Blog Layout

How to Find a Mental Health Therapist That's Right for You | Dr. Doug Polster

Aug 07, 2022

If you’re looking to fix a leaky pipe or a flat tire, it’s pretty simple work. What if the problem is your mental health? How to find the right therapist for you? Dr. Doug Polster, COO of The Thriving Center of Psychology, is with us this time on the Behavioral Corner with solid info on making this important decision and making it wisely.

The Behavioral Corner Podcast is made possible by Retreat Behavioral Health. Learn more - 
https://www.retreatbehavioralhealth.com.


About Thriving Center of Psychology

Helping clients refocus their attention on things that are truly important to them is the mantra of our team at Thriving Center of Psychology. At our practices in Midtown and Soho, NYC, Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR, Princeton, NJ, Minneapolis, MN and Miami, FL, we lead our clients on an exploration of self-discovery.


We believe that in order to live a truly fulfilled life, it is just as important to place a high priority on one's mental health as it is for one's physical health. Our team at Thriving Center of Psychology aims to provide the highest level of mental health care for anyone who is motivated to grow and better their life.


Using only evidence-based techniques and treatments with proven success, we work collaboratively with clients, empowering them to be the narrator of their own journey. Thriving Center of Psychology delivers a comprehensive treatment approach entirely at each person's own pace. While we recommend weekly appointments to get the most out of the sessions, we stand fast that any therapy is better than none. In fact, we believe this so passionately that we offer online video therapy so that even clients with busy schedules can still benefit from personalized sessions without stepping into the office.


You deserve the chance to unlock your true potential and live the life you’ve always dreamed of. Call or go online to book an appointment with one of our expert therapists. Choose the therapist that you feel suits you best or speak to our team, who will help partner you with the best practitioner for your needs.


Learn More

Ep. 115 Dr. Doub Polster Podcast Transcript

Steve Martorano 

Hey everybody, how are you doing? Steve Martorano here. A moment before we get into the nitty-gritty here. Now I gotta remind you again. You will have our eternal gratitude if you just click that subscription button. We need your support in that fashion. Hit the button, and subscribe. We'll love you long time here on the Behavioral Corner.


The Behavioral Corner 

Hi, and welcome. I'm Steve Martorano, and this is the Behavioral Corner; you're invited to hang with us as we've discussed the ways we live today, the choices we make, the things we do, and how they affect our health and wellbeing. So you're on the corner, the Behavioral Corner. Please hang around a while. 


Steve Martorano 

Everybody welcome again to the Behavioral Corner. It's me your host and guide, Steve Martorano. And I hope you found this by now. This is the podcast we like to refer to as a podcast about everything. Because everything ultimately affects our behavioral health. So we're here and the conceit is that it's a street corner conversation, because we bump into interesting people. The whole shootin match is made possible by our great underwriting partners Retreat Behavioral Health, you'll hear more about them a little bit down the road. Now before I introduce our guests, and make a couple of statements that are fairly obvious, as consumers, we have never had more access to information than we do right now. At our fingertips, we can find out anything we need, or think we need to know if we're looking for a plumber, or our car doesn't work. We take some time. We do some homework. We just don't go to the yellow pages anymore. Some people think that's wonderful, and it has been a boon in terms of information. Others say there are problems associated with that amount of information. The question we're going to talk about today is shouldn't we take at least as much time doing our homework if our problem is greater than a clogged drain. If we're looking for mental health, advice, or treatment, where do we turn? It's not something you look to a neighbor or friend right away and say, "Can you recommend a shrink or a psychologist?" So we're going to take a look at it's really a consumer alert kind of program today. It's a very important process. First of all, identifying that you need help, and then seeking the help and making sure it's the right help. So to that end, we have been fortunate to run into an organization called the Thriving Center of Psychology and we have their COO with us, Dr. Douglas Polster, to explain what the center does, and answer some of our questions for us. Dr. Polster, thanks for joining us on the Corner.


Dr. Douglas Polster 

You got it. Thank you for having us.


Steve Martorano 

Tell me a little bit about your background before we get into the center.


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Sure, so I actually recently moved back to the east coast from California where I finished my postdoctoral training at UCLA, in sports psychology, actually neuropsychology. And then from there, partnered up with Dr. Alex Alvarado, who started the Thriving Center of Psychology a few years back, and you know, started small with the company and then gradually grew. And I've taken over some of the internal operations, with the kind of pursuit of being able to help more people than I used to be able to help just one-on-one in an hour. Now I feel like I have, my hands on everything to help hundreds and hundreds of people across the country, which kind of makes me feel a bit more fulfilled.


Steve Martorano 

So was I correct and characterizing what we're going to talk about today and the Center's work in the broadest terms as a consumer resource?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

110%. 110%. I think everything you described when it comes to how to use the internet, right, to find things and to help you. Therapy, psychology, mental health, all those things that can be so helpful for but it can also be incredibly overwhelming and confusing. So hopefully we can clear some of that up.


Steve Martorano 

Yeah, one of the things I've discovered personally, and I think it's probably common. Correct me if you disagree, is that we think we want a lot of choices. But we really don't. I mean anyone's ever remodeled the kitchen and found out that there were 4,000 choices for knobs on doors realizes how you can have information overload. So let's begin there and talk about what the Center is trying to make easier for people. Most people know or have some sense that they're having a mental health issue. If they don't know it others will tell them, "You need some help." How does someone make an informed judgment as to what kind of help they need? Do you feel that too many people self-diagnosed by attending the "University of Google" and decide well, "I must be bipolar or I must be manic depressive?" How does that process begin?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

If people Google their symptoms similar to physical symptoms, right? You start with a paper cut and you end with, you know, stage four cancer. Right?


Steve Martorano 

Oh, you...oh, you met my wife?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Oh, yeah, yes. So I think mental health-wise, that also occurs. But I think also the opposite occurs, people don't really even know what to begin to address when it comes to mental health. And there might be a little bit more frightened of the result. And so they don't Google. And they may wish they may hold back a bit more. And then the opposite side is that they do they end up right all the way down this rabbit hole of I have the most serious mental illness known to mankind. And so yeah, the information that's out there can be overwhelming. It can be misleading. And if you think you have a Ph.D. and Googling, you may, but that doesn't mean you have a Ph.D. in psychology and actually know what means.


Steve Martorano 

Firstly, you got to know about the internet, and we're finding out, if the home is ground zero for confirmation bias. You can find anything that'll agree with anything you can conjure up. So when someone is, and I've told people this in the past, if they're thinking of getting help, whether it's for substance abuse disorders or mental health issues, that first contact is critical, because that's the point at which a professional is going to be able to say, "Well, based upon this interview, and what we want to treat here is X, Y, or Z." Get us to that first moment, when someone makes that initial contact. What happens there?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

I like to use an analogy for something that people may hopefully not many people have had too much experience in, but the legal realm, right? Somebody might know that they need legal assistance, but they don't necessarily know what type of law which kind of lawyer which company is reputable. So they go on the internet, right? And many times they get burned. So I think psychology is very similar in that somebody may have a gut instinct or a feeling that something's not quite right. Maybe someone's telling them, their friends, their family, but they don't really know where to begin and what questions to even ask. So what we've tried to design is like a very, like, I call it like client forward client-centered approach from start to finish. So from our website to our office staff that fields their calls to our therapists, we try to make sure that throughout that whole process, we're educational in nature so that clients get the best chance of finding the right therapist. Because we know that that first point of contact, if it's there, especially if it's their first time looking for therapy is so vital and so important. Similarly, the law when you first talk to that lawyer, if you don't know what you're talking about, or they're kind of a jerk, right, you get really turned off and you don't want to keep looking and then you may suffer in this case, legally, right? Same thing with psychologically if we find a bad experience early on, it can really turned us off. And when we were trying to be preventative in nature, now all of a sudden we delay care delay looking end up in a worse place.


Steve Martorano 

Yeah. You that first, that first, that first foot in the in the water there, that first toe in the water, to try to figure this out is critical, and misdiagnosis at that stage could sit, you know, things way, way back. Alright. So, by the way, the Living Center, which you're associated is a national organization. You've got therapists all over the country, right?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Yeah. So I want to just make a quick correction, Thriving Center of Psychology.


Steve Martorano 

Oh, I'm sorry. 


Dr. Douglas Polster 

No problem. So yeah, we're right now I think we're in about eight states across the country and continuously growing. And that really stems from, you know, Alex and my partner, Dr. Alvarado, and my vision to make that process that we've just been talking about as easy as possible. And on the back end of the process, right, not only make the introductory piece where you talk to an actual human on the phone. It's not a robot. It's not a text, app bot, right, and AI-informed source and actual human being, right, all the way to working with a therapist, we really want to make sure that therapists are vetted, qualified, and provide evidence-based treatment.


Steve Martorano 

Now, I want to ask you about evidence based treatment. It's another new buzz phrase, we're hearing a lot. I've been to the site and, you know, every physician of psychologists that join there, has an extensive background, at least there on the on the page. So this isn't just anybody's...anybody's resource. Alright, so the goal, simply put, is to get the person who calls the driving center in front of somebody--in front of a professional, either, virtually, preferably in person. Let's turn it around now, from the patient's perspective, what typical mistakes do they make when going into what is essentially an interview process. They're interviewing somebody for a service. So what mistakes do we make as consumers when confronted in that situation?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

First, I want to tell everybody out there that is a consumer of therapy or wants to be a consumer of therapy, that the mistakes you may be making are not your fault. We have put up a very opaque wall around how to get help and some of the websites that are designed out there are unhelpful. So most of the time, it's actually not your fault. Right. So hopefully, you know, through this conversation today, we can educate people a bit more to help them through those conversations. The first thing I tell people is make a call. You don't have to go to therapy, and you don't have to need therapy, you don't have to, like the person you talk to. The first step is making a phone call or even just sending an email to set up a phone call. 


Steve Martorano 

That's the beginning of the process of getting help right and getting better.


Dr. Douglas Polster 

If you don't call someone, if you don't email someone, if you don't text someone, then you can't actually even venture into a conversation to know if it's for you or not. So I think that the first important step is can be very challenging, and a lot of times, fear-driven to hold back from it. But if we get there, and we actually get on the phone, even if it's with the front office, then you might be able to get a couple of questions answered, and feel a bit more comfortable. And then when you get in front of the doctor, I say even if it's not our organization, it doesn't matter where it is, I would always ask for a complimentary or free sort of 10 to 15 minute we call them consultations. But it's basically an interview, as you mentioned. When you get in that 15-minute interview, well, the first thing I know is it's not it's not therapy yet, right? But there are a couple of things to keep in mind. I think one of the primary ones is, what's the vibe and get talking to this person? Do you feel comfortable? Do you feel like they're listening to you? Would you feel comfortable opening up to them gradually, if you don't have that feeling after the first session, none of the other kinds of variables really matter to some degree? But if you do have that, I would ask the clinician, "Hey, I've either been told any therapy, or I think I need therapy. What do you need to know from me to help understand that better? Because most people who call therapists don't really know what's wrong or why they're there. They have this semblance of something's not right. Or I'm having trouble in a relationship or work, but they don't really know how to talk to the therapist about it. I said, "Let the therapist do their job."


Steve Martorano 

Or they may err on the other side and arrive with a self-diagnosis, "My friends tell me I'm bipolar. How can you help me?" Right? 


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Yes, yes.


Steve Martorano 

I guess you must be a great believer in first impressions. What is your...what is your personal experience with first impressions and your professional experience as a psychologist, can we strike a valid report in 15 minutes?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Let's face it the negative way. We don't know how valid the report is in 15 minutes but I think it's very easy to figure out if it's not everyone. You know, when you meet somebody, you're like, they could be nice, I'll see them again, or you're like, wow, we really hit it off. That's great for therapy. If you're like, I don't ever want to see this person, again, there's just this, this vibe I get. So that's probably a good sign that maybe you need to do another consultation call with another therapist and kind of see how it feels.


Steve Martorano 

Yeah, it's true, the simpatico can grow. But you tried to get past that "I don't think I like this character." With regard to men and women, do you suggest that women let them tell you whether they want to see women and men see men? How does that work?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

So one of the cool things that we have on our website is called our therapist matchmaker. And it's like a two to a three-minute survey where you get to put in what's important to you. One of those questions is, you know, what do you have a sort of gender-specific person that you feel comfortable with? Someone who's non-binary, some male, somebody's female? I do prefer someone who's goal-oriented or more sort of holistic nature. And so, we take all those questions into account when we try to find a therapist for you. The research doesn't show too much that it matters. So it's very individualized and specific. Right? If you're going through a relationship problem, for example, and you're female, and you're in a, you know, female male relationship, part of you may feel more comfortable with a female. But you may feel very uncomfortable with a female. You want almost a male perspective, even though allegedly, right, we're all unbiased and don't have that. But that doesn't mean that you're not going to as the client view it through some sort of bias. 


Steve Martorano 

When you say, "the research suggests it doesn't make any difference." Do you mean in terms of outcomes?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

The main thing the research shows is the most important is what we call that therapeutic relationship with the fit. That almost accounts for, you know, 40-50% of the outcome measures. After that, there are other specific things that are sort of dependent on age and demographics will change a bit. But the fit is really important. Sometimes, depending on the individual gender is part of the fit. Sometimes spirituality is part of the fit. Sometimes ethnicity is part of the fit. And so we want to make sure like in our company, at least I know a lot of even individual private practitioners, I think it's really important that you know, the clients assess the fit on their side as well. Because obviously, most psychologists are trained to make sure that they are meeting the clients where they're at, regardless of all those variables. But that doesn't mean that the client themselves is going to feel comfortable, or as comfortable speaking with somebody who's not quite as within what they believe to be somebody that they would want to communicate with.


Steve Martorano 

My guest is Dr. Douglas Polster. He is CEO of the Thriving Center for Psychology. As you can hear, it's a place...a gathering place...of clinicians like himself and others. But more, it's a resource so that you can make an informed decision about A: Do you need help? And B: Can this person provide it? Okay, so I've met you, and we've hit it off. By the way, before we get to that, it's funny, most people will say to the TV repair guy, we don't repair TVs anymore. We throw them. But if the washing machine breaks, you'll get, you know, a free estimate. So he's in the ads free estimate, which relieves a lot of anxiety for people -- it never holds up the truth. So, what sort of questions should we ask during this initial process concerning things like insurance, private pay, and costs?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Great, great question. Great question. So I think the first question to ask is about cost. I truly believe that because the person can be a great fit. And if it's, you know, way out of your budget and price range, then then you're kind of wasting your own time. So I think that when it comes to cost, there are two sorts of bifurcated routes, right? There's insurance only. And then there's cash flow. Or we call it cash credit cards, but you know, they're not covered by insurance. One of the things that I think people don't realize, and I hope that your listeners sort of what they're going to explore therapy talk to their providers about this is if somebody has out-of network coverage, so they have a PPO plan, right, dependent upon some of the things in their plan, deductibles, and then reimbursement rates, they might be able to go the quote, unquote, cash pay route. And after a couple of sessions, they get a lot of money back, 50-60-80% of what they were spending, because they have good out-of-network benefits. So I had a client recently who had a $500 deductible out of network. And so once he met that, he was able to get, I think, like 60 or 80% of his money back that he spent. And I think that is the one place where I think as a practice as psychology that we're not very good at educating our clients about that. It's either it's one of these either or scenarios. So I think the first thing to do is ask about that.


Steve Martorano 

Yeah, well, that's, I guess you can be forgiven for not being good teachers of that since you're learning as you go along about who's going to pay for what and under what circumstances. It's bewildering, I will say this, and again, you're the expert. Tell me if I'm wrong for people who find that process bewildering. It's in your interest as the professional because that's where your money is going to come from, to understand and explain what the potential patient has in terms of coverage, whether it's out of pocket or the corporate insurance. So I think that thing, while confusing, can take care of itself because money's funny about that it finds out where it's supposed to go. Before we leave the issue of cost. I guess I know the answer to this. What does the evidence suggest is the relationship between cost and efficacy? I mean, you have to pay more money to get better, quicker or what? How does that work?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Not, no, not typically. And you know, one of the things that, you know, I tell our office all the time is, you know, if we can't help somebody for whatever reason, cost fit and all that, like one of their jobs is actually to help people understand where to go. Because, again, back to that fit concept we had, as long as you're buying what your therapist is selling, as long as you have a good relationship, you're going to make strides. Now I guess we might get to evidence-based in a moment, the type of therapy they do is also a big factor. But whether you paid $1,000 for therapy or a $2 co-payment, as long as you have the good fit and the right evidence-based treatment. You where you know you're in good hands.


Steve Martorano 

Yeah, I tell people this very often...it sounds odd, and counterintuitive, but don't worry about the money right now. Find somebody that you can...that can...you think can help you and you'll...and the other stuff will...will work itself out. Let's talk about some of the techniques. People have no idea what cognitive behavior theory they think they do and what they don't...or should they be asking those questions early on about what techniques you employ?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

So the short answer is yes. But I know the long answer is exactly what you just described. You're just like an individual not trained in therapy, and you know what those words mean? Right, like, and you're not expected to. I train physicians and talk to them about CBT by psychologists, so they don't know anything about it either. So I think, you know, they keep it really easy and surface level, when you go into that free consultation, you say, I think I would ask the therapist, you know, do you do provide evidence-based therapy? Right? And I say, don't listen for what they do listen to how they explain it. Well, you know, a lot of things are evidence-based, that isn't really considered that, or is it like, Yeah, I do cognitive behavioral therapy. And because you presented with anxiety, we would start by looking at your thoughts and see how that influenced how you feel. And we go from there. Okay, that's very competent, you know, it's, I think you can kind of have a little bit of soft understanding when you bring that terminology up.


Steve Martorano 

Here's the problem that presents itself immediately. And you're you've led beautifully into it. The phrase "evidence-based" is anything. This is not the Golden Age, Dr. Polster, of evidence. One man's evidence is another man's lie. You're you making that up. How do you understand the term "evidence-based treatment"?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

So at its core, it means, again, the big S-word science, right, scientists, researchers that are psychologists have looked at a series of presenting problems, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, right, trauma, and have said, let's bring people in. Let's give them different types of therapy and see who gets better. Right, and the ones that consistently get better. Given that all the constraints of the experiment are then considered evidence-based. They've tested them, and there's evidence that they actually work. And therefore, they're now called evidence-based treatment. So that's probably the most I think the very simplest way to explain it is we've tried it, it works.


Steve Martorano 

Exactly, exactly. Is there a way for a person to do any further research behind that if you say your techniques are evidence-based, besides Yelp is there someplace they can find out whether that's true or not? 


Dr. Douglas Polster 

I would say start with scheduling a consultation before you dive into the bowels of the internet and get something on the books. Right? Then since you're going to be talking to a professional, hopefully, within a few days to a week, then you can go back to the internet and say, "Evidence-based therapy for trauma." "Evidence-based therapy for depression." "Evidence-based therapy for anxiety" like that. And you may see some common terms that come up. And spend 15 to 20 minutes looking just for the common terms of use. I mentioned CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, and a CBT Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for CPT cognitive processing theory, and it does all these acronyms, as you might see a couple of those. And then, when you have the consultation, now you have at least a couple of words in terms to ask about. "Hey, Doc, you know, I've been feeling anxious recently. I've heard about X, Y, or Z. What do you think?"


Steve Martorano 

If a clinician suggests to you that he's had great success with crystals holding crystals, you may want to do a little research and find out. I mean, we're not suggesting that that can't help some people. And so that's just sort of common sense that I don't think -- it's like a clogged drain, but they don't think about it when they're in front of the doctor, you know. A couple of other points here. A psychiatrist can prescribe medicine, and a psychologist cannot is that generally the case?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

That's pretty much the case. So psychiatrists are MDs. They go to medical school. Psychologist or their PhDs or societies go to graduate school to get a doctorate without confusing people too much. There are some areas where psychologists write the PhDs in societies that MDs can prescribe as long as they have an extra like master's degree, and basically psychiatric medication. So there are some states that believe in the military, where psychologists can, but yeah, it's a general rule of thumb, if you need medication, you go to a psychiatrist. If you want therapy, you go to a psychologist.


Steve Martorano 

I asked that so that people understand that, no matter what the case, it ultimately is with regard to medicine. If you get in front of the right person, and they cannot prescribe, they will make sure that your treatment involves someone who can prescribe. So you shouldn't go in looking for a shrink, or a psychologist should look for somebody you think can help you. There are so many more questions about this. Because, as I said, if you don't make the right choices, you know early on, you're going to be spinning your wheels, and unlike trying to get your drain cleaned or your car running, the problem could be exacerbated by the process. So the more you have prepared, going into better you are. Let's kind of sum it up here with this one. Now, okay, we got along initially, I guess you take a complete medical workup with the person. You get all that straightened out in a session or two into our relationship. How long do I give it before I decide whether I like it or not...I mean, whether it's working or not. And what happens if I want to change people? 


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Gotcha. So, I think there are a couple of separate questions in there. So let's start with first...the last question you asked, How do I know if this is going to work for me a good fit, I like this person, or I need to try somebody else? Right? I kind of described starting therapy like getting a new pair of shoes, like they might feel okay when they get them on. Or maybe they don't, but you're like, oh, they'll break in, they'll be good. And after, you know, maybe two or three weeks, you're like, "Man, these just aren't fitting my foot, I'm still getting blisters, I gotta get a new pair of shoes." So I think therapists are kind of similar to shoes in that case, where first of all, they're not always going to be comfortable the first time you go in, there may take a little while to get more comfortable. But I would say a minimum of three sessions, maybe a maximum of five to six, depending on how many blisters you're getting to follow the footwear analogy, would be plenty to figure out if you needed to work with somebody else. So that's more of the fit side. When it comes to improvement, people ask me this all the time. How long is it going to take for me to get better? And it's such a difficult question for therapists to answer off the bat. Because they don't actually know the depth of the challenges you're having after such. So I usually say, walk into that environment, that therapeutic environment saying I'm going to commit six weeks to this. Six sessions. I'm gonna commit to that in my mind mentally. And then, with your therapist, as you get through session four or five, you sit back, and you say like, Hey, Doc, how do you think progress is going? What do you think is going to be happening in this part out, because usually, the therapist, by session four or five, at least has a really good idea of is this something that's maybe ready, relatively superficial, something in the environment not quite right now. And we only need maybe a couple more weeks of skill building and development to get going rockin and rollin. Or it may have started that way. But by session four or five, we realize, Wow, this has been a pretty long-lasting challenge. It's just another recent spike that brought you in. But as we go backward, this is more significant. So we're going to have to do some heavy lifting here. And at the end of the day, though, I tell all my clients in the community, I said, You're the boss, if it gets to six weeks, you're like, I don't want to go down those rabbit holes. I'm not going to force you, I might educate you on why that's important to do so. But if you don't want to go down there yet, and you're not ready, that's fine. We'll stay on the surface until you're ready.


Steve Martorano 

Yeah, too many people think their obligation is to the clinician and not to themselves. And so they're a little hesitant to say your fire, which is, in effect, what they're saying. And just this, and I want to get your feelings on it as a whole. Do people with the sort of mood or mental health issues have to understand that what we're talking about very often is not a cure but a process, and the process is about making your life better? And not necessarily curing something as though it were an organic disease? Yes,


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Yes. The first thing I say to any of my clients when they walk in the door they say I want to get rid of my anxiety, get rid of my depression. The first thing I say is that we need to completely reorient our goals. Because if you look in what's called the DSM made the manual of disorders for psychologists, right? If you look in that book, close to 100% of the disorders, if not all of them, are normal feelings and behaviors. It's only when they begin to negatively impact your life that we call them abnormal. So if you read, you know, general anxiety disorder, and you go through this, the symptoms are like, "Well, I do that. Well, I do that. Well, I do that. Well, I do that. Well, I do that." Does it completely mess up your life and make you unable to really work successfully, have a relationship, whatever? Well, no. Okay, and you're normal. Everything's fine. All right, all right. If it's messing up your life, you're not abnormal, you just have a little bit of extra, and we need to turn the volume down. So if you have, I call it isms, right? If you have an ism to be anxious, or an ism to sort of overanalyze and negatively think, you're probably not always debilitated by that, but when the rest of the world around you gets a little bit stressful, your ism gets turned up. And then you turn more into anxiety that's problematic or depression is problematic. So therapy is really about finding the healthy parts of anxiety, like the part of your anxiety that says, "Wow, if I don't get this done, then I might lose my job." So then you do it. That's healthy anxiety. If it's "I'm not going to get this done, or I lose my job. So I'm gonna hide in my bedroom for three days and not come out and do it." Well, that's unhelpful on the surface about finding a middle ground.


Steve Martorano 

Yeah, just because you're anxious doesn't mean you have a problem. It may just mean you're plugged into an anxious situation. This is terrific. And thank you for your time for people who want more information on the Thriving Center for Psychology. They have a wonderful we put together a website do you have, I should have this written down what is your, your 800 number?


Dr. Douglas Polster 

So we have if you go on our website, depending on what state you're in, it will be a different number because we're all licensed by different states. So start on the website and navigate you can see all of our providers, and you can take us to know three-minute matchmaker quiz. And if you don't want to do any of that, you can just call one of the locations where your state is in our office. I mean, it's just incredible.


Steve Martorano 

It's a well-put-together site, and I would say I can recommend it as a place to start. Dr. Doug Polster from the Center. Thanks so much. We appreciate your time and maybe have you back at some point.


Dr. Douglas Polster 

Sounds good. Appreciate chatting.


Steve Martorano 

And I thank you guys as well. Don't forget you know the deal. You like us here. You like us there. You follow us everywhere. It's the Behavioral Corner, and we're always hanging and hope you'll make a stop on your...your podcasting day. Take care. See you next time.


Synergy Health Programs 

Millions of Americans are negatively affected daily by their mental health. Retreat has served the community for over ten years, offering comprehensive mental health programming through our mental health division, Synergy Health Programs. To learn more about Synergy, please reach out today at 855-802-6600.


The Behavioral Corner 

That's it for now. And make us a habit of hanging out at the Behavioral Corner, and when we're not hanging, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter on the Behavioral Corner. 

Subscribe. Listen. Share. Follow.


Recent Episodes

The Behavioral Corner Special Announcement
By Behavioral Corner 04 Apr, 2024
The Behavioral Corner Podcast is made possible by Retreat Behavioral Health. Learn more .
The Road to Recovery. Jim Duffy’s Journey to 39 Years of Sobriety
By Behavioral Corner 09 Feb, 2024
On the next Corner, host Steve Martorano welcomes Jim Duffy, a beacon of hope and living proof of the possibility of long-term recovery from substance abuse. As the Business Development Manager at Retreat Behavioral Health, Jim shares his remarkable story of overcoming addiction and achieving an impressive 39 years of sobriety. The conversation highlights the critical importance of reminding those struggling with substance abuse that recovery is not only possible but also achievable.
Show More
Share by: