thyroid, electrolyte, cardiac,…

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