by guest blogger Olga Trujillo, J.D., author of The Sum of My Parts

The more I think about it, the more I marvel at the skill of the psychiatrist who helped me heal from Dissociative Identity Disorder. As I look back on our work together, I can spot a number of creative strategies that he used.

Let's call him Dr. Summer. I don't know whether Dr. Summer drew upon his experience working with other survivors of abuse or spontaneously invented some tools in his work with me. Some of these techniques must have been specific to my circumstances, and should be understood in that context before adapted to others. Here are the tools I found most helpful.

by guest blogger Stephanie Sarkis, PhD, author of 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD, Making the Grade with ADD, ADD & Your Money and Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

Many people ask me what the difference is between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Both ADHD and OCD seem to be highly heritable: if you have it, it's likely that at least one of your parents also has it. When you have ADHD, one of the issues is that your brain has a low level of a chemical called dopamine. When you have OCD, one of the issues is that your brain has too much of a chemical called serotonin. Sometimes people have both ADHD and OCD. This means that you have the inattention and/or hyperactivity of ADHD, along with the compulsions and/or obsessions of OCD.

Suzanne Phillips, Ph.D., co-author of Healing Together, was featured on "Good Day New York" to discuss how social media affects relationships and interactions:

Quick Tip for Therapists by Martin M. Antony, PhD, author of Overcoming Health Anxiety and Valerie Vorstenbosch, MA

Perfectionism is the tendency to set unreasonably high standards that are inflexible, difficult or impossible to meet, and that interfere with an individual's life. Perfectionistic tendencies can be seen in many areas in clients' lives, such as work or school performance, writing, cleaning, organizing, and physical appearance.

One of the most effective ways to help clients reduce perfectionism is to change the behaviors that maintain perfectionistic beliefs. Some behavioral strategies that can be used to help clients overcome perfectionism include:

by guest blogger Olga Trujillo, J.D., author of The Sum of My Parts

When I first found out I had Dissociative Identity Disorder I was devastated. I was afraid of people finding out, thought perhaps I would lose my job. I was afraid my husband would leave me. I thought the diagnosis meant I was truly 'crazy'. I suddenly wanted my old life back-the one I had before I started having panic attacks and memories of being sexually abused as a child, adolescent and young adult.

I was diagnosed with DID and other related trauma disorders in 1993. I was 31 years old and a government lawyer. I was happily married with a normal life and no idea that I had a separated sense of consciousness. Before then, I thought I was like everyone else. I thought that my childhood had been happy, that I simply couldn't remember much of it.

I only even started therapy because I started experiencing intolerable panic attacks. Images would flash before my eyes during the day and immobilize me: while I was at work, driving home, or cooking dinner with my husband. Of course, I recognize these pictures now as flashbacks, but at the time, they made no sense.

by guest blogger Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook

Mattie was born on July 17th, 1990 with a genetic defect leading to Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy. He was bound to a wheelchair his entire life until he body finally came to rest at age 13. But Mattie was born into this world with a gift, a gift that lead all 7 of his books to become NY Times Bestsellers and landing him on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Primetime, The Today Show, CNN News and many other programs many times to share wisdom with millions of lives.

When I heard what Mattie’s final words to his Mom were, it popped me into a space of clarity.

This 13 year old little boy said:

"Choose to inhale; do not breathe simply to exist."

How many of us just exist in a choiceless world? How often do we actually choose this breath?

Quick Tip for Therapists by Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, author of Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens, Bipolar Workbook for Teens and DBT Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder

Sometimes, one of the hardest things about psychotherapy is knowing how to set appropriate boundaries with clients. Usually therapists have come into this field because they want to help, so it can feel counter-intuitive to say "no" when a client contacts you excessively by telephone or email, tries to extend appointment times, or wants more frequent appointments. But not saying "no" can lead to negative consequences like burnout. So when clients start making excessive requests, it's important to think about a couple of things.

by guest blogger Randy Paterson, PhD, author of Private Practice Made Simple

Human beings have dozens of ways to increase their level of misery. One of these is regret. In essence, the person casts their mind back to a decision point at some time in the past, a moment when they could have chosen another path into the future, and made what seems to them to be the wrong choice.

The interesting thing about regret is how often the individual stuck with it seems to oscillate on the moment of the decision. “I could have said no, but I said yes.” But of course there are many moments that they could focus on: the time of the decision and all the moments since.