You may have become so accustomed to managing demanding schedules, professional responsibilities, difficult decisions, and personal obligations that feeling stressed no longer seems unusual. You continue showing up, completing what needs to be done, and handling...
Mental Health
Rumination vs. Overthinking: Why Your Mind Gets Stuck and How to Move Forward
Rumination is a pattern of repetitive, often negatively focused thinking about distressing experiences, emotions, or perceived mistakes. Overthinking is a broader, everyday term for excessive analysis of decisions, situations, or possible outcomes. The two overlap...
Self Sabotaging Behavior: Why You Get in Your Own Way and How to Break the Cycle
Self sabotaging behavior refers to actions or recurring patterns—like procrastination, perfectionism, withdrawing from relationships, or abandoning goals just as progress becomes possible—that interfere with a person's stated goals, values, or well-being. It is not a...
Executive Dysfunction in Adults: Why Everyday Tasks Can Feel Overwhelming
Executive dysfunction in adults describes difficulty with the cognitive processes—planning, organization, task initiation, working memory, time management, and emotional regulation—that allow people to translate intentions into action. It is not a standalone...
Intellectualizing Emotions: Why Understanding Your Feelings Isn’t Always the Same as Processing Them
Intellectualizing emotions means using analysis, logic, and explanation to create distance from a feeling instead of experiencing it directly. It's a common defense mechanism, not a diagnosis, and it isn't inherently unhealthy. The difficulty arises when analysis...
High Functioning Anxiety: Why Successful People Can Feel Constantly Overwhelmed
High functioning anxiety describes the experience of managing persistent worry, perfectionism, and internal pressure while continuing to meet professional and personal responsibilities in daily life. It is not an official diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR, though it can...
Decision Fatigue: Why Constant Choices Leave You Mentally Exhausted
Decision fatigue describes the experience of reduced mental clarity, motivation, and willingness to make additional choices after a sustained period of demanding decision-making. It is not a formal diagnosis, and research does not support the idea that the brain...
Emotional Numbness: Why You Feel Disconnected From Your Feelings and What It May Mean
Emotional numbness describes a reduced ability to feel, recognize, or connect with emotions, both positive and negative. It is not a standalone diagnosis but can accompany chronic stress, burnout, depression, trauma, medication effects, or sleep disturbances. Recovery...
People Pleasing Behavior: Why You Put Everyone Else First and How to Change the Pattern
People pleasing behavior is a recurring pattern of prioritizing others' approval, comfort, or expectations at the expense of your own needs and boundaries. It often develops through childhood experiences, perfectionism, low self-esteem, or fear of rejection, though no...
Reading is a good start. A conversation is the next one.
A free 20-minute phone consultation with Dr. Mandelbaum, to talk about what’s on your mind and whether working together makes sense.









