Author: Yehuda Krohn, Psy.D.

September 1st, 2021

Dear Readers, Welcome to the August edition of Mind, Body & Soul, themed “Taking the first step”.  I’d like you to consider the many and varied ways that people take their first steps. A baby, transitioning from crawling and cruising to walking, is literally taking his first step. Until now he did not even have the capacity to walk. Children and adults, who can already walk, sometimes feel as though they are stuck in a …
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Author: Rachel Slochowsky LMFT, CSAT

August 31st, 2020

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that wearing masks have been proven to help protect us from Covid-19. In a world that feels so chaotic, unstable and unknown, many of us have been holding on to this theory. Just wear the mask and you’ll be safer, wear the mask and you won’t be exposed. As difficult and painful as this pandemic has been, it has brought to the surface something profound. Masks seem to be for the …
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Author: Marlene Greenspan, MA, LPC

November 23rd, 2016

Teasing has many faces. It can be used to make jokes, it can be used to play tricks, or it can be used to hurt someone as offense or defense, to suggest a few applications. When children do it to each other, teasing can lead to bullying. In fact, teasing is really steps away from bullying, if the behavior continues and if it is becoming hurtful. When adults tease children who do not know how to respond, teasing can be very detrimental. When a chi …
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Author: Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, DHL

June 2nd, 2022

The recent Daf Yomi (Gemara Yevamos 14a) tells us that prior to the decision to universally follow the School of Hillel, there was a period of time where the School of Shammai followed their rulings independently. The Gemara wonders how the School of Shammai rationalized this when the general principle is that the halacha (law) is decided in accordance with the numerical majority. Since the School of Hillel was the majority, even the School of Sh …
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September 4th, 2018

By Lisa Twerski, LCSW When we are children, our parents can imbue us with a healthy sense of self. They love us and we feel loved, they show confidence in us and we feel self-confident, they esteem us and we feel self-esteem. They may do this by expressing these things directly. They may do this by giving us the opportunity to try and succeed or fail, showing us that we have them by our side no matter what. There are many ways parents can seek to …
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Author: Michael J. Salamon, Ph.D., FICPP

May 31st, 2015

An earlier version of this article appeared on the Times of Israel. When parents ask me directly at what age they should get their children a cell phone, I generally do not answer. Despite the specificity of the question and regardless of what I say, parents make their own decisions, and these decisions usually fall into reasonably well-defined categories. Overprotective parents justify purchasing cell phones for their children while they are st …
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Author: Esther Gendelman, MS, LPC, CPC

November 28th, 2021

One word encapsulates the theme of staying the course. That word is LIFE.  If we want to choose life, we choose to stay the course no matter what happens. Sometimes, the course is filled with pain and grief while at others, there are experiences that elicit intense joy and we savor each moment.  I might be a young child whose world changed when a parent died, or a special needs sibling was born, or my parents divorced, or I experienced …
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Author: Yehuda Krohn, PsyD

June 3rd, 2021

Dear Readers Welcome to the May edition of Mind Body & Soul, themed The Soul and the Psyche. “Soul” and “psyche” represent, respectively, the spiritual and psychological dimensions of a person. Interestingly, the two terms didn’t always have different meanings. When the term psyche was first introduced, it, too, was understood to be primarily a spiritual force, one that outlasts and outlives the body.  In pa …
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Author: Alexander Rand, LCSW-R CASAC

August 26th, 2015

Raising teenagers in 2015 requires education, skill, luck, practice, and of course, prayer and God. Even with all that, it’s still not enough. We need more prayer and more God, and if you’ve ever raised a teenager, you’ll understand exactly why. Adolescence is a time when a child naturally starts to experiment with rules, challenging authority, and beginning to form his/her own identity. While that can be terrifying for parents, …
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Author: Shimmy Feintuch, LMSW

May 31st, 2015

No disrespect to sports fans, but sports discussions are not known for their wealth of theoretic wisdom. Certainly, sports are great fun, and the pull of professional sports has even the attention of the Wall Street Journal. Articles on sports are full of analysis and postgame hindsight, but rarely philosophical insight.
And so it was to my great surprise that an innocuous conversation about basketball turned up a philosophical gem. A child …
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Author: Sara Teichman, PsyD

November 30th, 2019

Taking responsibility—for our attitudes, actions, and behavior—is a sign of maturity and good mental health. So, while we can understand that a five-year-old denies taking a cookie when his face is covered with crumbs, we are less forgiving of the adolescent who cheats on a test because “all his friends do.” As we mature, we develop more of an internal locus of control, (i.e. the understanding that our behavior is the resu …
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Author: Pamela Siller, MD

February 27th, 2020

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines survival as “to remain alive or in existence.” This requires the very basic necessities of life, such as food, water, oxygen, shelter, and sleep. However, humans are quite complex beings; they may be able to survive with when their fundamental needs are met, but they require far more in order to thrive. Thrive, as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary, encompasses “flourish, prosper, an …
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Author: Douglas Balin, LMSW, MPA.

February 27th, 2020

Google retirement and you will receive literally thousands of sites focusing on the financial issues facing retirees. Financial security is definitely a very important aspect of retirement but not the only one and perhaps not even the most critical for a happy retirement. For the person who is either preparing for retirement or who is already retired, the emotional and mental health of the golden years can define the success or failure of th …
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Author: Rachel Rosenholtz, LCSW-R

February 27th, 2020

“I can’t do it!” “Sure you can, honey; you’re great at this.”  “I’m so dumb.” “No, you’re not. You’re one of the smartest kids in your class, your teacher even told me so.”             Sound familiar?             Have you ever wondered, “Why does my c …
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Author: Bin Goldman, PsyD

May 25th, 2016

Mental illness hurts, but it is something acceptable, a decree from God that we can’t control, but that we can usually treat. Stigma also hurts, but it is not acceptable. The suffering that people experience from mental health problems is not limited to the symptoms of their particular disorder, but is multiplied and expanded by stigma. Our community can and must understand the stigma of mental illness and its effects, and mobilize to reduc …
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Author: Pamela P. Siller, MD

November 27th, 2021

Patients frequently question their mental health professionals as to what action they should take in any given circumstance.  Most want advice about marriage, children, jobs and coworkers, while others have concerns about other relationships.  One of the most complicated of these, which can cause the most angst, and possible detriment, is the therapeutic relationship.  ______________________________________ Miri is an 18-year-old g …
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Author: Rabbi Yehuda Krohn, Psy.D.

November 28th, 2021

Dear Readers Welcome to the November issue of Mind Body & Soul, titled “staying the course”. The term “staying the course” may not be familiar to everyone. Staying the course, in its most literal sense, refers to those on a sea journey, facing forces – be they powerful storms, loss of power, or even pirates – that jeopardize their reaching an intended destination. A skilled traveler calmly adjusts in a mann …
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Author: Zahavah Selinger, LMHC

May 25th, 2016

What do you do when you have a friend going through a difficult time and is relying on you too much for support? It could be difficult letting them know this because you want to be there for them, yet your tolerance slowly dwindles until you get to the point where you are so frustrated, you remove yourself completely from the situation. Being on either side is not comfortable. Someone who needs so much support is likely not getting it from the ri …
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May 31st, 2018

 By Dvora Entin, LCSW  Several years ago, I had the privilege of accompanying a couple on a very painful path of medical care and difficult choices for their newly delivered child. This family had reached out to rabbonim months before the due date to plan a halachicly guided course of decision making and spent many hours devoted to preparatory palliative care and planning for the many outcomes both expected and unexpected. When that bab …
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Author: Shaindy Urman

May 31st, 2015

You should hear the stories. My G-d, if only you heard some of the stories. The mother who punched her small child in the chest. The father who threw his daughter down a flight of stairs. The man who has nightmares, decades later, about the counselor in camp who violated him. Women who are afraid the moment their husband comes home from work. Newborn babies in intensive care, detoxing from their mother’s drug use. Toddlers left home alone f …
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November 28th, 2017

 By Yehuda Krohn, Psy.D. Author’s note: The privacy and confidentiality of individuals found in this narrative was safeguarded, by modifying identifying details.      Our session began, as scheduled, the Sunday after Simchas Torah. I waited for Moe to choose a starting point.  He opened with “Well, Yom Tov was fine.  It was really draining, though.”  I thought I knew what Moe meant:  There …
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February 26th, 2019

By Michael Bleicher, LCSW From the time we read Parshas Shemos until we read Parshas Tetzaveh, we find ourselves in a period of the Jewish calendar known as “Shovavim Tat,” an acronym made of the first letter of Parshios Shemos through Tetzaveh. During this time in Jewish communities across the world, husbands and wives dedicate extra energy and time to fortifying their marriages. From reviewing the technical laws of family purit …
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Author: Rachel Rosenholtz, LCSW-R

December 4th, 2018

Text and Image published in in collaboration with the Jewish Press “Why do I have to do all this dumb work? It's so boring. How is this going to help me anyway?” “Jake, for the 20th time, go do your homework!” “I'm not going to school, you can't make me.”   Does this sound familiar?   This is a picture of a child resisting and avoiding something in life that makes him miserable. A perfectly natural re …
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Author: Sara Teichman, PsyD

June 3rd, 2021

 Is your child a real scaredy cat?  With every noise your house makes, he reacts by crying, hiding under his bed or in the closet. He won’t go into the swimming pool or to a friend’s house. Climbing in the park or going on rides at amusement parks – don’t even think about it! So, how do we help him become brave? We want him to face new things, to trust himself to handle different experiences, and to use his body …
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Author: Menachem Hojda LMSW

August 31st, 2022

Like so many others, I watched the videos of the police response in Uvalde, Texas with shock and disappointment. The scene brought me back to the afternoon just months earlier when a shooter attacked Oxford High School just 30 miles north of my home. As President of my local public-school board, and a mental health professional on the county’s crisis response team, I found myself at the intersection of school governance and community respon …
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Author: Dr. Alan M. Singer

August 31st, 2022

Hollywood has led us to believe that the fundamentals of a good marriage are: love, passion, infatuation, romance, and chemistry. In my professional opinion, those are the tier two fundamentals. The vital tier one fundamentals are: respect, empathy, friendship, forgiveness, trust, and safety, which is the focus of this essay. www.Shalomtaskforce.org   Back in the early days of domestic violence awareness and prevention, safety in relationshi …
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Author: Dr. Sarah J. Miller

December 4th, 2018

Text and Image published in in collaboration with the Jewish Press Angry cries pierce the silence of a still house in the dead of night. It’s time for that 3 a.m. feeding again. Or is it? Blearily wiping your eyes, you glance at the clock. Actually it’s 1:52, and the baby has been up three times already since midnight. Sighing, you fumble for a pacifier. It’s going to be a long night. Becoming a new mother, even for the second, …
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Author: By Yehuda Krohn Psy.D

December 4th, 2018

By Yehuda Krohn, Psy.D Text and Image published in collaboration with the Jewish Press. There are situations in life that hold us back from reaching our fullest potential. They essentially keep us down. Some situations derive from our environment. They are about transitions, related to work, school, or even the change of seasons. Some hit closer to home, as with the experience of trauma or even the recent birth of a child, yet others are harder t …
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Author: Pamela P. Siller, MD

December 4th, 2018

By Pamella Siller, MD Text and Image published in in collaboration with the Jewish Press 2002 Rochel pulled the covers even more tightly over her head in a futile attempt to drown out the sounds. She knew, without looking, that her father had been drinking too much at the Weinstein’s L’Chaim, and he would be mean tonight. She was dreading the next day, knowing that she would not be able to hide the dark circles under her eyes after a …
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Author: Chana Mark, LCSW

November 25th, 2014

  Many parents use a system of rewards and punishments to help change children’s behavior. This idea has come down to us from behavioral psychology as part of what is known as “operant conditioning.” This phrase is simply the following: Reinforcement means increasing the frequency or duration of desirable behavior. “If you go to bed on time for the whole week, I will give you a prize at the end of the week.” Pun …
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Author: Rabbi Dr. Joel Rosenshein, Ph.D.

August 28th, 2017

In today's day and age, there seems to be a popular belief that children should not be raised in the old method of reward or punishment. When we look around, however, it is apparent that many of our present problems with our children come down to our spoiling them, perhaps more so than in any previous generation. Although there is a need to praise more than to discipline, to reward more than to discipline, it is still essential to provide consequ …
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Author: NEFESH

March 8th, 2020

Dear NEFESH Community, There are many resources available to help navigate the coronavirus.  Below are links to a number of them which you may find useful.  PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD ANY RESOURCES IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. We wish a refuah shelaima to all those who are ill, refuas Hanefesh and refuas Haguf. Rabbi Dr. Fox Lecture Rabbi Dr. Fox Lecture 2 Dr. Aaron Glatt and Dr. Norman Blumenthal (Ohel) https://www.yutorah.org/lectur …
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Author: Chaya Rubin, Ph.D.

November 29th, 2022

There used to be a popular joke about psychologists that went as follows:  Q: How many
psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? A: That depends on if the light bulb
wants to change.  
The mutative process in therapy is no laughing matter, though, and mental health
professionals differ in their understanding of these mechanisms. The most popular
therapeutic methods, namely behavioral therapies, hum …
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Author: Alan M. Singer PhD

August 31st, 2020

            The “latest research” gets copious amounts of media attention as trends come and go. Remember way back in the 90’s when parents used to put their infants to sleep on their stomachs? Now, in 2020, you wouldn’t dare do such a thing! How about some years ago when large amounts of beta-carotene could supposedly prevent cancer? Now, in 2020, it’s beta-what …
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Author: Douglas Balin, LMSW, MPA

November 29th, 2022

Resilience can be thought of as G-ds natural medication for a healthier and thriving life. We can learn a great deal from resilient people and each one of us can take advantage of this wonderful and holistic tool to stay physically and emotionally healthy. Some have it innately; most of us must learn the secrets. The best part is, we can all learn to become resilient. We can train ourselves to improve our lives and obtain the skills and knowledge …
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Author: Fraidy Zeidman M.S. Ed, LMHC

August 31st, 2020

Resilience is touted by scientists as one of the prime ingredients necessary to navigate life’s challenges. Merriam Webster dictionary defines resilience as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change."  We often look towards children, with their positive outlooks on life, as a great example of resilience, to understand its benefits. While the advantages of resilience are numerous, let’s look at the …
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June 29th, 2017

By Marlene Greenspan, MA, LP Relatives come in all different ways. Some are closer and others are farther, both geographically and emotionally. No matter how mature some people may be, when they find themselves close to their parents, they may regress in behavior, attitude, and speech. Relationships reflect these connections and present as problems on many levels when grown-ups, without even realizing it, relapse into their adolescent roles …
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Author: Yehuda Lieberman, LCSW

February 22nd, 2017

In my practice, I’ve found that there are two aspects of relationships that clients consistently want to discuss. One aspect generally pertains to those who are considering a relationship and those who are in the beginning phase of a new relationship. The other aspect is usually brought up later on in the relationship—sometimes relatively early on, and sometimes after years of marriage.   People interested in forming a relationsh …
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Author: Rona Milch Novick, PhD

February 25th, 2021

Children are scaredy cats!  They are anxious in the dark, may shrink from costumed characters at birthday parties, and even in their school and teen years have numerous worries about their academic performance and social standing.  How do children conquer their normal or potentially debilitating fears?  Sometimes, they outgrow them and sometimes the efforts of caring, reassuring adults are needed to help them move past the fear. &n …
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Author: Chaya Drucker, MSW, LCSW, ACSW

August 26th, 2015

As loving parents, we understandably long to protect our precious children from all suffering, risks, hardships, and adversity. Yet we recognize that this is neither possible nor ultimately desirable, since we will not be permanently available to serve as their shield against the demands and difficulties of life.  Furthermore, we realize that each person’s challenges constitute a customized crucible, divinely ordained to actualize his …
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