A New Groove

By Michael Radkowsky, Psy.D.

If you are feeling stuck, but don’t know how to change or don’t seem able to, you need not give up. A skilled therapist will be able to help you develop the vision, strategies, support, and dedicated focus that you need to shift your life into a new groove.

Compulsive Gambling

All addiction is characterized by loss of control, preoccupation, compulsivity, narrowing of interests, dishonesty, guilt and chronic relapse. This year alone, an estimated 8 million Americans will gamble in ways that seriously risk causing harm to themselves and to their families.

Beating Addiction: Help for Teen Girls

An Interview with Laurie Wilmot, LCSW—By Meghan Vivo

At an age when most kids are breaking away from their parents, exploring their career interests, and establishing lifelong bonds with friends and partners, teens who are addicted to drugs or alcohol face an entirely different challenge just to get back to normal adolescent life.

Anatomy Of An Addictive Behavior: Not For Men Only

By Mitchell Milch, LCSW

My experiences inside and outside my psychotherapy practice have taught me that all addictive relationships express our feelings of hopelessness and helplessness to be active agents of change in our lives. Often we are running from legacies of emotional deprivation and abuse that we believe to be life-long punishments for being bad and/or incompetent people.

Tangos Of Debt Accumulation

By Mitchell Milch, LCSW

Every couple dances in complementary ways. Some of these dances are healthier than others. When it involves a pattern of debt accumulation, it may look like one partner is the aggressive culprit and the other is the helpless victim--but don’t be so sure. The two "dancers" likely have deeply personal agendas perpetuating their shared tango of debt accumulation.

Screening For Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol-Related Problems in College Populations

New-found independence can sometimes be dangerous: Alcohol use and abuse among college students is a serious cause for concern. Many students are under the legal drinking age and many engage in heavy episodic, or binge, drinking. There are a variety of simple screening methods that can help identify those students at greatest risk for alcohol problems so that preventative steps can be taken before it's too late.

Weighty Matters - Divorce and Weight

By Mitchell Milch, CSW

Our emotional vulnerabilities post-divorce may create an internal environment ripe for unhealthy dependencies on our own eating habits, as well as on how we feed others. Eating dysfunctions, even in their most benign forms, are perhaps the most insidious because, in a society where obesity is quickly becoming the norm, they can easily go undetected.

Do You Feel Me?

By Lana M. Ackaway, LCSW-R, NCPsyAv

Punitive superego is often found within addiction and within borderline. It produces not only self-criticism, but also acts as a censorship over what is felt to be unacceptable thoughts and feelings—a resistance that offers a protection against shame and humiliation.

Cybersex

By Dorothy C. Hayden, CSW

Dorothy C. Hayden, CSW, is a Manhattan-based psychotherapist who specializes in treating Adult Attention Deficit Disorder and the addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex and food). The following is a transcript of the pre-edited Q&A from Dorothy’s interview on TV's "20/20" segment about cybersex.

Recognizing the Signs of Sex Addiction and Compulsivity

For most people, sex contributes in positive ways to the quality of life. However, about three to six percent of Americans have sexual addiction. Like all addictions, its negative impact on the addict and on family members usually increases as the disorder progresses.

What Is Spending Addiction—And How Do I Know If I Have It?

If you suffer from spending addiction, even the most negative consequences--such as guilt, debt, or feeling ashamed and secretive about out-of-control purchases--can't keep you from spending more time and more money shopping than you know you should. Read on to learn how to tell when a pattern of extravagant buying is actually a sign of addictive behavior--and how to get help.

Help for the Partners of Sex Addicts--Frequently Asked Questions

By Dorothy C. Hayden, LCSW

Sexual addiction can be conceptualized as an intimacy disorder manifested as a compulsive cycle of preoccupation, ritualization, sexual behavior, and despair. Central to the disorder is the inability of the individual to adequately bond and attach in intimate relationships. The syndrome is rooted in early attachment failure with primary caregivers.

Treating “Peter Pan Syndrome” with Wilderness Therapy

By Meghan Vivo

The “Peter Pan Syndrome” is a common phenomenon witnessed by parents: young people in their late teens and twenties who look like adults on the outside, but are still teenagers on the inside. Often, these young adults get caught up with “partying” and staying out all hours of the night, resisting the responsibilities of adulthood and glorifying the “freedom” of adolescence.

Understanding How Wilderness Therapy Programs Change Teens

By Meghan Vivo

“I often see the greatest progress in students after someone has drawn a boundary with them or they have gone through some sort of struggle,” explains Lynn Anne Madory, a therapist at Aspen Achievement Academy, one of the oldest and most reputable wilderness programs in the nation. “Parents get nervous when their child has a tough week, but that’s when the growth happens."

Which Came First: Marijuana Use or Depression?

By Meghan Vivo

Marijuana has adverse effects on the brain, heart, and lungs--and mounting evidence also suggests a correlation between marijuana use and depression. The question experts on all sides want answered is, which came first? Marijuana use or depression? Do depressed teens smoke pot to relieve their symptoms, or does smoking pot actually cause depression?

Therapy for Sexual Addiction—A Depth-Psychology Approach

By Dorothy C. Hayden, CSW

It is well known among people in the 12-step sex programs that of all the addictions, sex is the most difficult to master. Far from the notion that sex addiction is the "fun" one, the suffering of dealing with this affliction is enormous. Before treatment, sexual enactment is the addict’s only source of safety, pleasure, soothing and acceptance.

Understanding Sexual Addiction

By Joseph Winn, MSW, LICSW

For many, the idea of seeking professional assistance to heal from sexually addictive behavior seems daunting. This article seeks to introduce the reader to the concept of sexual addiction, describe the cornerstones of the addictive process, and inform the reader that healing from sexual compulsivity is possible.

Couples in Recovery

By Amy Zachary, MSW

When addiction strikes, what happens to a couple? In couples where one partner is using and the other is not, spouses usually develop over-functioning and under-functioning roles. That is, the user under-functions and the non-user over-functions to compensate for their mate.