Ruth Glass, PsyD

Welcome. I am a licensed psychologist specializing in ADHD, anxiety, and the adjustment to parenthood for new moms and dads. I have extensive training and experience in implementing CBT, DBT, ACT, and ERP for these conditions, and am passionate about teaching evidence-based interventions in a nonjudgmental compassionate setting. Therapy with me combines technical skills with exploration, reflection, validation, and the instilling of hope. My focus is on clients in their 20s and 30s, and thus work stress, relationship stress and dating, breakups, and career path questions are common features addressed in my practice. To learn more about common issues I treat and approaches I use, feel free to read on. I look forward to being of help to you in creating a life that feels meaningful, content, and in line with your values. ADHD The most common concern that I hear from clients in my practice with ADHD is that they don’t feel like a functioning adult. They report concerns about being forgetful at home, work, and with friends and family, which then makes people frustrated with them. They report having trouble with losing things, not getting things done, not following through on tasks, losing track of time, having trouble being consistent with exercise and other life goals, trouble going to sleep on time or getting up on time, and so on. Most feel scattered. Some feel very disorganized, and others feel that over time they’ve forced themselves to become super organized in order to get by. These challenges then lead to a lifetime of thinking badly about themselves, and comes along with depressive feelings, anxiety, and shame. ANXIETY Anxiety can take many forms, but usually contains elements of both worry and physical symptoms. Clients in my practice struggle with worries about their health, about what others think about them, about covid and germs, about their future, about driving, about needles, and so on. Some have very specific types of worries, and some tend to worry about all sorts of things. The worries tend to go hand in hand with sensations such as increased heart rate, sweating, dizziness, upset stomach, and other panicky feelings. Some have panic attacks related to specific worries, and some have panic attacks that come seemingly out of the blue. Most thought they were dying the first time they had a panic attack, before they knew what it was. In additional to worry and panic, intrusive thoughts, obsessions, and compulsions are common as well. PARENTHOOD The adjustment to parenthood can be wonderful and terrible at the same time, and most of the parents I work with feel that they’re the only ones who find it to be so hard. Moms tend to have significant anxiety surrounding feeding their babies, feeling judged by others and judging themselves for their parenting choices, feelings like they don’t have a sense of self anymore or any time on their own, feeling angry with their partner, feeling anxious about the return to work, and so on. Many feel zoned out, depressed, totally overwhelmed, lonely, and hopeless. Many feel that their babies deserve someone “better” than them, and some feel that their families would be better off without them. Some receive much needed support from family and other new moms, and some don’t have any tangible and/or emotional support. Many have fears about leaving their babies, and struggle with decisions about childcare. Most feel at least at some point like it’s just too hard. MY APPROACH Therapy in my practice starts with assessment of the main concerns and history, and then identifying goals. We set a roadmap for what we want to accomplish, and check in on progress. Common treatment approaches include increasing insight into challenges that are at play for you, noticing unhelpful thinking patterns and updating them to be more balanced, problem-solving, increasing pleasurable and meaningful experiences, exposure therapy for OCD and fears, self-compassion practices, and mindfulness. We aim to get distance from unhelpful thinking patterns by acknowledging the thoughts and feelings, allowing them to be there in an accepting way, nurturing ourselves in a compassionate way, and redirecting our attention to other things as appropriate. In ADHD we get into the nitty-gritty of organizational skills, setting up our calendar, finding homes for our belongings, and address barriers to getting things done. We build connections with other people, practice communication skills, learn to be assertive and ask for help appropriately. We learn about the nature of a given disorder, and learn to reduce shame and self-judgment. There is also an emphasis on working together to realistically build a foundation of healthy sleep habits, eating well, and exercise.