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Relationship with our smartphones
You can’t live without them and its becoming difficult to live with them. And I am not talking about romantic partners – I’m referring to our smartphones. An NYTimes article last week spoke to the detriment of staying plugged in (disturbed sleep, inability to be present) which is being remedied with gadget free zones and digital…
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iPhone iPad, living the iLife.
The following is written for those who have the privilege of owning a smartphone or tablet. I recognize that this is a privileged group and does not apply to everyone. The convenience that technology provides is remarkable. I was editing an excel spreadsheet, tracking flights of several individuals, responding to emails for work, and communicating…
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GF, DF, WF, CF: Food Disabilities
If these pairs of letters look familiar to you then you are probably a survivor of food sensitivities or know someone who is a survivor. Food allergies have been tied to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), depression, headaches, and other illnesses (Ansorge and Metcalf, 2010). For individuals who develop food sensitivities or food allergies, determining the…
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The necessity of belonging
Many of you may have heard of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. And for those of you who have not, briefly, Maslow was a humanistic psychologist who is most known for his theory of Self Actualization. The idea is that individuals are driven, or motivated, to fulfill unmet needs (see figure below for descriptions). We…
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Myth: Chinese people don’t need therapy
I have had the privilege of co-facilitating groups (with very bright and talented interns) for international students at university counseling centers. More recently, I have had the opportunity to work on an individual basis with international students from Chinese speaking countries in Mandarin. Working in Mandarin has been a privilege for many reasons, personal and…
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Breaking up: physical and virtual
Our world today is smaller than ever. Given the amount of time many of us spend texting, facebooking, emailing, tweeting… We can easily spend hours checking updated statuses and pictures on multiple applications… It appears that we are hardly ever disconnected. While there are obvious benefits (staying in touch with family/friends, being more informed regarding…
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Addicted to distraction
In 2009 I was working at University of San Francisco and a psychiatrist working in SF presented to our staff on his work with ADHD. As an aside, he shared that he started a support group for Distraction– as in, “hello my name is Jennifer and I am distracted by Facebook…” (In chorus) “Hi Jennifer…”…
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Global identity: The recursive loop
Dr. Rajeswari Natrajan-Tyagi, my mentor-esteemed colleague and friend, and I recently gave a one hour presentation on the topic of parenting in immigrant families to a parent teacher student association (PTSA) in a Southern Californian community. These are parents with middle school aged children. We shared our experiences being immigrants; she, as a recent immigrant…
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Information Age: Distraction and Flux
The title for February’s issue for Fast Company is “Generation Flux.” In summary the article speaks of how fast our economy and culture is changing (i.e. rise and fall of businesses, unpredictability of competition, uncertainty about… well, everything) and what it will take for businesses and their employees to succeed. The article details a few…