Center for Anxiety
News & Blog
Center for Anxiety
News & Blog
Bringing 2020 Home
By Aliza Shapiro, LCSW The last few weeks of 2020 are officially upon us, and as we mark off the remaining calendar days we may notice ourselves starting to recount and reflect on what we’ve made of this completely unprecedented year. 2020 has not been what anyone...
How to Solve a Problem in Seven Easy Steps
By Dovid Spinka, LMSW Unwanted situations are an inevitable part of life. Fully embracing and radically accepting that fact is a firm basis to managing difficult emotions. Acceptance is especially important when there is nothing we can do, such as when the weather is...
Remaining Connected to Our Co-Workers During Quarantine
By Nikki Eskenasi, PsyD Many of us have been more isolated than ever over the past several months throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the challenge of spending so much time away from friends and loved ones, it can be particularly hard to remain connected...
Back to School???
By Marcia Kimeldorf, PhD In most years, back to school involves anticipation of new friends, new classes, new school supplies, new books, and new experiences. In some ways, this year is like any other, but in many other ways, it is completely different since “back to...
Adjusting to the “New Normal”
By Shoshana Levie, LCSW Over the last five months, it seemed as though a large majority of conversations began with: “When this is all over, I can’t wait to…” or “I just want to get back to…” Given the considerable upheaval that the global pandemic has caused, it is...
Coping During a Time of Uncertainty
By Hudi Kowalsky, LMHC Recent events at the global, national and local levels have left many of us feeling uncertain. Our offices and leisure spaces have been shuttered due to COVID-19. We have been forced to spend more time in solitude, and we have been denied many...
COVID-19: From Anxiety to Sadness
By Becca Brodoff, PsyD Over the past few months, I’ve noticed a shift in myself and in my patients. When COVID-19 was first showing up in the U.S., anxiety was running high. Most people were overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the illness and how it would affect them...
Increasing Positive Emotions in the midst of the COVID-19 Crisis
By Staci Berkowitz, Ph.D. We are now in the midst of a COVID-19 crisis. If you are a human on this planet right now, you have likely experienced any number of emotions that are normative reactions to crisis situations, including fear, anxiety, sadness, frustration,...
COVID-19 Anxiety
By David H. Rosmarin, PhD, ABPP Almost overnight, America’s anxiety level has gone through the roof. As media feeds overwhelm us with information that we repeatedly and compulsively check into the late hours of the night. Supermarkets are inundated with customers and...
Bouncing Back from New Year’s Resolution Setbacks
By Dovid Spinka, LMSW “I really should go to the gym this week… After all, I signed up for an annual membership in January and I’m paying a significant amount of money for it.”"I committed to reading every day for a half-hour, but I can count on one hand the number of...
Three Strategies to Reduce and Resist Obsessions
By Rachel Lacks, EdM Do you ever have an itching feeling that you just have to do something, or else the thought of doing it will haunt you? Do you ever feel the need to re-read a sentence in your book again, or to go back to re-read a whole paragraph, or a whole...
Four Things to Do About FOMO
By Nikki Eskenasi, PsyD Throughout the past few years, the phenomenon of FOMO, or the fear of missing out, has plagued many of us at one time or another. In the age of social media, and particularly around the holiday season, we may find ourselves making comparisons...
Giving Thanks: Three Positive Psychology Strategies to Foster Emotional Wellbeing
By Daniel Volk, MA When is the last time you stopped to deliberately think about what is going well in your life? If you can’t remember, you are not alone. We are so often caught up in who we ought to be, where we ought to be, and how things ought to be, that we...
Am I Seeing Things Clearly? A Guide to Thinking-Mistakes That We All Make
By Marcia B. Kimeldorf, PhD “I got a bad grade on my test! I’m such a loser and now I know I’m going to fail the class!” “My boss gave me one low rating on my work evaluation. He has it in for me, and he hates me!” Have you ever had a thought like these? If so,...
Putting the Pieces Together When We Fall Apart
By Anouk Allart, PhD "That's the way the mind works: The human brain is genetically disposed toward organization, yet if not tightly controlled, will link one imagerial fragment to another on the flimsiest of pretense and in the most freewheeling manner, as if it...
Become Your Superhero Self: Four Lessons we can all Learn from Superheros
By Yoni Sobin, PsyD Lesson #1: Origin Stories “A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended.” Batman reflected these words at the end of The Dark...
How to cool down your mind and body in the summer heat!
By Rebecca Holczer, PsyD Summer is in full swing, and so are the air conditioners! With heat indexes hitting over 100 degrees in some places, we are all looking for ways to keep our bodies cool. While the summertime is traditionally viewed as a time to relax, it is...
Nature vs. Nurture & Why Validation Matters
By Aliza Shapiro, LMSW The debate of nature versus nurture has long influenced the way that we, as scientists, therapists, and people, understand our unique personalities and our mental health. Marsha Linehan, the founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT),...
Depression: Why we can’t “just snap out of it” and what can we do?
By Thanos Nioplias, LMHC Most people believe that the primary symptom of depression is sadness. Even though this perception is somewhat accurate, depression is, in reality, a much more complicated state that includes not only negative emotions but also...
Ten Strategies for a Good Night’s Sleep (Without Medication!)
By Ben Johnides, MA Getting a good night’s rest is very important. Sleep helps us maintain the energy and concentration to meet the needs of everyday life. It is also a key factor in regulating our mood: Recent research suggests that improvements in sleep help people...
You’ve Gotta #Hustle: Managing Anxiety in your Career
By Aliza Tropper, LMHC Scrolling through social media you’ve surely noticed an overwhelming amount of content around “hustling” (as if it’s a new trend to push hard at work). Nicely designed graphics, encouraging comments, and creative posts flood our feeds with the...
Five Common Myths about Anxiety Dispelled
By Becca Brodoff, PsyD. Panic attacks are dangerous. If you have ever experienced a panic attack, you know that the symptoms of panic are real and intense. Some people have a whole-body reaction, with physical changes like choking sensations, dizziness, sweating,...
Tips to Managing Stress and Anxiety Over the Holiday Season
By Hudi Kowalsky, LMHC For many people, the Holiday season comes with mixed emotions. Some of the pro’s include crisp winter mornings, holiday cheer, great retail sales, and festive spirit all around. But the holidays can also create considerable tension, stress, and...
Test and Exam Anxiety
By Mark Staum, LCSW The months of October and November bring new weather patterns, new daylight schedules and new challenges for children. Exams, projects, and papers are back in full swing. Some children may experience some level of anxiety, in preparation for an...
The Quiet Child: At What Point is Shyness… “Too Shy?”
By Sara Berlin, LMSW It is common for people, especially children, to struggle with transitioning to the fall season. At the start of each school year, many children present as shy and struggle to interact with peers and teachers. While the majority of such children...
Back to School
By Tonya Swartzendruber, MA For many families, the fall represents a significant transition period. Returning to a school schedule can be daunting for kids and parents alike. Earlier bedtimes, packed morning routines, performance expectations, and more time away from...
Staying Cool in Summer Heat
By Yoni Sobin, PsyD In the winter, we face an increased risk of flu and seasonal depression, so we stay vigilant for contagions, stay warm, and keep engaged in activities with others (see my previous article on loneliness -...
The Science of Acceptance (and How to Get “Unstuck”)
By Aliza Dinerstein, LMSW Throughout life, many of us experience periods of time when we find ourselves feeling stuck. We may feel stuck in an unfulfilling job, stuck in a conflict with a good friend, or even stuck in our own feelings of depression, panic, or fear....
Teen Mental Health: What Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Can Offer
By Thanos Nioplias, MA Anxiety and depression are clearly on the rise among teenagers. And it’s not only psychologists and educators who are concerned. Everyday conversations among teens focus on how stressed and anxious they feel, and the press has recently written...
“Effective” Parenting: More than Behavioral Control
By Gavi Hoffnung, PhD Being a parent is incredibly rewarding, but also tremendously demanding. Our office receives hundreds of phone calls each year from parents seeking guidance in how to better manage their children’s behaviors. Above all, they are striving to...
Holiday Self-Care
By Laura Vraney, PsyD While the Spring holiday season ushers in nicer weather and rays of optimism, there is no question that it also brings about anxiety. At times, we may become so distracted by the to-do list, both leading up to and during the holiday time that we...
Think Before you Post: Managing Anxiety in the Era of Social Media
By Rebecca Holczer, MA As a member of many Facebook groups (perhaps too many?) I see almost every day how group conversations over social media can easily get out of hand. All group discussions start with an original post, however, it seems more common than not for...
Mind’full’ Eating
By Talia Kaplan, PsyD Mindfulness is the practice of living and being in the present. For people with anxiety, this is an especially important tool to use. It helps a person focus on what they are experiencing in the present moment rather than focus on everything that...
The iPhone Setting That Could Save Your Mental Health
By Aliza Dinerstein, LMSW With mental health awareness on the rise, many individuals are beginning to become more mindful of their internal experiences in day to day life, and the number of adults recognizing feelings of anxiety and depression has reached an all-time...
Taking STEPS to Tackle Anxiety
By Zvi Weiss, PsyD Most research estimates that the average person makes around 35,000 decisions a day. What to eat, what to wear, whether to take this or that route to work, whether to say that thought or keep it to ourselves. Some of these we experience as active...
The Complexity of Eating Disorders
By Laura Vraney, PsyD A common misunderstanding of eating disorders is that sufferers “just want to lose weight.” It’s true that the expectations of “appearance” have intensified over the years. From the abundance of unhealthy weight loss programs to the number of...
9 Tips for a Productive School Year
by Yoni Sobin, PsyD The beginning of the school year brings many challenges for children and parents alike. Perhaps most of all is the challenge of staying on top of all the tasks that need to get done! For some, staying productive may feel overwhelming, for others it...
How to Conquer Difficult Emotions with Dialectical Behavior Therapy
By Aliza Dinerstein, LMSW Throughout life individuals encounter a kaleidoscope of experiences, each one eliciting a specific emotional reaction ranging from joy, love and hope, to anxiety, anger, or fear. Although one instinctively strives to increase positive...
Four Strategies to Get Some Zzzzzzz’s
By Ariel Campbell Most adults have experienced symptoms of insomnia at some point in their lives. In fact, according to the National Sleep Foundation between 30-50% of adults have occasional difficulties falling or staying asleep, waking up early, or waking up not...
Beyond Clinical Judgment: Using Progress Monitoring to Guide Treatment and Improve Outcomes
By Tonya Swartzendruber A recent article in The Atlantic featured a topic near and dear to us at the Center for Anxiety: Using data to inform evidence based treatment. The author, Tony Rosmaniere, argues that the field of psychotherapy, and our clients, benefit...
Five Rules for Giving Instructions that Children Will Obey
Written by Jacquelyn Blocher Previous blog posts have addressed several strategies to decrease your child’s problem behaviors, from being consistent with discipline (link) to the power of praise and attending to positive behaviors (links). Learning to give attention...
Making New Years Resolutions Work
Written by Ariel Campbell For many of us, entering into the New Year can bring about thoughts of change. It can be a time of retrospection when we reflect on our life choices and consider improvements we would like to make. It’s probably the case that most of us, at...
It’s the Most Loneliest Time of the Year
Written by Yoni Sobin This time yearly, society blasts us with holiday music, jingles, lights, and festivities as individuals of all backgrounds celebrate holidays both secular and religious. We’re told this is a time for family, coming together, and celebration....
Anxiety Disorders in Children: A Family Affair
Written by Regine Galanti When a child has anxiety, it often becomes a family rather than individual problem. While an adult with anxiety might suffer alone with racing thoughts of danger, or avoidance of anxiety provoking situations, children with anxiety are best...
Decisions, Decisions…
Written by Thanos Nioplias Making decisions is a complex process that has been examined from various fields including cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. Decision making is also very relevant to psychotherapy, since difficult dilemmas are a known...
Validation Without Reassurance
Written by Hadar Naftalovich [Note: Details have been changed to protect patient privacy] When I started working at the Center for Anxiety, I quickly learned that some of the inquiries we receive are rather different from the typical phone calls I’d been used to. In...
Overcoming Specific Phobias with Exposure Therapy
Written by Regine Galanti While most individuals display some anxiety when facing certain situations, such as spiders, insects, driving, heights, or closed spaces, among others, most of these fears are relatively benign and don’t affect an individual’s functioning....
Staying Present in the Face of Anxiety
Written by Tonya Swartzendruber Most of us are familiar with the feeling of trying to escape from or avoid anxiety – we think that if we avoid a particular place/person/conversation our uncomfortable feeling will go away and never come back. But over time, those who...
Three Strategies to Break Free from the Winter Doldrums
Written by Dovid Green Now that the cold days of winter are (hopefully) behind us, the days are getting longer and the warmth and fun of sun-filled days are ahead. Yet, even though we leave our heavy coats behind, we sometimes have trouble shaking off our own cobwebs...
The Anxiety Bully
Written by Thanos Nioplias Every time a friend or a client shares that an anxiety attack got in the way of work, school, or a social activity, I can’t help but think of the story of a kid who is being bullied. Imagine you're a 5th grade kid in middle school. You love...
Scheduling Effectively: How to Keep Our Focus on Priorities
Written by Malka Akhenblit Do you ever feel increasingly stressed with the number of tasks that you find yourself juggling? Do you have seemingly never-ending distractions that get in the way of attending to your priorities? Oftentimes, it is easy to get caught up in...
Consistency: The Key to Discipline
Written by Regine Galanti Discipline. It’s a topic on every parent’s mind – what’s the best way to get my child to listen? To obey? To become a healthy adult with self-control? How does a parent raise these obedient, independent, self-disciplined children without...
Using Awe to Get Through the Winter
Written by Hadar Naftalovich It can be hard to stay cheerful when one leaves for work before the sun is up, and gets home after it has already set. The lack of sunlight can certainly affect mood and the added stresses of the holiday preparations can make it seem like...
Postpartum anxiety
Written by Debra Alper Ask any new mom to recall the first few weeks of motherhood, and her memories will likely be a mix of happiness and exhaustion, joy and tears. Much has been said about postpartum depression, and many moms know to expect that the early days after...
What Overpriced Makeup Taught Me
Written by Sally Cohen Several months ago, I was hurrying down the streets of Manhattan together with a friend of mine. We were headed back to our dorm to settle down for the evening. It was getting late and we were tired (10 P.M. is way past everyone’s bedtime). On...
Fall Beginnings
Written by Dovid Green With the recent Labor Day holiday as the unofficial closing of the summer season, we say goodbye to vacations, camp, and trips and welcome the fall season. And with that beautiful changing foliage comes the return to work and school. Though we...
Encouraging Positive Behavior in Children
Written by Regine Galanti Picture this: You are playing Legos with your 6-year-old son, and he’s having trouble putting two pieces together. He begins to get frustrated, throws the pieces on the floor, and stomps, “this is the stupidest game EVER!” As a parent, what...
The Lost Art of Learning from a Mentor
Written by Miri Korbman In an age where YouTube tutorials can turn “Average Joes” into experts overnight, learning is quickly becoming a lost art. Terms like “teacher” and “student” are being rendered superfluous to the culture of “self-made”, “self-taught”, and...
The grass is always greener right over here!
Written by Debra Alper It’s a cliché, but so often it seems frustratingly true – Why is the grass always greener on someone else’s lawn?? Call it the envy of what others have, insecurity about one’s own standing, or as some have dubbed it “the grass is always greener...
Let’s Talk About Selective Mutism
Written by Regine Galanti Child anxiety disorders tend to look a lot like their adult counterparts – children can experience Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety, Panic Disorder, and OCD in very similar ways to adults. This, however, is not always the case:...
Life and Loss
Written by Molly Swanberg At some point in life we all face major losses. Whether it be the loss of a job, a friendship, or the death of a loved one, loss is a human inevitability. Although it is something we all experience, our reaction to loss can be very different....
Feeling stuck: How to stop stressing about your stress
Written by Hadar Naftalovich At some points in life, everyone is bound to experience some form of stress. In a city like NY, it would be surprising if we did not experience feeling stressed at least once a day! This stress can take a toll on us, especially those...
Tolerating the Body’s Idiosyncrasies with Love and Patience
Written by Miri Korbman As a young girl, the tiny choking-hazard-size pieces of Lego sets that might eventually be made into a giant city held little appeal for me. Recently, however, I was privileged to spend a few hours (yes, hours!) lost in the brilliant, miniature...
March Madness and Mental Health
Written by Eric Pollak March Madness is in full swing and for many Americans this means 3 weeks of NCAA college basketball, brackets, betting, and lost work time. According to the employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, approximately 50 million...
How to Spot Pseudoscience
Written by Debra Alper The term “pseudoscience” refers to practices that appear to be medically or scientifically related, but actually lack a basis in evidence. In other words – non-scientific products or theories dressed up as science. Indeed, our screens and news...
The Power of Specific Attention
Written by Regine Galanti Many of the parents who walk into my office have a single complaint: They want their children to listen. They might be trying to help their child with problems at school, oppositional behavior, or even anxiety, but parents often articulate...
Beat the Winter Blues
Written by Molly Swanberg It’s that time of year again. Winter has been long, and according to our famous groundhog friend we still have a significant stretch ahead of us. The days are short, and the relentless wrath of Mother Nature has all too often left us trapped...
My New Year’s Resolution to Get More Sleep!
Written by Eric Pollak 2015 is upon us and our local gyms are filling up as people are beginning to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions. According to a University of Scranton study, losing weight, getting organized, and spending less/saving more were the top three...
I touched a creepy, big, fuzzy, nasty, spider and . . .
Written by Hadar Naftalovich For as long as I can remember, I have been scared of spiders. Especially the big ones. In my head, tarantulas are really scary and very very venomous. They can sense fear. It was obvious to me, that if a tarantula ever landed on me, it...
Anxiety and Public Transportation: A Spiritual Approach
Written by Miri Korbman Most New Yorkers are familiar with the predictable unpredictability of public transportation. As a frequent commuter myself, I have often experienced the aggravation of subway delays that then lead to missed trains, to missed classes, to snappy...
Exerting Heroic Efforts
Written by David H. Rosmarin If you could sum up the ultimate goal – the end and be all – of Western civilization in one word, it would probably be “success”. Whether operationally defined by net worth, income, acquisitions, career advancement, community prowess,...
Information overload!!
Written by Debra Alper It’s hard to pause at all these days, without someone or something competing for our attention. Whether it’s the ‘ding’ of new emails beckoning from our inbox, or calls from candidates vying for our vote, the information comes at a quick and...
Parenting Your Anxious Child
Written by Regine Galanti As I've previously discussed here , worry is a normal part of life, and anxiety is quite common among children. As a parent, this scenario might sound familiar: Little Johnny is afraid of spiders. One day he is playing nicely in the park,...
Conversations with Oneself
Written by David H. Rosmarin We may not admit it readily (at least not in public), but everyone does it. In fact, I speculate that it is impossible not to! I’m speaking about, well … speaking to oneself – i.e., having a conversation with no one else but your lonesome...
Happiness at Work
Written by Hadar Naftalovich As many of us return from a (hopefully) pleasant summer, we arrive just in time for the usual hustle and bustle of the back to school period. Not only do children have increasingly busier schedules, but adults are also faced with heavier...
Ignorance is Not Bliss
Written by Molly Swanberg If you are someone who watches the news regularly you will notice that there has been a lot of media chatter recently about the field of mental health. Usually it is something along the lines of “why do people get depressed?” or most recently...
You Need A Vacation!
Written by Debra Alper We all know the type: the student who's up all night, reading and rewriting till the paper's just right. Or the employee who's in on the weekend when everyone else has long since gone home. Call it "type A" or just an incorrigible work ethic,...
Talking to Children About Scary World News
Written by Regine Galanti There’s been a lot to worry about in the news lately: plane crashes, crises in Israel and in Ukraine, to name a few. During times of world crisis, it’s easy to assume that your children aren’t affected or don’t know what is going on. Many...
Putting Things In Perspective
Written by David H. Rosmarin Last Thursday evening, as I was leaving the Center for Anxiety’s office on the 59th Floor of the Empire State Building, something strange happened: The elevator call button was not working. After several minutes, our reception area was...
Let’s Get Organized! A Key Strategy to Stress Management
Written by Aliza Sklar When it comes to neatness and order, some have an easier time than others. There are those who are seemingly born with an urge to clean everything they see, and there are others who insist that there is logic to the tumult, and it is only...
Graduation Anxiety
Written by Debra Alper With the weather getting warmer and the days growing longer, there is no doubt about it: Spring is in the air. For many students, in the coming weeks the chirping birds and blooming daffodils will be joined by another springtime mainstay – the...
Exerting Heroic Efforts for our Dreams
Written by David H. Rosmarin One of the great tragedies of anxiety is that it can cripple a person's motivation and destroy one's dreams. Therefore, it is not surprising that exerting heroic efforts to achieve one's dreams can be an important strategy in the context...
One Mindful Minute
Written by Molly Swanberg Mindfulness: It is a skill that most of us have heard of, but few of us truly use. For those of us who have not formally studied meditation, the concept of mindfulness may seem confusing or “too difficult.” In reality, however, being mindful...
When to Worry about your Child’s Worries
Written by Regine Galanti Anxiety, like all emotions, is a part of life. It is normal and natural to experience some degree of discomfort or anxiety at some point in life, specifically when confronting periods of change, or dangerous situations. If, for example, I was...
Developing Godly Visions of and for Ourselves
Written by David H. Rosmarin One of the great tragedies of living with anxiety is that it can destroy our vision for ourselves. By allowing anxiety to rule over one’s life decisions, great dreams and aspirations are cast aside in the face of worry and concern. If the...
Multitasking – Pathway to Productivity or Method of Madness?
Written by Aliza Sklar Being the Office Manager at the Center for Anxiety means completing many many (many) tasks - both big and small. As such, I've wondered lately: does multi-tasking really help to get the job(s) done faster? For some, multi-tasking may seem to...
Workplace Stress
Written by Debra Alper Many of us pride ourselves on having a strong work ethic, seeking new challenges and opportunities at work and actively looking for ways to advance in our careers. However, if our physical and mental health begin to suffer, or our relationships...
Does my Child Have OCD
Written by Regine Galanti In both adults and children, OCD is characterized by two core symptoms: (1) repetitive, distressing thoughts (obsessions), and (2) repetitive/difficult-to-resist behaviors aimed at getting rid of one's thoughts (compulsions). Similarly, for...
The Danger of Idle Hands: Scheduling and Depression
Written by Molly Swanberg Have you ever noticed how time flies when you are busy? I mean truly busy. Have you noticed that during times of activity, you don’t have time to ruminate about how awful your last date went, or the fact that you feel you haven’t lived up to...
Bring on Those Bad Thoughts
Almost all people occasionally experience thoughts that they don’t like. They may not admit it in public, but the fact of the matter is that almost everyone has some odd thoughts that they’d prefer not to have. While most people can just accept these thoughts and move on with life when they occur, some people adopt a “no negative thoughts allowed” policy…
New Beginnings
Written by David H. Rosmarin It is well known that adjusting to life changes - whether social, occupational, familial, or otherwise - can lead many people to experience anxiety. Why is this the case? First, there is often a lot do. Adjusting to something new can...
Financial Fears
Written by David H. Rosmarin Remember when you were young and used to be afraid of the dark? How did you get over your anxiety about that? Likely, it involved facing the dark. Guess what? That simple analogy is a key to dealing with anxiety. Learning to face one's...
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