Blog Archive
Research shows most people feel unhappy about their life around the age of 47. However, there are many ways to deal with this mid-life crisis beyond just purchasing a sports car or giving skydiving a try. Here are a few positive ways to find inspiration and happiness again. Commit to a...
When your senior loved one loses a spouse, they experience complicated emotions. If the death occurred after a protracted illness, relief might be one of the emotions alongside grief. Each person is unique. While there's no right or wrong way to cope with the loss, steps such as reconnecting with...
What's stopping you from reaching your health goals? For some, it's the time and energy involved. Others shy away from their aims, fearing the cost of a healthier lifestyle. Gym memberships, organic produce, and sports equipment all come with big price tags. But there are some steps you can take...
Image via Pexels While it is normal to feel anxiety and sadness during complex life events, if those feelings linger for months or years, you may struggle with mental illness. Mental health conditions can make it difficult to perform in your everyday life. How Can You Improve Your Mental Health?...
When in recovery, maintaining sobriety should be your number one priority. An effective way to prevent relapsing is to maintain a healthy state of mind and develop the ability to manage stressors without the need for substances. But, focusing on your health can become difficult in absence of a job....
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted our lives in countless ways. As the pandemic continues to threaten the country, it’s become easier to cope with the changes brought on by business closures and social distancing orders. However, most of us are still figuring out how to navigate new challenges in our...
A. “Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care, / The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath, /.Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, / Chief nourisher in life's feast.” Sleep is arguably the most important aspect of our lives, alongside eating and breathing....
A: Even the strongest and most balanced of us are starting to feel a bit of cabin fever by this point in the crisis. And a gradual slide from normal social drinking becomes “what harm is there in having just one more?” which then becomes the new normal. Normal is...
A: Some of us have found that the people we have been sequestering with have Jeckyll/Hyde personality types. Being cooped up for a long period of time can cause masks to fall and long-dormant character traits can bubble to the surface. Abnormal situations cause abnormal responses. We can see this...
A: There are several aspects to this question, which we will address separately before putting it together. Is what I am feeling actually depression or just anxiety? Is PTSD the trigger of my feelings? Is what I am feeling actually depression or just anxiety? A good deal of...
A: It should come as no surprise to learn that a sizeable number of people are experiencing increased events of depression since the advent of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus. The good news is you are not alone. It is not a weakness on your part. These are unnatural times and...
We are reading stories of people who are taking the time of sheltering in place to learn new things---playing an instrument, knitting, baking---or writing a novel, or making instructional videos. Many of us however are finding that the spirit is willing but the flesh is unable. We would like to...
Music has been studied and -- and to no one's suprise -- it has an amazing effect on the brain. Different notes -- like the dominant D major or A major have been shown to activate many different parts of the brain. Anyone who has gone to either...
We are at the point in the quarantine when people are starting to get cabin fever. The more extroverted among us have been feeling this from the outset, but now some of the less committed introverts are starting to feel the claustrophobia. How to get over the hump and move...
The corona virus pandemic is creating serious anxiety, depression and shock throughout the world. These are some important psychiatric considerations to help cope with this. First, stayed tuned to the news and follow all official advice from the CDC about following basic principles of hygiene and quarantine. Second, allow...
Part of the challenge of diagnosing sleep apnea is that many patients who suffer from it -- roughly abouty 30-40% of men over 40 and 10-15% of women over 40 -- don't know that they have it because the sleep interruptions most often occur within the deepest phases of sleep....
I have a friend who runs a gymnasium. He reports the same pattern: January is filled with people working out with frantic motivationl. February has cooled to about 50% and then this tapers off until by June he's back to a usual group of his customers who have integrated...
THE PROBLEMS WITH ANTIPSYCHOTICS BEING USED AS ADJUVANT THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION What’s going on with antipsychotics being used as antidepressants? For the past several years with the beginning of the antipsychotic Abilify being added to the treatment of depression with amazing success – many of the newer antipsychotics have...
In the past ten years, for good reason, yoga has been recommended more and more by psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners as a powerful tool to augment conventional talk therapy or pharmacologic work. The reasons are many -- but what it comes down to most -- is that yoga...
The holidays can be a great time to kick back and relax. They are often difficult times, which can bring up unpleasant memories for those who grew out of trauma and despair. The holidays are often reminders for those who grew up in dysfunction of what wasn't working in the...
Depending on the kind of family that you have -- be it deeply loving and respectful -- to having a few twists in the road of disagreements, unresolved conflicts, and tension. -- the idea of a "Friendsgiving" is catching on in the past few years. It's a long-held tenet...
Fifteen years ago when EMDR was made available to the world of mental health practice it was greeted with some degree of skepticism. Could a practice this simple and straightforward be this effective? At this point, the general answer is that in fact, it is a remarkable effective therapeutic...
But having used ketamine in my practice for the past two years, I've been struck by the simplicity of it, the tolerable side effects, and the dramartic and rapid imporovement in depressive symptoms, particularly suicidal ideation. The initial treatment usually consists of three one hour sessions for a ketamine...
In the past two years many of my patiens have been very curious about the FDA approval of some novel antidepressants, Fetzima, Trintellix, and Viibryd -- all of which have similar mechanisms of action to existing antidepressant. So in considering their novelty - there isn't anything significantly new or different...
Some (eight) case reports and case series including a total of seventeen patients reported data regarding the efficacy of ketamine in patients with TRD.Szymkowicz et al. [24] reported that three patients responded successfully to the ketamine infusions and no significant side-effects have been found after ketamine administration.After 24 hours following the...
Lithium has been considered the gold standard of treatment for bipolar disorder since it was first introduced into the world of psychiatry in the late 1950s. At the time, it was a major breakthrough in the treatment of bipolar disorder, and also found a substantial use in the control of...
For executives in the financial world, the pressure of complex work environments that demand consistent high performance combined with constant exposure to high-stakes transactions is frequently an environment that stimulates addictive behavior. Dr. David Salvage, MD, an addiction specialist and psychoanalyst in NCY and Brooklyn treats financial industry patients suffering from addition...
Is bi-polar disorder being over diagnosed by the psychiatry community? Are patients being treated for symptoms they don’t have? These are the questions raised by NYC-based Dr. David Salvage and other leaders in the field of psychotherapy. Because the treatment of bi-polar disorder often relies on mood-stabilizing medication, an accurate diagnosis is...
Modern thinking on sexuality suggests that there is no normal. Modern research suggests that there is an infinite range of human responses when it comes to sexuality. The concept of perversion is outdated and being replaced with the label of neosexuality, which provides more positive connotations and takes into consideration...
With an ever-growing list of anti-depressant medication available, doctors and patients are faced with many choices. In the past, severe side effects may have dissuaded patients from utilizing psychotherapy medication to treat depression, but newly developed and marketed medications, like Trintellix or Viibryd, are changing this medication-free approach. The benefits...
Psychiatry has seen a recent revival of interest in hallucinogens. Major NYC medical institutions such as Johns Hopkins and NYU have launched highly regulated studies that include both hallucinogenic mushrooms and ayahuasca and their psychopharmacology applications. Dr. David Salvage, based in offices in Park Slope and Tribeca, has been following...
In the past several years the phenomenon of increased low testosterone in men over 50 has become more widespread. Part of the reason for this is a greater degree of communication between psychiatrist and genitourinary medicine providers about the role of low testosterone in creating depression, apathy, and memory loss....
Binge Eating Disorder is an interesting exception to other eating disorders in a variety of ways. Firstly, it shows no gender preference unlike anorexia and bulimia which are much more highly present in females than males. Binge eating disorder is approximately equivalent in both genders. Secondly, it doesn’t have...
I highly recommend this article in the NY Times on a new approach to seeing Addiction as a learning disorder. It makes clear sense as it advances the concept that the brain is “wire differently” for anyone suffering from an addiction. It espouses what cutting edge neuroscience has established in...
I often encourage clients suffering from depression, anxiety and addiction to pursue aerobic exercise. And understandably, they often ask me why this is so important. The reasons, which have been documented in multiple studies, — is that 30-45 minutes of aerobics per day drastically increase the brain’s neural chemistry. ...