cognitive behavioral

The Impact of Trauma on LGBTQIA+ Lives

The Impact of Trauma on LGBTQIA+ Lives

For many people within the LGBTQIA+ community, the journey of identity acceptance is intertwined with unique celebrations and challenges alike. Unfortunately, for many people in the LGBTQIA+ community, trauma is a common experience that ranges from rejection and discrimination to systematic oppression. Every person’s story is different and the impact of trauma can leave great marks on one’s self-esteem, relationships, and overall mental health and well-being. Recognizing how the experiences in your life affected you is the first step to healing.


Trauma in the LGBTQIA+ population is typically rooted in external pressures to conform to the norms of society. Bullying, family rejection, workplace discrimination, and religious condemnation are just some examples of negative LGBTQIA+ experiences that can create deep emotional scars. There are also systemic barriers in place, from exclusion in certain spaces to a lack of access to affirming care, that can worsen these effects. Even microaggressions can create an ongoing sense of alienation. There are very specific challenges at play for marginalized communities, particularly those in the LGBTQIA+ community.


Understanding the impact of trauma on LGBTQIA+ people is important to create a sense of resilience and carve a path to healing. Particularly with LGBTQIA+ youth, only 4% of people in this community reported never having experienced any symptoms of trauma according to the Trevor Project. With a LGBTQIA+ affirming therapist at Anchor Therapy, you both can create a space where you are seen, valued, and safe.

What conditions may be treated with CBT therapy near me?

What conditions may be treated with CBT therapy near me?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, often simply referred to as CBT, is a type of structured talk therapy that is structured and goal-oriented. Mental health professionals, from psychologists to psychotherapists and counselors, use CBT to treat or manage a range of mental health conditions and/or emotional concerns. 


If you are someone who is starting off in your journey of trying to find a therapist near you, you likely have come across CBT therapy. For support in this journey, read “How to Find the Best Therapist Near Me.” CBT is often referred to as the gold standard of mental health counseling as it is one of the most common and best-studied forms of mental health therapy.

Feeling Stressed and Anxious in College? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Can Help

Feeling Stressed and Anxious in College? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Can Help

The pressures that college students face can be extremely overwhelming. As a college student, you may be balancing many aspects of life all at once. Attempting to balance a healthy social life while putting copious amounts of time and effort into good grades can get tricky. Don't forget the financial challenges coupled with living independently and trying to maintain emotional and physical health. Among all of these hardships, students reportedly face the most anxiety when it comes to academics. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Negative Self-Talk

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Negative Self-Talk

Do you view the glass as half-empty or half-full? This age-old question can reveal a lot about your lookout on life and even your attitude about yourself. When you think positively, you can better manage your stress and improve your overall health. Practicing negative self-talk takes patience and requires persistence but it can be done, specifically with the help of a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) therapist. 

If you are looking to stop negative thinking right in its tracks, it is completely possible with CBT therapy! CBT works to uncover your unhealthy patterns of thought while, at the same time, examining how these thoughts may be causing self-destructive beliefs and behaviors.

8 Tips To Overcome Flight Anxiety

8 Tips To Overcome Flight Anxiety

Having the opportunity to fly and visit new places is an amazing thing! After all, travel is one of the most important things a person can do. It is more than simply visiting sites and taking photos, it brings about new ideas and viewpoints. Travel can even be viewed as an investment in yourself. It helps you get out of your comfort zone, experience new cultures, relax, and create some great memories. Unfortunately, the journey of getting to your destination may not be as peaceful.

The fear of flying affects millions of Americans each year. In fact, it has been estimated that flight anxiety is the second biggest fear in the United States. It can prevent you from taking the trip you have always dreamed of or cause you to miss out on quality time with your family. Being anxious about flying is also known as aerophobia. Often, your fear of flying may indicate that you have a deeper fear of other things. For instance, you may fear being in an enclosed space or having something disastrous happen while you are in the air.

Overcoming your fear of flying is possible, but it will take a lot of courage and practice.

How You Can Treat Your Anxiety Using CBT

How You Can Treat Your Anxiety Using CBT

If you are someone who deals with anxiety and has reached out for assistance from professional counselors, you know first-hand how difficult it can be to find a therapist who matches your needs. Whether you are looking for a therapist that has a similar background to you or specializes in your desired form of therapy, the process of searching for an anxiety therapist can be overwhelming.

Many therapists specialize in a particular form of therapy, therefore you should become acquainted with what form of therapy works best to treat your anxiety. Here at Anchor Therapy, we specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, also known as CBT. CBT is a popular form of therapy that is proven to treat anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, and panic disorder. Before jumping into the inner workings of CBT, let’s walk through anxiety disorders and how to tell if you have anxiety.

Everything You Need To Know About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Everything You Need To Know About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy, often referred to as CBT, is a therapy technique that can help you transform your behavior by altering your thought patterns. In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), you can learn how to identify and change harmful or alarming thought patterns that have a negative effect on your behavior and emotions. The automatic negative thoughts that you experience have a damaging impact on your mood. By engaging in behavioral counseling and becoming aware of negative thinking, you can respond to difficult situations more effectively and precisely.

Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), your thoughts are:

  • Identified

  • Challenged

  • Replaced with more positive, practical thoughts

Top Reasons Depression Is Increasing For Athletes During COVID-19

Top Reasons Depression Is Increasing For Athletes During COVID-19

The pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone, but one group of people who are experiencing increased symptoms of depression are athletes. Since March 2020, most sports were completely cancelled. Now that the fall is starting up with a new sports season, some sports are able to return. But a lot of sports remain cancelled or postponed. Athletes find a lot of purpose, motivation, and validation from competing in their sport. Due to COVID-19, this may be the first time in many years that an athlete does not have their sport to train for and feels empty.

How To Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance During COVID-19 [Part 2]

How To Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance During COVID-19 [Part 2]

A lot of people are having difficulty finding a balance between work life and personal life when operating both from the same space. As working from home continues for most due to COVID-19, this ever-looming concern becomes more and more apparent. While most people did not expect to work from home for this long, it is likely to continue for a longer period of time. As a mental health professional, I list some tips that i tell my clients which can also help you make it through this difficult time.

Anchor Therapy Is Expanding Counseling Services in Hoboken, NJ!

Anchor Therapy Is Expanding Counseling Services in Hoboken, NJ!

At Anchor Therapy, located in Hoboken, NJ, we are currently accepting new clients and are now providing telehealth (video & phone) sessions for residents of New Jersey and New York.

How To Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance During COVID-19

How To Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance During COVID-19

Over the last few months I have been hearing one issue time and time again for many, if not all, of my clients attending therapy who are working from home: the difficulty between finding a balance between work life and personal life when operating both from the same space. As we approach the 6th month of working from home due to COVID-19, this ever-looming concern becomes more and more apparent. While most did not anticipate working from home for this long, it seems as if this is a likely reality for many moving forward. (Google just announced their workers would be working from home until summer 2021).

The Top Causes of Depression

The Top Causes of Depression

Depression can impact anyone for a multitude of reasons. There is a lot of research into the cause of depression and there is not just one clear answer. There could be multiple reasons as to why you feel depressive symptoms. These causes can be broken down into two main categories that include biological factors and environmental factors. It is possible that you have one or both of these factors impacting your mood. Below I will discuss what falls under these two categories in detail.

How To Support Your LGBTQ+ Teen

How To Support Your LGBTQ+ Teen

Your pre-teen and teenage years are filled with time of exploring the world and how you fit in it. Identity becomes a huge topic of exploration for most teens. Your teen may be contemplating anything from as simple as their future career goals up to their gender identity or sexual orientation. This is typically a time that you may find your teen to come out to you by identifying as being a part of the LGBTQ+ community. As a parent, no matter how accepting you are, this may come as a surprise to you and it may take some time to process. Once you have processed this new information, you can then take some extra steps to support your teen as they navigate their new identity and grow into an adult.

9 Normal Human Responses To A Global Pandemic

9 Normal Human Responses To A Global Pandemic

After 2 months of experiencing stay-at-home orders, you may start to find yourself feeling not your normal self. A lot of people feel alone in how they are experiencing the impact of the global pandemic of the spread of COVID-19. While everyone does have a different life experience, we are all experiencing this trauma together. This is an event that is different than anything we have ever gone through before since it is an ongoing situation that is impacting everyone drastically. You may have experienced a loss in your job, a loved one, or you are isolated from others. Parents have become home school teachers while trying to continue to maintain their own jobs if possible. This is a time to survive and not to thrive. It is okay to not feel your best self or your most productive right now. Below are some things that you may feel during this pandemic that are completely normal to experience at this time and some ways how to help yourself.

11 Tips To Working From Home If You Have Anxiety or Depression

11 Tips To Working From Home If You Have Anxiety or Depression

Millions of people experience anxiety and/or depression in their lifetime. Due to the spread of COVID-19, we have been physically isolated from others. This has caused a spike in mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. In addition to these increasing symptoms of anxiety and depression, you are expected to work your full-time job from home (if you are lucky enough that your job allows you to make this transition). It has become difficult to manage your mental health along with this major adjustment of working from home. Below I will go through realistic tips on how you can manage working from home if you are also experiencing any level of anxiety and/or depression.

How To Practice Self-Care During COVID-19 Isolation

How To Practice Self-Care During COVID-19 Isolation

Hoboken, along with the states of New Jersey and New York, has been doing a great job in taking the lead in the country with rules around self-isolation and staying at home. However, this self-isolation is going to have a huge impact on everyone’s mental health as it is projected to continue longer than one month. It is important to look out for signs of depression, anxiety, increased disordered eating behaviors, OCD, and substance abuse at this time. Please remember that you are doing Hoboken, or your community, an amazing service by staying inside. But as you practice this self-isolation, you will most likely see a decline in your mental health. It is really important to take care of your mental health (more than ever!) during this time. Below are some ways in which you can do just that.

All You Need To Know About Telehealth Mental Health Therapy Services

All You Need To Know About Telehealth Mental Health Therapy Services

Due to the spread of the covid-19 virus, we have transitioned to telehealth sessions only until it is safe to go back to in-person sessions. most mental health professionals and other businesses are making the shift to work from home to stop the spread of the coronavirus. luckily mental health has always been effective through telehealth sessions. research actually shows that telehealth sessions are just as beneficial as in-person sessions. at anchor therapy, we want to help flatten the curve as much as possible so that our hospitals hopefully do not get overrun. below is all the information you need to know about telehealth for mental health therapy sessions.

6 Ways To Handle Intrusive Thoughts

6 Ways To Handle Intrusive Thoughts

An intrusive thought is something that we all experience from time to time. An intrusive thought is when you have an unwanted and involuntary thought, image, or idea that is upsetting or distressing pop into your mind. Some people realize that these thoughts are not based on reality and they can easily brush them off and move on to a next thought. While others have a hard time dealing with these intrusive thoughts and find themselves in a destructive thought loop. Most people find these types of thoughts disturbing and spend a lot of time questioning their reality because of it. Intrusive thoughts are more common and frequent for someone who experiences depression and/or anxiety. Below are some ways that you can handle these intrusive thoughts if they do come into your mind and disrupt your thinking.

What To Do After You Binge Eat

What To Do After You Binge Eat

A lot of people experience binge eating in their life and a good majority of those people feel terrible after it happens. It is possible to experience binge eating once in awhile and that would not be classified as a Binge Eating Disorder. whether or not you have a binge eating disorder, it is still important to have a plan after you experience a binge.

8 Ways To Beat Seasonal Depression

8 Ways To Beat Seasonal Depression

This time of year can be hard on a lot of people as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder. Seasonal depressive disorder is a real thing. It means that you feel more down, lethargic, and depressed during a specific time of the year. For most people with seasonal depressive disorder, this falls during the winter time. Usually the winter comes with less sunlight and colder temperatures that isolate you inside. Without nice weather that entices you to go outside, it can be hard to feel motivated to stay active and do things you usually enjoy doing.