ANGER MANAGEMENT. The goal of anger management is to reduce the level of angry feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. The basic concept is that you can't get rid of, or avoid, the things or the people that enrage you, nor can you change them, but you can learn to control your reactions. Anger management helps to understand the roots of the learned behaviors and where personal triggers lie.

ANXIETY DISORDERS. Anxiety disorders are serious illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults. These disorders fill people's lives with overwhelming anxiety and fear. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful even, anxiety disorders are chronic, relentless, and can grow progressively worse if not treated.

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD/ADHD). Attention Deficit Disorder requires careful evaluation by a psychologist. There are other problems in childhood that may appear with similar symptoms, so a careful evaluation is necessary. The primary symptom of ADD is inattentiveness. ADHD includes inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

BIOFEEDBACK. Biofeedback training is a tool for learning relaxation and for gaining voluntary control of physiological processes such as muscle tension, heart rate, and blood pressure. Research over the past thirty years has supported the effectiveness of relaxation training in the management of chronic pain, and in the treatment of disorders which are exacerbated by stress, e.g. muscle-contraction headaches, myofacial pain, Reynaud's disease and phenomenon, chronic gastro-intestinal distress (including irritable bowel syndromes), primary and secondary hypertension, and insomnia, as well as the so-called "general stress syndromes" characterized by non-specific and/or variable complaints.

BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER. A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and moods, and marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts. In can include self-damaging impulsivity, chronic feelings of emptiness, and/or inappropriate, intense anger.

COGNITIVE/BEHAVIORAL THERAPY. A directive therapeutic approach based on learning principles that focuses on changing the client's maladaptive thoughts, related emotions, and behaviors. The therapist teaches the client how to re-evaluate and change their beliefs, change their emotional reactions, and to learn and practice more adaptive behaviors when alone and with other persons.

DEPRESSION. A depressive disorder is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. A depressive disorder is not the same as a passing blue mood. It is not a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. People with a depressive illness cannot merely "pull themselves together" and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people who suffer from depression.

EATING DISORDERS. Eating disorders involve a distorted view of one's body image, perceiving oneself as being overweight when. Indeed, the person is of normal weight or underweight. There is often an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. In Anorexia Nervosa, there is a severe restriction in food intake (Restricting Type) or there is binge eating followed by purging (Binge-Eating/Purging Type). In Bulimia Nervosa, there are recurrent episodes of binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives. These episodes occur, on average, at least twice a week over a period of time.

ECLECTIC THERAPY. Employing a combination of various therapeutic approaches to address a client's particular issues in order to facilitate emotional healing and increased coping skills.

EMDR (EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION AND REPROCESSING). A complex and innovative therapeutic approach which focuses on changing the way a client's information about traumatic or distressing events have been stored ijn memories and have maintained maladaptive patterns of behaviors, emotions, sensations, thoughts, and negative beliefs and images about oneself. Therapists help clients to unblock a naturally healing, information-processing system within themselves that promotes reprocessing of the traumatic or distressing memories, leading to adaptive resolution of the problem and restored mental health.

ERICKSONIAN HYPNOSIS. A therapeutic approach that focuses on appreciating and utilizing the client's unique personality, identifying and expanding their inner healing resources, both conscious and unconscious, toward creative solutions to problems and growth. The therapist and client develop a cooperative relationship that uses the client's natural capacity for hypnotic trance experienced to access inner creative resources.

EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY. Has its roots in existential philosophy. There is an emphasis on understanding existence in terms of the self and conscious experience. One area of exploration is how people create meaning in their lives. The self is complex and constantly changing, so existential psychologists avoid labeling and categorizing human beings into types. The primary psychological obstacle to the free expression of the self is "existential anxiety." Individual freedom is seen in one's ability to make choices. In practical terms an existential psychologist helps clients examine healthy and unhealthy choices. The self understanding that develops from examining personal choices also carries with it the responsibility for the ultimate direction one takes in life.

FAMILY SYSTEMS THERAPY. A therapeutic approach that focuses on changing the communication, emotional reactions, and relationships between two or more persons in a family or between family members and their community. The therapist may work with only one client, but most often the therapy will work with partners, spouses, parents and children, siblings, adults and their own parents or in-laws, as well as family members interacting with others in school, work, church, medical, and legal systems.

FORENSIC EVALUATION. A forensic evaluation is an evaluation performed for the purpose of rendering an opinion in either a civil or criminal legal matter.

GENDER AWARE THERAPY. This awareness informs the therapeutic process. It involves awareness of the impact, both positive and negative, of gender specific socialization, and the impact of attitudes and beliefs about gender. This is very important for dealing with issues related to domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexuality, and marital therapy. It is also important when working with children and adolescents, and their parents. The importance of being gender aware has been emphasized most particularly in feminist scholarship and thought.

GROUP THERAPY. The treatment of individuals through exploring their interaction in a small group of five to ten people. It utilizes principles of individual behavior and group dynamics to effect therapeutic change.

HUMANISTIC THERAPY. Emphasizes the whole person and places less importance on the environment as a determinant of behavior. Abraham Maslow was a key figure in the development of humanistic psychology. In his classic work, A Theory of Motivation (1943) Maslow proposed that humans had a hierarchy of needs: survival, safety, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Carl Rogers, with his client-centered approach, is another well-known figure associated with humanistic psychology. The development of this approach to therapy was seen as an alternative to the two dominant paradigms of the time, namely behaviorism and psychoanalysis.

HYPNOSIS. Hypnosis is a procedure during which a health professional suggests while treating someone that he or she experience changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, or behavior. Hypnosis has been used in the treatment of pain; depression; anxiety and phobias; stress; habit disorders; gastro-intestinal disorders; skin conditions; post-surgical recovery; relief from nausea and vomiting; childbirth; treatment of hemophilia; and many other conditions.

INTERPERSONAL THERAPY. The goals of interpersonal therapy (IPT) are to treat depression and some other select conditions and to improve interpersonal relationships. The precise focus of the therapy targets interpersonal events (such as interpersonal disputes/conflicts, interpersonal role transitions, complicated grief that goes beyond the normal bereavement period) that seem to be most important in the onset and/or maintenance of the depression. IPT is brief (up to 20 sessions) and highly structured. IPT may not be effective in all cases. However, several years of careful study has shown that IPT is equally as effective in the short term treatment of depression as anti-depressant medication therapy. IPT can also work well in conjunction with medications.

LEARNING DISABILITIES. A learning disability is a disorder in which academic achievement lags behind general aptitude, presumably due to an underlying cognitive processing disorder. The disorder is not due to behavioral disturbances, environmental factors, or low intelligence.

MARITAL THERAPY. Marital therapy creates a safe, structured environment in which couples can work through the problems in their relationship. Clients can develop better communication and conflict resolution skills, and can learn to see each other's point of view so that each person's feelings are understood and respected.

MULTIMODAL THERAPY. A comprehensive and active therapeutic approach that focuses on changing a client's significant problems in one or more of seven modalities, or areas of experience, and their interactions. The modalities include: behavior, affect (emotion), sensation, imagery, cognition (thought), interpersonal relationships, and drugs-biology.

NEUROFEEDBACK. Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback in which the information monitored is electrical activity in various parts of the brain. Research has indicated that neurofeedback can be effective in many people in learning how to manage attention deficit disorder. Neurofeedback is also used in cognitive re-training after traumatic brain injury.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. Clinical neuropsychology is the discipline within the field of psychology dedicated to the applied science of brain-behavior relationships. Clinical neuropsychology involves assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with neurological, medical, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions, as well as other cognitive and learning disorders.

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD). OCD involves anxious thoughts or rituals the person feels he/she can't control. He/she may be plagued by persistent, unwelcome thoughts or images, or by the urgent need to engage in certain rituals. The disturbing thoughts or images are called obsessions, and the rituals that are performed to try to prevent or get rid of them are called compulsions. There is no pleasure in carrying out the rituals, only temporary relief from the anxiety that grows when the person doesn't perform them. Most adults with this condition recognize that what they're doing is senseless, but they can't stop it. Some people, though, particularly children with OCD, may not realize that their behavior is out of the ordinary.

PANIC DISORDER. People with panic disorder have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. They can't predict when an attack will occur, and many people develop intense anxiety between episodes, worrying when and where the next one will strike. During a panic attack, feelings usually include at least some of the following: pounding heart, sweaty, weak, faint, dizzy, hands may tingle or feel numb, flushed or chilled, nausea, chest pain, a sense of unreality, or fear of impending doom or loss of control. A panic attack usually peaks within ten minutes, but some symptoms may last much longer. Panic disorder is one of the most treatable of the anxiety disorders.

PAIN MANAGEMENT. Pain management teaches people with chronic pain how to cope with their pain and reduce the distress they feel about being in pain. When someone is in pain, his/her whole body tends to tense up, "bracing" against the pain. This causes secondary pain from muscle tension. People with chronic pain often either give up and become inactive, or push themselves to the point of exhaustion to function despite their pain. Both of these patterns can exacerbate the experience of pain. Pain management teaches muscle relaxation and healthy behaviors to cope with pain, while at the same time helping the person cope with the emotional distress caused by pain.

PERSONALITY DISORDERS. A personality disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the social norm. This pattern can include thoughts, feelings, interpersonal functioning, and/or impulse control. It is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations over a long period of time. It leads to significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. These problems can be traced back to at least adolescence or early adulthood.

PHOBIAS. A specific phobia is an intense fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. Some of the more common specific phobias are focused on closed-in places, heights, escalators, tunnels, highway driving, water, flying, dogs, and injuries involving blood. Such phobias aren't just expreme fear; they are irrational fear of a particular thing. Specific phobias affect an estimated 6.3 million adult Americans and are twice as common in women as in men. They usually first appear during childhood or adolescence and tend to persist into adulthood.

PLAY THERAPY. Play therapy is an approach typically used with children from 3 to 10 years of age, in which a child can express or play out internal conflicts and distress regarding a variety of problems by means of play. Younger children do not have the capacity to express in words what they are upset about, but can express their feelings through play with dolls, cars, blocks, etc. and through art work. Older children who have more verbal skills are often more comfortable talking about emotionally charged issues through fantasy play or while they are engaged in ordinary play activities.

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD). PTSD is a debilitating condition that can develop following a terrifying event. Often, people with PTSD have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal and feel emotionally numb, especially with people they were once close to. Ordinary events can serve as reminders of the trauma and trigger flashbacks or intrusive images. Anniversaries of the traumatic event are often very difficult. People with PTSD can be helped by carefully targeted psychotherapy.

PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY. Although its form today is quite different from Classical Freudian Psychoanalysis, this is the cornerstone of many forms of modern psychotherapy and many of its basic tenets have found their way into most theories in practice today. The primary attention of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is in free association, defense mechanisms, resistance and interpretations of dreams, fantasies and unconscious motives. The art of interpretation is used to help understand unconscious motives and the conflicts the patient feels. The goal of this therapy can be broader than relieving symptoms and can include both a greater understanding of self and further development of the patient.

PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY. This includes, but is not limited to, formal psychoanalytic psychotherapy. This is a general term for therapy which is insight-oriented and interested in conscious and unconscious motivational forces and ego strengthening. Genetic and environmental factors can be examined to determine the nature of conflict.

RATIONAL-EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY (REBT). Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is based on the concept that emotions and behaviors result from cognitive processes, and that it is possible for human beings to modify such processes to achieve different ways of feeling and behaving. REBT is one of many kinds of cognitive-behavioral therapies. The emphasis in REBT is on changing the faulty beliefs or perceptions that interfere with healthy functioning.

SHORT-TERM DYNAMIC THERAPY. This is a psychodynamically-oriented, time-limited, problem-focused psychotherapeutic treatment. It is based on rapid psychodynamic diagnosis, a therapeutic focus, a rapidly formed therapeutic alliance, awareness of termination and separation processes, and a more directive position from the therapist than in traditional psychodynamic therapy. This approach is not appropriate for serious psychopathology and/or personality disorders.

SOCIAL PHOBIA (SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER). Social phobia involves overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness in everyday social situations. People with social phobia have a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and being embarrassed or humiliated by their own actions. Their fear may be so severe that it interferes with work or school, and other ordinary activities. While many people with social phobia recognize that their fear of being around people may be excessive or unreasonable, they are unable to overcome it. They often worry for days or weeks in advance of a dreaded situation. Social phobia can be treated successfully with carefully targeted psychotherapy.

STRESS MANAGEMENT. Stress management teaches the client a variety of coping skills to identify and respond more effectively to stresses both in the environment and within the individual. The client learns to prioritize responsibilities and activities realistically and then learns specific stress-reduction strategies, including physical relaxation techniques and ways to quiet thoughts and feelings.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE. Treatment for substance abuse begins with a thorough assessment of addiction issues and of general psychological needs. Based on this information, a treatment plan may include individual, or, and/or family psychotherapy. The treatment plan may also include a referral for a medical or psychiatric consultation, or the involvement in an in-patient or out-patient setting. Involvement in self-help groups might also be recommended.