David Susman

Learning About Mindfulness

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A Conversation with Dr. Ruth Baer, Ph.D. I recently had the opportunity to talk with my colleague Dr. Ruth Baer, a clinical psychology professor and internationally recognized expert on mindfulness. I asked her a few questions to help us better understand what mindfulness is and how it can help with a variety of mental health issues. Here’s our conversation: DS: Mindfulness is certainly very popular these days. For those who aren’t very familiar with the topic, what’s a simple way …

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How You Can Help Me With My Recovery

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We all know how critically important help, support and encouragement are if you’re recovering from a physical or mental health issue or substance misuse. But it’s really hard to ask for help because of fear, shame, guilt, anxiety, and a host of other challenges and barriers. If you’ve ever wanted to reach out for help and support with your recovery but you weren’t sure what to say, here are some ideas to help you get started, in the form of …

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It’s More Than OK to Ask for Help

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Aidan O’Connell This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate Aidan O’Connell about his history of mental health challenges and about some of his current advocacy work. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? AO: My mental health difficulties …

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How to Become Stigma-Free

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If you’re somewhat health conscious, you may have decided to opt for food or beverage choices that are sugar-free, fat-free, gluten-free or caffeine-free. Or perhaps you have achieved the admirable goal of becoming drug-free, smoke-free or even debt-free. But have you ever considered becoming stigma-free? If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know I’ve written a fair amount on the issue of the many negative effects of stigma related to mental illness and several simple but effective ways …

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Don’t Give Up On Your Dreams

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Dave Wise This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate Dave Wise about his history of mental health challenges and about some of his current advocacy work. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? DW: I first became aware …

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How to Be a Top-Notch Learner

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As someone who spent many, many years in school, I definitely picked up several effective strategies for being a better learner along the way. Since then, in my career as a clinical psychologist, college professor, and mental health advocate, I’ve also seen how learning works from the other side. I’ve tried to motivate students to absorb and apply new information and I’ve assisted many people in learning how to cope with a wide variety of personal and mental health challenges. …

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10 Features of Effective Weight Loss Programs

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In my work as a psychologist, I’ve often helped people develop and implement plans to make healthy lifestyle changes such as losing weight, stopping smoking, eating healthier foods or getting more physical activity. A significant number of folks have dealt with ongoing weight issues, which can be due to medication side effects, poor nutrition, or physical inactivity. While I’ve never been extremely overweight, my weight had crept up at an average of a pound or so per year since my …

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