We ask our friends for recommendations for doctors, dentists, babysitters, hairdressers, real estate agents and just about anything and everything else BUT we are shy, embarrassed and hesitant about asking for a referral of a “good therapist”. And then there’s the question as to what type of mental health professional we should seek out. Dr. Barry Lubetkin sheds some light on this subject today.
Mental Health Awareness Ribbon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
People are often very confused about who to seek out for mental health diagnosis,therapy, counseling and medication. And once some professional has been chosen,how does one know that this is the right person for them. Unfortunately often, because of the stigma that still is associated with the need for Psychiatric or Psychological help, friends recommendations are often replaced by random choices from impersonal insurance provider lists.
These are the categories of mental health professionals: Psychologists PhD or PsyD: A minimum of 4 years post college graduate training plus a 1 year clinical internship. Specializing in providing various types of psychotherapy and diagnostic assessment. An ABPP distinction after their degree signifies advanced competence in their particular specialty.
Psychiatrists MD: A minimum of 4 years post college Medical School, plus a 1 year internship and at least a 2 year residency in Psychiatry, specializing in diagnosis and psychopharmacology treatment of mental disorders. Fewer and fewer Psychiatrists spend their time providing hour-long psychotherapy sessions.
Social Workers: MSW, LCSW, DSW: A minimum of 2 post college years, plus at least 1 year of intense clinical practicum training. Mental Health Counselors. CMHC, LMHC: A minimum of 2 post college years to earn the Masters degree in their specialty,and at least 2000 hours of intense supervised clinical training.
When choosing a therapist, you must ask yourself whether you have “chemistry” with the professional…? Are you feeling understood, not intimidated, trusting? And most importantly, does this person have the requisite training and experience to deal with your particular problem? Don’t be afraid to ask what specialized advanced workshops or training programs they have taken pertaining to your particular problem…Have they treated people with your problems before…? How long should you expect to be in treatment?
In this most important of all medical endeavor…exploring your mind, you need to be a smart and knowledgeable consumer. I am available at IBT104@aol.com for further guidance.
Yesterday I posted my own first round picks and then picked my winners for Round 2 and today we are headed to Round 3. I found out that I could put a POLL on my blog which makes it oh so easy for you to vote (filling in the brackets) and you don’t need to send in a comment or make a copy of the bracket to work on. JUST answer the question as to what cake or pie will make it to Round 3. I’ve put in my winners and now it’s up to you to pick from those choices to see who will go to the Regional Semi-Finals. Please VOTE.
Round 2 and heading for the Regional Semi-Finals
Here’s how: For example the first two choices are EITHER Birthday Cake or Coffee Cake, the last two are Strawberry Rhubarb Pie or Cherry Pie – PICK ONE; the choices are grouped in two’s and you can see the pairs on the bracket; Remember yesterday I picked these winners out of Round 1 and postedthem in the blog because I can’t actually write on the photo of the bracket.
I NEED your input for the Cake vs Pie Bracketology! MY MISTAKE yesterday was not in completing the first round of picks. Mine are below BUT without yours I’m only betting against and with myself. Ahhh maybe there should be a prize for whomever picks the final winner? What do you think? Would that inspire you to send me your picks in comments? I will report the winners as each round advances.
Pbenjay’s Pie Conference Picks: Apple vs Grasshopper, Pecan vs Banana Cream, Peanut Butter vsBoston Cream(a tough call), Pumpkin vs Lemon Meringue, Blueberry vs Rhubarb, Key Lime vs Sweet Potato, Cherry vs French Silk, Cheesecake vs Brown Sugar.
Send me your picks so I can tally them up and report the winners of the Round 1
English: Photograph of a slice of a 4-layer red velvet cake with cream cheese icing on a styrofoam plate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
black & white angel food cake (Photo credit: shutterbean)
Although this video has been making the rounds on Facebook, I love Christopher Walken and I love to dance and watch great dancers. Walken is wonderful to watch! I’m sorry I missed so many of his movies and never saw most of these clips. The video originated on Huffington Post‘s Movie Mash-Ups. Enjoy!!
OH my, somehow I’ve been bitten by the March Madness bug. I am writing this post and listening/watching the Syracuse/Michigan game. I can relax during this one because it was assumed that Syracuse would win and right now they are leading by 22 points! “Oh how sweet it is”.
I was going to make Thursday’s Top Ten about the crazy stunt taking place in Brooklyn this week where Franny’s is creating March Madness Pies. Starting at Sweet Sixteen, they will be offering 16 different pizza pie toppings with cute names. I thought the names were going to somehow correspond to the teams but they don’t so I’ve opted out of using Franny’s for my post; Besides, I only like the purest of Neapolitan pizza – rich tomato sauce, some basil and oregano and some blobs of mozzarella with grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top!
I found this CAKE vs PIE tournament bracket and thought it was too cool! HEY GUYS, THIS WOULD REALLY BE FUN IF YOU WOULD COMMENT WITH YOUR CHOICES and advance the bracket till we get to the WINNER. If you don’t help me and I do it all by myself, I can tell you right now that Ice Cream Cake would probably win. So let’s do it!!
I’m not sure exactly who I should be crediting for this bracket which appeared in 2010. I think JEZEBEL.com, Jessica Coen and Gawker Media are all responsible for this so THANK YOU!
I’m starting it off since today is ROUND 1 in the NCAA Tournament. I pick Birthday Cake and Apple Pie. What are your picks? You might want to copy this and play with a group of your friends. I hope you’ll play along with me…By Saturday we move to Round 2.
Today begins the official, unofficial beginning of March Madness. Well, actually it is official, what used to be called Play-In Games are now known as First Four which is certainly not to be confused with the Final Four! Having spent most of life in Connecticut, I have always been a Huskies fan and there was a point in my life (read in between marriages) when I would spend several evenings and Saturdays in my town’s local bar and pizzeria, drinking and cheering along with recent and not so recent alumni of UCONN and fellow fans.
That was then, and that was a long time ago! I casually name-dropped Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight and the Final Fourbut the First Four? Oh well, today is the day that the Madness begins and unless I’ve misunderstood this term (and that is SO POSSIBLE) I think in the next two days, 8 teams are going to play off or Play-Inand then there will be 4 and they will be the First Four. Okay, so who cares? The real question is will the Orangemen defeat Dayton in the second round? Many of the brackets I’ve looked at have predicted Syracuse will lose! Oooohhh is it really all about momentum? They had a phenomenal early season and maybe if we all pray hard enough, wish hard enough, send enough positive thoughts their way and light a few candles AND wear orange (of course), maybe we will see them in the Regional Semi Finals. And from there, well Dallas here we come!
So what is a UCONN Huskies fan doing promoting the Orangemen? Well you just gotta listen to BRACKETOLOGYas interpreted and sung by TWO ABSURD. Dick and Bob Chancia are identical twins who grew up in Utica, New York, both attended Syracuse University and both had careers in Advertising and Art Direction (each on separate coasts)! AND NOW, these two extraordinarily talented guys have turned to writing and performing some really crazy, or let’s just say absurd songs! Now how or why two Italian guys from upstate New York are writing and singing RAP songs is….well absurd!
Syracuse fans are ageless and seasonless; so although they wrote this unbelievably-rhymed RAP called BRACKETOLGY in 2012, it is still spot-on in 2014! I hope you’ll enjoy it, the link is below.
At first I thought it was just this forever-long, forever-cold winter that is drawing me to all kinds of dishes that could fall into the comfort food category. Possibly, and the fact that biologically we are inclined to eat more calories in order to burn them for fuel and body heat. And then I looked again at this recipe and imagined sitting on my front porch in Ocean Grove with a couple of friends on a midsummer’s eve sipping wine and munching on this savory bread appetizer.
Monkey bread, also called monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, pluck-it cake, bubbleloaf and monkey brains is a sweet, sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast. It consists of pieces of soft bread with cinnamon sprinkled on it. It is served at fairs and other parks as a treat. But now it’s Lent and I’m off sweets for the next few weeks. I discovered a savory version and I think you’ll like it.
Preheat oven to 350° – Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Prepare the bread: Score the bread lengthwise. To do this, slice the bread as you would for toast, but don’t cut all the way down to the base of the loaf. The idea is to keep the bread in a loaf shape and fully intact. Repeat this scoring across the width of the loaf. You will end up with what looks like squares of bread.
Use a spatula or butter knife to spread pesto in the crevices of the bread. No need to be precise-just get a good slathering in there.
Next, place mozzarella slices inside the crevices, wedging them in so that they don’t stick out too far at the top (you want all that gooeyness inside the bread and off your pan).
Transfer the loaf to the prepared baking sheet and bake till pesto bubbles and cheese melts – 15-17 minutes.
Where are the lines drawn between the disease-stricken hoarders, the messy clutterers and the over-enthusiastic collectors? Dr. Barry Lubetkin, Phd, ABBP offers us insight on the distinction between a diagnosed disorder and a hobby or personality characteristic.
The Psychiatric problem of hoarding had been under diagnosed for many years .But recently with increased media attention(see several New York Times articles in the past four months),the
wildly popular reality TV show “Hoarders” and recent major advances in the diagnosis and treatment of this mental affliction, many more people are getting professional help. It is important to point out that while many of us may have lived with and accepted clutter in our homes for our entire lives, being diagnosed as a hoarder requires that the clutter must seriously interfere with the quality of our lives and risk our safety. Navigating through dangerous paths in our home with furniture and garbage piled on either side, shame of exposure leading to living lonely isolated lives, or irrational superstitious beliefs that cleaning up or throwing out certain articles will lead to terrible consequences………these all will confirm the diagnosis.
The etiology of hoarding is multi determined…….a previous diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder, prolonged depression, unkempt,and chaotic childhood homes, have all been implicated. Even the well intentioned collector who has enjoyed his passion for saving and displaying his collections is sometimes at risk if other psychiatric disorders emerge and create a vulnerability to depression and indifference to caring for themselves or their living conditions.
Treatment involves a variety of interventions :Anti depressant medication,engaging family support during the clearing process, Cognitive Behavior Therapy to reduce anxiety and panic and designed to educate the hoarder on the irrational and superstitious thinking elements of the disorder,and guided practice in controlling their environment post treatment.
With less serious clutter collectors who feel their mess has gotten difficult for them to control, I suggest starting with small portions of the affected areas (one corner of the bedroom,piles of books and papers on the floor,etc), and slowly progress over time to prioritize what to throw out. Dividing your “stuff” into A ,B and C groups………must keep, maybe keep, must dispose, is often very helpful. Feel free to contact me at ibt104@aol.com for further advice.
Barry Lubetkin, Phd, ABBP is co-director of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in Manhattan. Dr. Lubetkin has written two widely acclaimed books. Bailing Out (Simon and Schuster and Prentice Hall Press) and Why Do I Need You To Love Me In Order To Like Myself (Longmeadow and Borders Press). In addition, his 3-disc audio series on treating insomnia Dr. Barry’s Sound Asleep has recently been published.
Ha, ha, ha, I bet you thought I meant I was going to recycle more, use rags instead of paper towels, refuse to buy strawberries in March because in order to arrive here, they left a HUGE carbon footprint. Sorry to disappoint my readers and dash their expectations that I might be looking at the world with a more global view to saving the earth for the next generation – oh no that’s not what I meant at all!!
This sunny but cold Sunday, the day before St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would attempt, yes attempt to make my first Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner. My husband is not sure why I’m thinking of doing this and now 3 days later, after I’ve bought the corned beef, the cabbage and the potatoes and carrots, I’m thinking the same thing! If we were in NYC we might go out for our annual Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner as we have for the past umpteen years but we are not in NYC. Actually we will be back in time to catch some of the world’s best and longest St. Patrick’s Day parade. However Monday holds a sacred place in my heart. Everyone who knows me, knows that Monday night is Mah Jongg night and since there isn’t a Colleen in the group, no one other than me seemed to think St. Patrick’s Day deserved any special consideration. Well that settled that. No Irish supper for Peter and I on Monday!
I did consider taking advantage of the considerable Irish-American population at the Jersey Shore and thought we might dine tonight at Clancy’s Tavern, The thought of enjoying a meal served and cleaned-up by someone else as well as the camaraderie of fellow diners and congenial drinkers certainly held its allure. BUT then I remembered how crazy Clancy’s can be; noisy, boisterous, and so loud, it’s hard to talk to your dinner partner! It’s really more bar than restaurant, Irish to its core so I started thinking that probably a good portion of the population might take advantage of an extended St. Patrick’s Day celebration by starting early in the weekend, only to continue right through to Monday night! AND then I remembered that on Sunday night a couple of my favorite TV shows are on, not to mention one of those rare occasions when I am in total control of the remote. How could I think of missing The Amazing Race, 60 Minutes and especially The Good Wife. I could DVR the shows but then I wouldn’t have the time to watch them because they would be on the TV in NJ and I’ll be heading back to NYC.
So now that I’ve settled that in my mind, I took my crockpot out and am hoping the corned beef will cook to its fall-apart texture this afternoon while I’m out and about. The packaging said to bring it to a boil and then cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and add the vegetable an hour before meat is done. That flies in the face of most of the recipes I’ve read so I’m thinking 4 hours in the crockpot with the potatoes, carrots and onion on the bottom, topped with the corned beef will do the trick. I do hope it gets to bubbling point and then about an hour before I’ll toss in the cabbage. carrots. I happened to be on the phone with my cousin, Marian this morning, and she too was attempting a first time Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner. However, she called her niece who writes a cooking blog and was told to put it in the slow cooker for 8 hours AND she put the cabbage, carrots and potatoes in with the meat right from the get go! I advised her to at least remove the cabbage otherwise I think she would end up with cellulose and mashed potatoes. We’ll compare notes later this evening, probably during the commercials!
Uh oh, I just took a good look at the photo I put in this post and see that the little red potatoes should have been left whole; I halved and even quartered some – I guess I will be the one with mashed potatoes! Oh well, ERIN GO BRAUGH…
Whenever we’re at the Shore I seem to cook much more than I do in NYC. Perhaps it’s because I love to grocery shop here at my favorite market – Wegman’s! Or maybe it’s because I have a real kitchen in my cottage and not the typical Manhattan work space. Or maybe it’s not so easy to grocery shop in New York because I have to carry all my groceries home and/or have Peter tag along to carry a few bags or take my little red grocery cart and pile my bags in that. But above all, one cannot deny how easy it is to eat out or order in any night of the week in The City. BUT tonight we feasted on a savory Mushroom Lasagna and sautéed broccoli with garlic – A delicious vegetarian version of Italian food staple.
2 # mixed mushrooms – sliced uniformly (I used Shitake, Portobello, white, and Baby Bello)
6 sheets of lasagna sheets (fresh lasagna noodles come in wide sheets)
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven 375 degrees
Melt butter and add olive oil and chopped onions. Saute over med-low heat till onions are soft and translucent but not brown. Add in minced garlic and rosemary and cook stirring a minute or two till garlic is fragrant.
Add mushrooms and 3/4 tsp salt and some pepper. Increase heat to medium and cook mushrooms till soft 10-15 minutes. Add cream and bring to a simmer 2-3 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Don’t make sauce too thick or there won’t be enough liquid to cook noodles.
In a 9 x 13 baking dish, put 1/2 cup of the mushroom mix on the bottom. Top with 2 lasagna sheets, then 1 cup of mushroom mix, 1 cup of radicchio and 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Repeat.
Top 3rd layer of noodles with all remaining mixture and 3/4 cup cheese. Bake uncovered 35-45 minutes – Cool 5 minutes.
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
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