First, anyone who is trying to remain sober from alcohol should be aware of triggers. Certain people, places, and things/events can make someone more susceptible to urges and thus drinking. As such, early on in sobriety, one should try to give herself/himself a fighting chance! That means trying to control these triggers by limiting your exposure to them. With that being said, we cannot always control our exposure to triggers. If you are expected to be at a wedding (in other words the person

01 Nov, 2017

Many people struggle with anxiety.  The National Institute of Mental Health reports that approximately 1 out of every 5 people are afflicted with this condition.  Many anxiety-ridden people have particular worries and fears related to the social world, and thus this makes dating especially difficult for them.  However, human beings are essentially "social creatures".  All sorts of research reveal that to some degree, we depend on relationships for our survival.  Do you know that there is

Dr. Albert Ellis, the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy, outlined in his theory how "absolute" styles of thinking lead to unhealthy emotions (i.e., depression, anxiety, etc.) and behaviors (i.e., binge substance use).  He stated that "absolute" styles of thinking often include the words "always" and "never", or any offshoots of this type of extreme language, and that these rigid self-views are too demanding and thus set oneself up for major

I want you to adhere to a request.  This is a very important request, and thus I want you to try as hard as you can to successfully comply with it.  OK - for the next ten seconds, no matter what you think, say, or do, please do not under any circumstances think about a pink elephant!   I will count now...1....2....3....   I am going to stop counting because I am very confident that you already failed to comply with my request!  Don't fret, I expected you to fail.  Why?  Because you are human,

10 Feb, 2017

As you may have seen in my video, I explicitly declare that I am not opposed to Anonymous groups as a possible option for people struggling with behavioral dependencies.  However, there are some premises of these groups that I am vehemently opposed to and make no apologies about it.   One such premise is the "Day One" philosophy.  If you join an Anonymous group (i.e., AA, NA, OA, GA, etc.), at some point, you will hear about this "rule".  Although they do not call it a rule, there does not seem

10 Feb, 2017

While I would like to consider my specific approach to treating behavioral dependencies as unique, in no way am I the sole practitioner or provider of harm-reduction therapy in New York City.  In fact, I want to take an opportunity to extend a special thanks and gratitude to two organizations who I feel really helped to pioneer the harm-reduction approach here in the city, as well as elsewhere.   Andrew Tatarsky and The Center for Optimal Living, and Jeffrey Foote and Carrie Wilkins and The