Seniors with dementia will see a decreased ability in memory, communication, focus, reasoning or judgment, as well as a decrease in their visual perception ability. Initially, those living with dementia are fairly independent. As the disease progresses, limitations become greater and the individual with dementia may no longer be able to live on their own.

Dr. Vitaly Kushnir from Eden Fertility Centers in New Port Beach, CA sits down for a conversation with Sandra Kushnir, LMFT on the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on individuals going through IVF. We are here to share ways to cope better with the feelings/stress that is coming up during this crisis.

For thousands of years, meditation has been practiced by people for their physical as well as mental well being. As per the researchers, meditation helps people in decreasing their anxiety and depression levels. With that, their pain tolerance also increases. Meditation helps in focusing on yourself by eliminating many thoughts apart from yourself. This process helps in memory improvement and self-awareness.

There are some easy options to help prepare your mental health when going through a career change. Exercises to keep the brain thinking positively and at its optimal performance are crucial. Here are some to consider.

When life-threatening emergencies arise, fear begins to work in mysterious ways and it invokes a wide range of individual responses. To better understand the collective crisis and process the seemingly odd behavior of others, let’s demystify the varying degrees of the fear response. More importantly, building awareness around why you may react in a certain way and why others may respond so differently has the power to transform exasperation and judgment into empathy and collaboration, in a time where we are in dire need of the latter.

Vlog: Sandra Kushnir, LMFT discusses the impact of attachment styles on your relationships, emotional regulations and self-image.

Women have been pitted against one another for centuries. Whether it be for the attention of men, careers, looks, or even family life, women are no strangers to the fight. Moving forward, we have turned our fight from one another to the betterment of our own and to nurture the quality of our society.

In our highly social culture, it’s typical for us to flat out reject the idea of spending time solo. We assume that alone time means that we are anti-social, unwanted, or even unloveable. Essentially, we confuse spending time alone with loneliness, although there is a marked difference. Loneliness is finding ourselves alone when we crave company while being alone is an active choice for solitude.

How can you tell if your relationship is healthy or not? There are a few important things that make a relationship healthy! Here are a few things to look out for!

For many people, an addiction to alcohol can be somewhat of a surprise. It's not a dependency that happens immediately, it progresses and builds over time. Sometimes it's difficult to see the signs before it's too late. Addiction is a progressive disease, so to become aware of it is not usually so obvious. So how can you recognize whether or not you or a loved one might have a problem with drinking? Read on to see if you can relate to any of these 5 warning signs.

In the month of February, we celebrate love! Love of our partners, of our friends, family, and ourselves? Recently a friend of mine reminds me of the importance of teaching others about dating ourselves and our partners at the same time. This is more than just a practice of self-love but, a topic of creating a relationship of mutual love, respect, and confidence in ourselves.

Yoga is therapy, the full practice serves us work with the nature of being a human, the nature of the mind, how feelings live in our bodies, how they influence our minds and our behavior. In fact, yoga is much more than holding poses and stretching; yoga is a more widespread practice indeed, a lifestyle that includes several life principles.

A number of mental illnesses impact sleep, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and ADHD. These disorders can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep, cause restless nights, and in some cases, cause you to sleep too much.

Your inner critic is the voice inside your head that judges, demeans, and disapproves of your thoughts and actions. This voice is a manifestation of your fears and doubts. In fact, The New York Times notes that people beat themselves up because of a negative value they've attached to past experiences. This self-criticism can easily lead to poor mental wellbeing, low self-esteem, and a greater risk of failure.

Chances are you or someone in your home have experienced allergies and the long list of symptoms that come with them. Recently studies have emerged showing a connection between allergies and anxiety.

We have so many excuses as to why we avoid the practice of meditation. We hear all the benefits and the research describing how it can positively impact your life, your mood, and your overall health, but the excuses just keep coming. Here are 6 reasons why someone will avoid practicing meditation that I have heard throughout my years as a clinician, and what to do or say to combat your avoidance and get yourself to start believing you can meditate.

One of the last, best gifts you can give your family is planning most of your own funeral services. Many people fail to understand that a lot goes into planning a memorial service, funeral, and burial. Couple that with arranging other elements like transportation, flowers, a wake, or a post-reception and you’re talking about a serious burden on your loved ones.

why is it that we strive for perfection with our bodies, our social interactions, our performance at work, and in our relationships? We set impossible standards that only lead us to critically question our self-worth and engage in internal name-calling (i.e. “did I look smart enough?” “ugh, I am so lazy.”) This never-ending pursuit of flawlessness does not yield success, instead, it places us on a fast-track to emotional dissatisfaction and a relentless state of unhappiness.

Before we go into how self-compassion can help motivate you to take positive action towards your life, let’s first learn about what self-compassion is.  What does it mean to treat ourselves with self-compassion?

Why might some friends be so quick to judge others? to judge you? It’s possible that they have developed a sort of critical reflex to process the world around them, after being conditioned to pass judgment on anything and everything that comes their way.