Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in children is a psychiatric disorder that can persist into adulthood. Students with ODD have an underdeveloped conscience and poor relationship skills. They display a great deal of aggression and purposefully annoy others. The actions of...
It is normal for young children to deny allegations, blame others for their mistakes or make up stories. They find it hard to distinguish fiction from reality. Until the age of six or seven, fantasy is a part of children's...
One of the biggest challenges for parents is when they have feelings toward their children that feel "wrong." Some parents find it difficult to love a particular child. A parent may “play favorites” in his/her heart, trying desperately to hide...
Feeling good about me was something I sought for my patients to achieve. Through a game that was developed by Michael R Sheehan, PhD, called The Self-Esteem Game we did achieve it. The first time I played it in my...
When I say that family counseling techniques should include being impressed with parents, I should clarify that what I am really referring to is that counselors should be impressed by parents in the eyes of the child. I was recently on...
Most of us can remember being influenced through a caring relationship by another person, someone who went from powerful to influential: a teacher who saw a particular strength, a school counselor who nudged effort, or a care-giver who nurtured us during...
Our children have innate strengths that we can cultivate if we are perceptive enough to identify those gifts. Child learning reveals strengths at times when they are distracted with play. With a good-natured child, we delight in the happiness the...
The key to any therapeutic relationship is trust. In order for a client to share important thoughts and feelings that are critical to the therapeutic process, the therapist must establish rapport building at the beginning of the relationship with the...
TMI. Too. Much. Information. For teenagers today, every thought, impulse, rivalry, and broken heart is open fodder for the world. When they get angry, they Tweet about it. When they get inspired, they update their Facebook status. Though this generation...
[caption id="attachment_1688" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Image credit: David Castillo Dominici"][/caption] The true consequences of domestic violence and childhood abuse are one of the great mysteries of mental health. As painful as it is to even mention, the recent trial of Penn...
In case you haven’t noticed, one of Hollywood’s favorite bad boys is back on TV. Charlie Sheen’s new sitcom Anger Management recently debuted on FX and set a record for the most watched sitcom premiere in cable history. Playing a...
I remember working with a young boy with medicated ADHD years ago. His mother had given birth to him when she was 18 and his older sister when she was only 16. Though she clearly loved her children a lot...
