Tamar Bourian-Manuelian, Psy.D.

01/19/2025

01/15/2025

Be wary of a cluster of signs, and seek help if they increase in frequency and intensity.

03/12/2022

PLAY and LEARN

12/11/2021

Attunement and curiosity

Parents report that labeling a child’s emotions often backfires. Why is it that merely placing a label on a child’s emotions can make them even more agitated?

04/12/2021

“There’s a common misconception that children develop resilience by failing. Actually, children develop resilience by dealing successfully with failure.”

By Dr. Laura Markham Sometimes life asks us to handle so much challenge, so much change, so much loss, that it leaves us exhausted and ready to crack. (Sound familiar?). But some lucky people are less stressed by stress. Some of us have more ability to maintain our positivity, to regain our eq

01/11/2021

Minimization, denial, and rationalization are common defense mechanisms that help protect us from unpleasant or uncomfortable emotions and things we don’t want to think about or deal with. Ultimately, they keep us from facing up to what is really going on...A form of self-deception.

Although defense mechanisms operate mostly on an unconscious level, they can become problematic and result in real life consequences.

It is difficult to completely get rid of our defense mechanisms, but we can learn to become more self-aware, embrace difficult & uncomfortable emotions, and act from a more mindful, responsible place.

07/19/2020

Protective Childhood Experiences (PCE’s), positive experiences during childhood, are connected to improved mental health, resilience, social connectedness in adulthood.
ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES (ACE’s) CAN BE COUNTERED BY POSITIVE EXPERIENCES.

By now, most counselors, pediatricians, teachers, and other people who work with children know about ACES: The “Adverse Childhood Experiences” scale. ACE’s predict, based on measuring the number of traumatic or adverse events experienced, which kids are likely to struggle developmentally and e...

06/29/2020

They know their blind spots, and develop multiple plans.