tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57762520977362002422012-01-23T21:01:55.244-05:00Jayson Blairjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-77004271985390455002012-01-04T11:36:00.001-05:002012-01-04T11:37:49.957-05:00The Importance of the Accuracy of DiagnosisBy Jayson Blair, Certified Life CoachThe importance of a good diagnosis has become even clearer as pharmaceutical companies have further refined their biological silver bullets for mental illness. Medicines like, for example, serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be targeted to treat depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and a variety of other illness. But they can have dramatically harmful jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-24111467180044277012012-01-04T11:21:00.006-05:002012-01-04T11:32:05.350-05:00DiffDx: Anxiety About AnxietyBy Jayson Blair, Certified Life Coach It’s a jungle out there. And one of the hardest forests to untangle your way through is the differences between stress and anxiety, and the differences between the many anxiety disorders. It’s enough to make you anxious. But no worries, we’ve put together a little guide. Anxiety disorders have one of the longest differential diagnosis lists of all jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-90134767010558566232011-08-08T02:54:00.016-04:002011-08-08T04:44:16.198-04:00Is the Washington Economy Really Recession Proof?<!--[if !mso]> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONEjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-38079182097507906212011-07-24T14:55:00.014-04:002011-07-24T15:53:25.923-04:00The Age of 27Sitting in the passenger seat with my headphones plugged in on the second day of a long drive home to Virginia from Maine, I was listening to Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” and scanning for the latest news on my phone. As we drove south on the New Jersey Turnpike, I scanned Twitter and came across the strikingly sad, although not terribly surprising, news that jazz and R&B singer Amy Winehouse jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-88362314995918817952010-10-25T17:04:00.009-04:002010-10-25T19:40:25.328-04:00Called to DutyThe decision was made Monday morning to fly to Bangor, Maine last Thursday to see a client who needed a check-in. The check-in was as much for me and his parents as it was for him, and it seems, as best as I can tell, that he is doing as good as possible given the coming darkness of winter. As I boarded a U.S. Airways jet to LaGuardia Airport, the layover on the way to Bangor, I thought of the jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-17881300687714688892010-08-22T10:18:00.012-04:002010-12-20T20:18:37.098-05:00Decoding the Light in the DarknessWhen I was looking toward this week, I didn't expect that I would be visiting a museum dedicated to national security and cryptology that I had written about more than ten years ago, attending a funeral for one of my favorite uncles or returning to New York to see a group of people that I had not seen since a wedding 16 years ago in Virginia or sitting at the beside of one of them in a Christian jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-35458922633396217512010-08-07T10:41:00.009-04:002010-08-08T20:39:20.169-04:00Trees as a Higher PowerA client I had been seeing for almost three years has had some success abstaining from alcohol and drugs, and bringing a great amount of order to her life. She now wants to be a counselor working. She, like all of us "non-civilians," struggle with stabilizing our, leaning to cope and socialize without mind-and-mood altering substances and healthier ways to calm our minds. This client has had jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-5663978592557321882010-07-29T09:49:00.007-04:002010-07-29T11:43:51.914-04:00Down the Road from McLeanMy fascination with the sprawling 240 acre campus of McLean Hospital, in Belmont, Mass., and what was done there, began in 2003, the year I lost my job at The New York Times and days later found myself 270 miles south, at Silver Hill Hospital, in New Canaan, Conn., a premiere hospital that rivals, and in some estimations, is stronger than McLean . There, I was treated to my first experience in jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-61120443398884756412010-02-09T19:16:00.033-05:002010-02-10T12:36:26.468-05:00'Keep shooting until you run out of bullets'We all are often asked why we do things. We often don't have logical, cogent answers.I often get asked the question "Why" I do certain things, and I often rationalize my answers - my "go big or go home personality," because of the righteousness of the mission or because of the outcomes. Sometimes, it's because of what my man David says. I'm just shooting until I run out of bullets.Many of my jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-7552115714908292892009-12-13T12:43:00.011-05:002009-12-13T18:19:44.313-05:00When faith and treatment collideI spend a lot of time reading, devoting, consuming the ideas of others, whether they come in the form of books and blogs, magazines and television programs, newspaper articles and music. My taste in blogs run from If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going, a thoughtful personal blog on mental health by a professional writer, Jim Romenesko's blog, which keeps me up-to-date on the latest happenings jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-76945015377014635322009-12-02T10:24:00.007-05:002009-12-02T10:49:40.061-05:00What I learned from my friend who couldn't eatSometimes I have to remind myself that there was time when I thought that there was no mental illness in my family. Sometimes I have to remind myself that there was a time when I thought that mental illness was not a part of me. Sometimes, I do, have to remind myself that I once saw mental illness as a sign of weakness. I have to remind myself that my views didn't change once I had my first jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-42901957024259578672009-11-30T17:38:00.006-05:002009-11-30T17:58:11.819-05:00Introversion as a gift to societyI am an introvert. This always surprises people. I have been called outgoing, charming and the life of the party. These things might be true, and while people have noticed that I like to get my social interaction in short bursts - coffee for an hour, short visits to holiday parties and quick conversations - they still have a hard time understanding why I consider myself an introvert. Simply put, jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-27696820839628292282009-11-14T23:05:00.023-05:002009-11-15T12:20:21.520-05:00The Gift of GivingTraveling to classrooms at colleges and universities to talk about ethics, deception, substance abuse, mental health and a variety of other topics, has a redemptive quality for me. But as satisfying as it is to help see good come from my mistakes in the form of lessons learned, it has always been the human story that has captured me. As I give of myself, others give their stories back to me, jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-5930641265483099532009-10-21T23:24:00.010-04:002009-10-22T15:06:13.165-04:00Lies, damn lies and what matters the most to peopleFor reasons that are obvious, I had been asked to speak about deception. I had been recruited for the job because of the lies I told and, interestingly, because the sponsors of the seminar realized that I had spent a lifetime – in both journalism and my mental health work now – needing to understand the motives of those working with me and identifying when individuals were lying. I declined the jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-26186133732492748122009-10-16T00:05:00.039-04:002009-10-17T17:33:26.745-04:00When kids hold hands under water and I believe that purple rocks aren't just amethystSitting in a car in a Virginia university town today, a young friend told me the story of her first boyfriend, a 9-year-old boy from summer camp. I can't say how the conversation started - you never can with her - but its worth pointing out that I've known her for nine months and I never heard her talk fondly and in a detailed way about boys.I think her segway was something about a boyfriend she jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-45833645182879756022009-10-02T18:36:00.003-04:002009-10-02T18:49:17.672-04:00Everyday crushesI confess.In a life filled with confessions, here's another one.I have a crush. A Starbucks crush. I think most of you know what I'm talking about. And if you have to ask, well. It was 180-millimeters of heaven. And I was blessed to just have one. Its something about the foam, proportions, the steam and, well, she could tell you. I just know - its better than any I've tasted.My Starbucks crush jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-32095326536463747442009-09-24T19:49:00.012-04:002009-09-26T00:29:23.480-04:00When the good guys are doing us wrongDetective Robert Goren said it to Nichole Wallace on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Sara Sidle said a version of it Gil Grissom on C.S.I. And Herman Meville probably would have said it to Sigmund Freud."Sometimes, a whale is just a whale."I am as big a fan as anyone of tough regulation of pharmaceutical companies, but it seems in recent months that the Food and Drug Administration has continue jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-89930445127606676572009-09-20T12:58:00.018-04:002009-09-20T14:41:46.602-04:00The best coaches in life, and athleticsThe “Perfect” Coach For Your Boy* Maggie Avedisian, Ph.D. Clinical Child Psychologist This is the first post in a series of guest contributions on coaching children by Dr. Maggie Avedisian sees adults, couples, children and adolescents as a psychologist in private practice at Ashburn Psychological Services. With doctorate and post-doctorate specializations in both clinical and jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-75342077808720383872009-09-17T23:17:00.029-04:002009-09-19T13:22:04.261-04:00Minatours, Medusa, Icarus and logic in parentingI tripped across a recent newspaper column in The New York Times that ran under the headline "When Parents Say 'I Love You,' Means 'Do as I Say.'" It made me think of three young adult clients whose parents have struggled with setting up systems of rewards and punishments that were balanced with the notion of helping their children stay safe, improve their judgment, develop and mature, become jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-44179543882803133022009-09-07T18:34:00.006-04:002009-09-07T18:54:06.262-04:00Athletic coaches as life coachesMy friend and colleague, Dr. Maggie Avedisian, a clinical psychologist, recently asked for some thoughts on what makes a good athletic coach. Since I work with a number of teenagers, I gave Dr. Avedisian this advice for a blog article she's writing for parents on identifying good coaches and for athletic coaches on how to improve their work with their students:A good coach should recognize that jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-71092902721001527742009-09-04T21:23:00.015-04:002009-09-04T22:37:38.757-04:00To think, that which makes me greatSitting here waiting for my dinner date, I was thumbing through a copy of the latest edition of Vanity Fair when I came across an article about The Washington Post called "Post Modern." While thumbing through the well-written could-this-be-the-one-newspaper-that-survives stories because of my interest in journalism, I stumbled across this passage that made me think that Michael Wolff, the jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-71153613673728086812009-09-04T20:39:00.012-04:002009-09-06T19:21:50.055-04:00The Gift of Fear (or the Gift of Intution in Protecting Yourself and Lie Detecting)A friend was recently on the phone with me walking down a New York street and she noticed a man starring at a street pole, and it didn't make her comfortable. Now, as the boys at Matchbox Twenty would put it, this is from a woman who makes friends with shadows on her wall, hears voices telling her that she should get some sleep, takes to herself in public and dodges glances on the train. What, onjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-39491430431792744302009-09-04T00:45:00.016-04:002009-09-04T12:29:58.661-04:00Bunnies, Butterflies and Care Bears TooIt was our nightly conversation about relationships."Have you never had a fantasy relationship," my friend in Inwood who has been through a series of relationships with men on the Internet, and just broke off her second one in the last year. "Have you never met someone on the Internet and fallen in love? Have you never fantasized about a summer romance continuing even though you knew it wouldn't?jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-36389623656246861882009-08-29T04:58:00.013-04:002009-08-29T23:21:59.827-04:00Having lunch or being lunch?The last two weeks have had me repeating a phrase that I learned many years ago from my high school journalism teacher, the astute and sapient Anne Sharp, when we eithercame across or created an image to represent the dangers of school administrators attempting to spin us, the student newspaper.The final image was of upright tiger wearing a brim hand with a card on it reading "press." The tiger jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-6792094627456453202009-08-27T16:51:00.034-04:002009-08-29T06:08:40.861-04:00Christmas in AugustQuotations are the last refuge of the intellectually lazy -- but they beat trying to think of something pithy of your own -- and this one is one of those classic quotes that I share with my high school and college students who are struggling with becoming more mature. Clichés have resonance because they reflect underlying truth, and when it comes to the fulfilling, fraught, fun-filled, fertilejayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-76108475848922011212009-08-13T22:42:00.012-04:002009-08-13T23:47:19.863-04:00Looking bipolar; DDx, anyone?Someone came to me this week to discuss school, her career and her moods. She talked about how her father had been diagnosed years ago with bipolar disorder and toward the end of our conversation mentioned that a psychiatrist had diagnosed her with "bipolar lite" soon after she stopped using cocaine and ecstasy. I found it curious. She was not closed to the idea of having bipolar, but added thatjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-56990923599511699192009-08-10T18:01:00.006-04:002009-08-10T18:42:48.567-04:00Touched with fireOur office manager is playing the lead role in a local production by the Sterling Playmakers' of "Thoroughy Modern Millie," a Tony-award winning musical comedy that was on Broadway in the early 2000s. I went to see it on Sunday with a client and saw several others there, a testament to our office manager's loyal following, which I attribute to her ability to relate to our unique population of jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-90348193857172855702009-08-03T16:13:00.016-04:002009-08-20T16:23:29.803-04:00Swan divingOh, yeah ... swan divers always go mad- my friend, Liz Kelley, on those of us who love and live to the point of madness and seem to believe that it is the only sensible way to either love or live.Sitting across from one of my most creativity, thoughtful, helpful, self-aware and troubled clients last week, I thought of this quotation. She's a swam diver. In everything in life -- the beauty, the jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-89221505190977210492009-08-02T16:26:00.023-04:002009-08-05T16:50:30.691-04:00Days of Rest; Days of Introspection I've tried to do my best to rest during the weekend's over the summer, taking trips along the Potomac, going to New York City twice, to the islands off of Charleston, S.C. and Duck, N.C. Feeling a bit tired this weekend, I mused a bit about what the last few Sundays have been like. I went to my camera to see if I had pictures (see above) that would jog my memory, an assessment of my attempt of jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-73512075026355732222009-08-01T19:34:00.018-04:002009-08-02T20:31:55.843-04:00healing art, and art to healSomeone sent me this video and it made me think of how helpful it is is for people who have been depressed -- I mean everything from a touch of a sad mood to I mean Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -depressed -- to use art to heal. Dancing, painting, writing, drawing, composing, playing, choreographing, videographing, filming, shooting and acting your feelings is an immenselyjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-91782875149755398082009-08-01T18:16:00.000-04:002009-08-02T19:31:37.961-04:00Web-based program appears effective with insomniaUniversity of Virginia researchers have published a piece in the Archives of Journal of General Psychiatry that examined an Internet-based behavioral intervention for adults with insomnia.They found that insomnia severity, wake after sleep onset and sleep efficiency all significantly improved for two thirds of those receiving the Web-based program while none of the individuals in the control jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-69869952923336858772009-07-30T18:58:00.013-04:002009-08-02T17:21:41.867-04:00Peer Professionals in Mental Health Crisis SituationsIn advance, the moral of this story is not that there is nothing that some helping hands and a little Ativan can't cure. Although, its a good combination.The experiences of a client with bipolar disorder responded me of the importance of having people in your life -- peer support -- who understand through firsthand experience what it has been like to walk in your shoes. This -- the notion that jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-15364227060923062682009-07-30T18:42:00.005-04:002009-08-02T15:27:36.182-04:00Career Coaching vs. Career CounselingThere has been a surge in recent calls to Ashburn Psychological Services from people looking to figure out what to door with their careers or to make a occupation change. One of the questions I often get during phone consultations is about the difference between career coaches and career counselors.Though the lines between career counseling and career coaching have become blurred, there are some jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-89225922983939358662009-07-27T00:44:00.012-04:002009-07-27T01:17:03.343-04:00A Necessary LossIn my own therapy, three years ago, my therapist handed me a passage from a book after I had been struck by a series of losses. I turned to the same passage today after a week that was filled with several punishing and piercing losses for someone close to me that shook the moors of my faith that I truly believe that which is so logical, a notion that I intellectually conceded decades ago, but jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-31317042486018721012009-07-14T19:39:00.009-04:002009-08-02T17:25:33.594-04:00The Gift of TherapyJust finished reading "The Gift of Therapy" by the noted psychiatrist and therapist, Irvin Yalom, MD. I had read Dr. Yalom's writings on group psychotherapy and his hilarious and poignant case studies in the book "Love's Executioner." "The Gift of Therapy" is a well-written look at case studies that form an open letter to today's therapists. As soon as I finished the book, I passed it on to a jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-74905381885838833862009-07-13T15:16:00.006-04:002009-08-02T17:26:47.184-04:00Recovery month 2009Dr. Susan Hamilton, a noted clinical psychologist, former director of substance abuse treatment programs and the former director of mental health at the American Red Cross, began working with me today to bring the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration's Recovery Month 2009 to Ashburn Psychological Services and Loudoun County in September. Taking, Dr. Hamilton's lead we are looking jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-59411117428132727062009-07-11T16:37:00.015-04:002009-08-02T17:27:15.202-04:00Summer bookshelf for ADD, with a nod to two modern classics on bipolar and postpartum depressionSeveral clients have benefited from two recent books I've tripped across for students with attention deficit disorder who are headed off to or back to college. The first book is "Making the Grade with A+DD: A Student's Guide to Succeeding in College with Attention Deficit Disorder" and "Survival Guide for College Students with ADHD and ADD." "Survival" confirms some good tips for selecting jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-39621936382653812512009-06-30T13:21:00.001-04:002009-08-02T17:27:47.984-04:00WebMD Visits for Feature on Peers helping PeersA film crew from WebMD - the award-winning website that blends expertise in medicine, journalism, communication and content - came by this morning to record an interview with me and shadow me for a day as I worked with clients. It was exciting. Along with the Mayo Clinic, WebMD has some of the most clear, comprehensive and evidence-based information on mental health on the Web. The WebMD film jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-76445140391028995472009-06-28T13:51:00.005-04:002009-08-04T08:18:54.994-04:00Washingtonian Top DoctorsWashingtonian magazine has released its latest list of top doctors, and among the psychologists and psychiatrists, selected by peers, based on a criteria of whom their colleagues would send a friend or family member to for help, are three familiar names: the director and a psychologist from the practice (Ashburn Psychological Services), Dr. Michael Oberschneider; the main psychiatrist at the jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-69786601973226347882009-05-24T14:49:00.001-04:002009-08-02T17:28:33.652-04:00Danagers of Being a Professional PatientMy first psychiatrist in New York warned me not to become "a professional patient." In the midst of news reports about me I had been approached by all sorts of people, including pharmaceutical companies whose medications I had not yet taken, to speak on their behalf with partially made-up narratives of a recovery that had not yet happened. Andy Behrman is the most high-profile bipolar "jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-73030802823349659622009-05-11T13:38:00.001-04:002009-08-02T17:28:51.930-04:00Ages and Stages of Learning and AD/HDAfter some recent successes with adolescents and young adults in college (and some older adults) who have the inattentive type of ADHD (called attention deficit disorder or ADD), I listened with great interest yesterday to a talk given by Dr. Yvonne Pennington at the CHADD "Ages and Stages of Learning and AD/HD" conference in Baltimore. Dr. Pennington is an author, an expert on positive parentingjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-32467620178514146322009-04-15T14:06:00.002-04:002009-08-02T17:29:44.814-04:00Venturing out of my area of expertise and into eating disordersAs some of you know, my first overt, head-on confrontation with mental illness was not with my own bipolar disorder or inattention, but with the eating disorder of a high school classmate who anorexia nervosa. My friend, Erin, had been hospitalized at Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children, but her insurance company was refusing to pay for the more than 30 days of treatment recommended by her jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-45778746119360761642009-03-06T14:30:00.000-05:002009-07-11T14:40:25.197-04:00Mach-2 career testingSo, I broke my own record for career evaluation, testing, interpretation, report writing and feedback yesterday. A client who is a college student at the University of Virginia and first met me in January came in to be tested at 10 am on Monday and I was able to interpret, write and report and discuss the results with her by 6 pm on Thursday. We had to get it done before she returned to school jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-66277283554547049412009-02-20T14:42:00.001-05:002009-08-02T17:30:08.677-04:00Victory!A month ago I was referred a client with attention deficit disorder who had been kicked out of his school because he was found with a mild opioid prescription pill. His parents were concerned and found deeper substance abuse problems that the school was unaware of after they investigated. With the help of his psychiatrist, who referred him to me, I was able to put together a treatment plan that jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-77857852923230169122009-02-18T14:22:00.001-05:002009-08-02T17:30:28.533-04:00Theraputic boarding schools lunchHad lunch today at a practice where I am a contractor with John Grego, a counselor and admissions official, at the Greenbriar Academy for Girls. I have been increasingly impressed by the therapeutic boarding schools for high school students and college students that are a welcome alternative to some of the wilderness programs -- not all wilderness programs are bad -- where my clients have had jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-2669775002200691422009-02-05T17:31:00.003-05:002009-08-02T17:30:51.122-04:00Bipolar Support Group in AshburnI am happy to announce that the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia support group in Ashburn, Va. is now an independent affiliate. The meeting is for individuals with bipolar disorder and is run and facilitated by their peers.Contact: ashburn@dbsanova.orgTime: Every Wednesday at 8:00 p.mLocation: Ashburn Psychological Services, 2nd Floor Conference Room (first room on the right jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-22242180208025913742009-01-30T15:18:00.002-05:002009-08-02T17:32:04.043-04:00He did it!One of my clients with a pervasive developmental disorder and strong social phobias actually went out with me today and asked for free samples -- on his own -- of ice cream, asked for two job applications, ordered for us at Starbucks and chatted with a woman at a shopping center. I had no grand plan here. I just felt inspired to go out and take a walk and see the social anxiety we had talked jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-53659924584812368072009-01-29T15:23:00.001-05:002009-08-02T17:31:28.024-04:00Brain Injury Services GroupMeet with fellow contractors and colleagues at Ashburn Psychological Services today with members of a neat Springfield, Va.-based group called the Brain Injury Services Group and I wanted to pass along the link. The group's work is particularly relevant with so many veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries, but also for folks who have taken falls, hadjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-40847086956561833302008-11-19T15:28:00.001-05:002009-08-02T17:31:41.508-04:00Juvenile justice servicesMet on Thursday with Mark Brownell, a Loudoun County, Va. Sheriff's deputy, assigned to the Juvenile Court Services Unit. Mark talked with me and colleagues about a wide array of services they offer juveniles who end up in trouble. Among the services are interventions, where Mark and his colleagues attempt to get juveniles resources they need before they need up on probation or in jail. We met jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-2267756897134807262008-10-03T15:39:00.003-04:002009-08-02T17:32:30.794-04:00Celebrity silent auction!Running off to the celebrity silent auction for Homestretch -- a great cause -- at the Gannett Building in McLean, Va. Homestretch provides housing, educational and psychological assistance to the homeless in Fairfax County, Va.jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-70492998985284700012008-06-23T23:14:00.002-04:002009-08-02T17:33:05.859-04:00Pitch perfect description of maniaRe-reading Kay Redfield Jamison's "An Unquiet Mind" and was struck by how this description of mania was absolutely accurate and pitch-perfect, as if Dr. Jamison had conjured up the ghost of manic episode past as she wrote this passage:"There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness. When you're high it's tremendous. The ideas and feelings are jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-78267089837100412532008-05-27T19:48:00.002-04:002009-08-02T17:33:51.461-04:00Mania and creativityMany scientists, notably Kay Redfield Jamison in her book Touched with Fire, see a link between creativity and bipolar disorder, but I just came across a study where researchers at Stanford University's School of Medicine have found that having bipolar parents can pay dividends in creativity. It suggests what anyone whose hung out with many children of people with bipolar disorder already seem tojayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-8720940944319990982008-03-10T15:45:00.001-04:002009-08-02T17:34:15.248-04:00Alison Malmon is a role model for all of usI am a huge fan of Alison Malmon. She is the 26-year-old executive director of Active Minds on Campus, a support network of more than 100 college campus chapters that help individuals with mental illnesses, support their family and friends and work to generally improve mental health on college campuses. I originally met Alison when a friend was applying for a position at the growing Active Minds jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-87417867160974618812008-01-27T20:00:00.002-05:002009-08-02T17:34:29.514-04:00another member to our familySeveral months ago, Pete Earley, the former Washington Post reporter and author, came to speak at a Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia event at the Sully District Government Center in Chantilly, Va. Pete spoke about his book "Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness." Pete's book is about his son, who had to be hospitalized several times and eventually jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-55600772730162240622007-12-01T19:40:00.001-05:002009-08-02T17:34:49.032-04:00Army suicidesArmy soldiers committed suicide in 2006 at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to military reports. An increasing number of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen are also returning with traumatic brain injuries, which often result in psychiatric and psychological problems. Failed personal relationships, legal and financialjayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-71769479878227049532007-11-11T19:32:00.001-05:002009-08-02T17:35:01.461-04:00Omega 3s, Yoga and other good stuffI often get questions about what can be done, in addition to medical therapies, to help with depression. Here are a couple of recommendations. First and foremost, regular and full sleep is perhaps the most important factor in preventing manic episodes and it has been shown to contribute to preventing depressive relapses. Another excellent tool is exercise, particularly exercise that promotes jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-9824442963135157882007-11-01T12:18:00.011-04:002009-08-02T17:35:29.726-04:00Joining top area psychological practiceGood news -- I'm taking my life coaching work to one of the area's fastest growing psychological and psychiatric practices, Ashburn Psychological Services, a team of psychological and psychiatric professionals in Ashburn, Va. The team is run by Michael Oberschneider, Psy.D, a well-regarded clinical psychologist, his wife, Liz, a financial wunderkind. The other clinician-contractors are: Mehul V. jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-8247422045369031252007-09-11T19:07:00.006-04:002009-08-02T17:35:51.924-04:00blast on my pastI don't write much these days about my own past unless it has some relevance to the work I'm doing to help people now as a life coach and through the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia. But, for those of you have e-mailed with questions about the role that bipolar disorder played in my previous life, I should say that it did not cause my problems, mania and depression just jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-70904845027707242392007-07-31T15:59:00.001-04:002009-08-02T17:36:07.360-04:00Talk on Pathophysiology of Affective DisordersWent to a fascinating talk last night by Dr. Alan G. Mallinger, a psychiatrist and unit chief of the Adult Outpatient Clinic's Mood and Anxiety Disorder Unit at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Mallinger presented interesting findings and discussed research into medications that help reverse brain cell atrophy caused by repeated exposure to mania and depression.jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-2681174784730730772007-07-12T18:00:00.001-04:002009-08-02T17:36:25.723-04:00Bipolar, depression, ADD and the amygdalaJust finished listening to Frederick M. Jacobsen, MD, a psychiatrist-scientist and clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, give a cool talk last night at the GWU Hospital auditorium on research on the response of people who have bipolar, depression and ADHD/ADD to strong emotional stimuli, a surgical treatment for depression, diagnosing bipolar disorder, the bipolar jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-79181125581307572722007-04-12T21:54:00.003-04:002009-08-02T17:36:41.103-04:00Kay Redfield Jamison and Frederick Goodwin at politics and proseJust came back from Politics and Prose bookstore in Northwest Washington where I attended a talk and question and answer sessions by Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD, the noted researcher and author of a memoir of her struggles with bipolar disorder, and her partner in the definitive book on bipolar disorder, "Manic Depresssive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression," the former National jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776252097736200242.post-63362904538874645072007-01-27T19:53:00.003-05:002009-08-02T17:36:52.162-04:00Campbell dies; author leaves a book that changed livesBebe Moore Campbell died recently. Campbell is a noted fiction author who strayed into semi-non-fiction in her book 72 Hour Hold, a story that was based on her own life and the life of her daughter, who has bipolar disorder. Campbell's novel explores the difficulties for parents attempting to help children with bipolar, and how family history can become clouded by the stigma of mental illness jayson blairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12610410134291793845noreply@blogger.com