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October 2022 Newsletter 



Welcome to the Fall AICT Newsletter.

We are celebrating our 37th year of providing the best standard of therapy for anxiety, depression, couples issues, and much more.

A Letter from our Founder, Dr. Leahy, discussing his new book on Regret:

 

Many of us are plagued with regrets about things we did or did not do. Sometimes these regrets can last for years—even decades. And we often anticipate regret if we consider a new course of action. I have been listening to my clients, friends, and myself for years and I thought it might be a good idea to take a deep dive into the area of regret. So I wrote my latest book, If Only..Finding Freedom from Regret which is now available.


Is regret ever a good thing? It can be. In fact, children who express regret are better able at making decisions. They learn from their mistakes. Some people don’t anticipate regret and take chances that seem, in hindsight, quite risky. Others may discount possible regret and overdrink, overspend, act out sexually, or say things that are inappropriate. In fact, the absence of regret can be as big a problem as too much regret. We can view regret as a learning and self-correction strategy, a planning strategy, and a self-regulation strategy. Even the expression of guilt—through sincere apology—can help rebuild ruptured relationships. But many people are hijacked by their regrets.


What leads us to get overwhelmed with regret? I go into some detail about this in my new book, but here are some possibilities. We may try to maximize a perfect outcome and not be willing to settle for a range of outcomes. I call this “relative preferences”. We may have inflexible expectations, not adjusting our expectations to match reality. We may idealize the alternative and thereby devalue what we have. We may compare what we have to a perfect outcome and not accept that life involves tradeoffs. And we may focus on a current disappointment and generalize it to our entire life.

 

Fortunately, there are lots of tools from cognitive behavioral therapy that can help us make better decisions, have realistic goals, learn that being flexible is more adaptive than demanding perfectionism, and develop problem-solving skills to build a better life even when it is imperfect. I hope you get a chance to check out this book because I think it might be helpful.


You can purchase the book on amazon by clicking here.


To watch an interview with Dr. Leahy see him on The Sanity Podcast discussing regret. Click here.

AICT Clinician Spotlight 


Susan Trachtenberg Paula, Ph.D., is AICT’s Director of Child and Adolescent Services. Dr. Paula specializes in the treatment of PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder and mood and anxiety disorders in children, adolescents and adults. Dr. Paula practices cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), family therapy, parent management skills, and couples therapy. 

Before coming to AICT, Dr. Paula directed programs for children and youth with severe emotional problems, led a program providing treatment and support to those impacted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and participated in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network promoting evidence-based treatments for PTSD in children and adolescents. She has also been training and supervising other therapists in CBT and evidence-based treatments for PTSD for over 20 years.

Dr. Paula has authored journal articles and book chapters, and helped develop the National Center for PTSD’s web-based training on STAIR (Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation), an evidence-based treatment model for PTSD. 

Dr. Paula frequently presents her work at national conferences. She and a colleague will be presenting the workshop, “When the Pandemic Isn’t the Worst Thing That’s Happened: Practical Tools for Complex PTSD Survivors in Our Trouble Times,” at the annual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies conference in New York in November.

Graham Reynolds, Ph.D., Director of Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive

Treatment Program, is a New York State licensed psychologist. Dr. Reynolds

is currently a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University

Teacher’s College, where he instructs and supervises doctoral students in

clinical psychology. He specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and

mindfulness-based therapies. He has been intensively trained in Dialectical

Behavior Therapy (DBT) and he provides both individual and group DBT

sessions. Dr. Reynolds works with adults and adolescents who have anxiety,

OCD, depression, and bipolar disorder.

Dr. Reynolds received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Hofstra

University and completed his doctoral internship at the Hudson Valley VA

Medical Center. There, he worked with veterans in residential PTSD and

substance use treatment programs. He was certified in Cognitive Processing

Therapy for PTSD and was a member of the DBT team. Dr. Reynolds has also

trained at the Northwell Healthcare System in the OCD and Bipolar Disorder

specialty clinics, at the Northport VA Medical Center dual diagnosis clinic, and

on inpatient psychiatry units at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital and Jamaica

Hospital in Queens, New York. Dr. Reynolds is a past adjunct professor at

State University of New York College at Old Westbury and has published and

presented at national and international conference on anxiety, psychosis, and

aggression.

To Learn More or to Sign Up, Contact our Intake Coordinator at (212) 308 - 2440
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The American Institute for Cognitive Therapy
150 East 58th St, 5th Floor Annex
New York, NY 10155
Phone: (212) 308 - 2440 Fax: (212) 308 - 3099