Dr. Ermshar will be one of the featured presenters at the California Psychological Association 2015 Annual Conference in San Diego, CA along with Dr. Morgan Sammons, PhD, ABPP, Dr. Alan Lincoln, PhD, MCSP, and Dr. Andris Skuja, PhD. Dr. Ermshar is presenting on Ethical, Legal and Practice
Read more →Dr. Ermshar is pleased to announce that Dr. Natalie Sobel has joined Dr. Ermshar, Specialized Psychological Services. Dr. Sobel has an impressive training and clinical track record. She has been a forensic evaluator for conditional release programs and completed her internship with the Los Angeles County Department
Read more →“They are just doing it for attention” and “they’re unsuccessfully trying to commit suicide” are the two most common misconceptions people have regarding cutting behaviors, and they are far from true. Cutting stems from unhealthy coping skills in an attempt to manage emotional suffering. Cutting brings these
Read more →Typically, when one thinks about a bully, the image conjured is of a boy who is an outsider, is bigger and tougher than his peers, and who often starts fights and steals lunch money from others. It may be surprising to hear that girls can also be
Read more →In a generation of children who play video games instead of playing outside and have waning attention spans, it is often confusing to piece apart normal from abnormal behavior. For parents whose kids are the “troublemakers” in class or seem to be the living version of the
Read more →Over thanksgiving, The British Psychological Society published a report entitled Understanding Psychosis. This new report challenges the long held notions about psychosis and, most importantly, gives new hope to individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. Hope is a crucial element for those diagnosed and their families, as many see
Read more →The holidays can be a stressful time for anyone. There are expectations, demands, and pressures from family and friends to attend parties, buy gifts, and cook meals. If you are coping with mental illness, you are even more vulnerable to the effects of holiday stress. There are
Read more →Today, media depicting what they consider to be a “psychopath” bombards society. Characters like Dexter, Patrick Bateman, or Hannibal just to name a few. But could you spot a psychopath from a story? Past research has shown that the general public’s understanding and beliefs of mental illness
Read more →In the October issue of Neuron, a study was published that suggests our brain’s chemistry changes when we become curious and that it assists in learning and retaining information. The study had 19 participants who were asked to review more than 100 trivia questions. Participants rated the
Read more →A recent article in New York Times Magazine looked at the effects of marijuana on brain structures. A joint study out of Harvard and Northwestern University found evidence of structural changes in the brains of participants who smoked Marijuana. The study looked at brain scans of 40
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