ficuspsych

01/11/2025

01/10/2025

09/16/2024

Mental health private practice.
Licensed in CA and NY
Providing evidence-based practices for children, teens, and adults.

Read more about us on ficuspsych.com

08/21/2024

“… Experiencing tough days makes you human.”
Quote from therapist, Felicia.
Felicia works with clients based in CA. Read more about Felicia’s bio and treatment specialties on our website.

08/20/2024

Gregory Sayer MD provides psychiatric care to California and New York based patients. He treats kids, teens, adults, parents, and families. His practice specializes in evidence based medicine and provides diagnostic evaluations, medication management, therapy, and wellness guidance.

Gregory Sayer MD is a dual board certified child and general psychiatrist, licensed in California and New York. He is on faculty at UCLA and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (DFAACAP)

Reach out to learn more.
www.ficuspsych.com
email: admin@ficuspsych.com

08/16/2024

With summer coming to an end. The school year is on a lot of family’s minds. High school does include many assignments, studying, and exams. It also includes major changes in adolescent brain, body, and identity development. New mental health and substance use issues may come on board during this time. Normal developmental difficulties during this time may be extra distressing and challenging for non-neurotypical teens. Preexisting problems may also be exacerbated by this time of tremendous flux and pressure.

There are luckily many evidence-based psychotherapies and medication options to help teens and families that are struggling.

07/30/2024

Mindfulness breathing practices have been shown in research studies to reduce anxiety symptoms. While it might sound simple, breathing mindfully can be most effective when done consistently and with special attention to certain nuances.

Set aside time: this can be challenging with the many other demands of daily life

Sit still: multitasking and being on the go can make sitting still itself challenging

Breathe deeply and slowly: can feel uncomfortable for some

Notice if your mind wanders: can be a frequent roadblock to someone pursing mindfulness breathing. It’s not uncommon if worry, random, or unpleasant thoughts or feelings come up

Bring it back to your breath: can be easier said than done

Working with a specialist in mindfulness practices can help a person overcome any barrier or answer questions or concerns about incorporating mindfulness meditations into daily life. If breathing practices are frustrating, feel pointless, or seem to make someone feel worse, this can be helpful to know diagnostically and highlights the need for a clinical discussion about what else could be going on.

07/29/2024

Creative play is an important part of typical early childhood development. Using imagination, symbolism, and “pretending” engages a child’s cognitive, emotional, speech language, social, and motor centers of the brain. Lack of creative play or extreme difficulty or rigidity around it can be a sign of atypical development. Creative play is sometimes incorporated into child therapy.

Creative play, even later in childhood, can be an outlet for conscious and unconscious emotions, fantasies, and curiosities that may otherwise be bottle up. Creative play with peers can assist with social skill development and closeness.

Some adults may easily transition into a more creative and playful stance when engaging with children and others may have great difficulty. Caregiver discomfort with creative play can be a topic to explore in parent focused therapy especially if there are difficulties with bonding or behaviors.