Ting Mandel 

Life is lived in the tension between emotion and reason. 

 

Emotion is the engine of behavior, it drives the ship forward.  But some people find their lives dominated by overwhelming emotion.  Powerful feelings are accompanied by urges that motivate impulsive and ineffective behavior.  When we fail to manage our feelings, we sail too fast to steer safely. 

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Reason gives us direction. But some use reason to push away distressing feelings.  When rumination, obsessive planning, and other over-controlling behaviors are used to avoid emotional experience, we lose momentum.  Without drive, we are rudderless, at the mercy of winds and tides. 

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I help clients balance emotion and reason.  I do so by teaching skills to modulate the intensity of emotional experience.  Balance is, however, the means of therapy, not the ends. The goal of treatment is to help clients rekindle growth toward personal and professional goals.

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Everyone starts treatment from a different place.  Some are in search of a life worth living.  Others need small course corrections to reach destinations just out of view over the horizon.  Wherever you embark, self-regulation is the key to navigating life's challenges.  

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I can't promise smooth seas.  No one can.  That's why I focus on teaching the skills clients need to stay the course when life gets choppy.