The Blog

By Cara Gardenswartz, Ph.D., and Laura O’Loughlin, Psy.D. “My life is the complete opposite of everything I wanted it to be. Every instinct I have in every aspect of life—be it something to wear, something to eat—it’s all been wrong.” You might remember this classic scene from Season 5 of the series Seinfeld. George Castanza […]

Emotional maturity is not about being above your emotions and no longer having mental turbulence, it is about being able to sit with the rawness of every feeling without letting them take over your mind and actions.  You can face storms more skilfully without getting blown away. -Yung Pueblo

From Dr. Laura O’Loughlin, Psychologist at GTLA Recently, I stumbled on the classic episode of Seinfeld called “The Opposite,”  where George Castanza, in a fit of despair about how poorly his life has gone, vows to make all future choices in the opposite manner. In doing so, everything goes magically and comically right for him. […]

Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder & Beyond With the recent Amber Heard/Johnny Depp trial, Borderline Personality Disorder is a hot topic. Many people are wondering…. “Do I have Borderline Personality Disorder?” Or “I think my friend, family member, lover, or coworker has it”. What is Borderline Personality Disorder? Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is […]

By Dr. Cara Gardenswartz and Dr. Arezoo Esfahani Self-compassion has been shown to strengthen the parts of the brain that make people happier, more resilient, and more attuned to others. It helps comfort negative emotions in the present, permanently heal painful memories from the past, and change negative core beliefs. Three components of self-compassion: Self-Kindness […]