relieve anxiety now

As a chief financial officer, I spend my days designing processes and measuring results. When I came to Dr. Mandelbaum in the midst of a personal crisis, I didn’t expect to find that same kind of discipline applied to mental health. I was in a place I couldn’t think or work my way out of, and nothing I was good at helped.

Under his guidance, we identified the patterns driving the problem, and he gave me concrete steps to follow. His approach involved more than open-ended conversation; it provided protocols and prescriptive actions to ensure those patterns did not repeat. Each step built on the last — from recognition, to working through the issue, to building toward something better.

Perhaps most interesting was how far the approach reached beyond the initial crisis, revealing that the way I had been operating professionally was less than optimal as well. The stress, anxiety, and self-criticism I once accepted as occupational hazards have given way to a more level mind throughout the day. I am a clearer-thinking and more deliberate leader at work, but the most meaningful results have come at home. I am more present with my family, more honest with myself, and living with a sense of purpose I didn’t realize was missing.

I pursued therapy with skepticism. I had the impression that most therapists hide behind sycophancy to deliberately slow-walk treatment, merely facilitating you to discover your own insights rather than pulling them out of you themselves. If I were able to get myself unstuck, why would I need a therapist in the first place? Frankly, all of the therapists I screened seemed to fall into this archetype. That is, except for Dr. Mandelbaum, who couldn’t be further from this. He is a differential thinker who treated our sessions with urgency.

Over the years, he has built up an enormous library of therapeutic and educational heuristics and tools. Every session, he would share as many of them as possible within the allotted time. His advice was concrete, immediately actionable, and (most importantly) extremely effective. We probably made twice the progress I had hoped for in half the time I expected it to take.

Working with Dr. Mandelbaum over the last three years has been profoundly transformative and deeply illuminating. He has helped me untangle relational patterns I once believed were simply “who I am,” and replace them with ways of being that feel steadier, more boundaried, and more self-respecting. The shift in how I inhabit my life, less reactive, less afraid, more intentional, has been both subtle and profound. What has surprised me most is that this work hasn’t made me smaller or more restrained; it has made me freer, and far more joyful.

Let me express my gratitude for the support and guidance Dr. M has provided me throughout our sessions. His expertise has been invaluable to my personal growth and well-being.  Over the past year, I have made significant progress in managing my mental health and Dr. M has helped me develop effective coping strategies. As a result, I feel more stable and confident in handling the challenges that arise. I believe that the progress I have made is a testament to his expertise and guidance. I am incredibly grateful for the tools and insights Dr. Mandelbaum has provided me.

Since working with Dr. Mandelbaum, I’ve seen so much improvement in myself. My work with him has been key in building an emotionally sustainable lifestyle rich with healthy relationships, especially the new relationship I’ve been able to build with myself.

Dr. Mandelbaum introduced me to Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and working with him for the past two years has changed my life. Each session he comes prepared with a plan, but first asks me “How can I help you today?” Upon my response, he integrates my current grievances and solutions into the session. He is able to weave the teachings of DBT into the themes of my recovery in a personable, bespoke and introspective manner. Thus making the path forward seem palpable and even walkable! 

Before working with Dr. Mandelbaum, I didn’t think there was a way through the emotions and depression I was dealing with. After years of  traditional talk therapy not working, I felt helpless and frustrated. 

When I look back now I can pinpoint in so many ways how Dr. M. helped me become the person that I am today. I feel blessed to have had him in my corner for so long.

While I have had other therapists before and the talk was always helpful, something was different with Dr. Mandelbaum. I feel that his unique strategies helped me for the first time become an emotionally aware adult, no longer reliant on others to regulate my emotions. He is able to appropriately use his own life experiences (without oversharing or making it about him) to connect to us (his clients) so that we feel validated and heard. However, he makes sure we don’t only stay stuck in being validated, but also have the tools to go out and live our best lives (by our own definition). He doesn’t shy away from giving appropriate and warranted life advice, but he leaves room for us to grow and come to our own conclusions. Doing so gave me a newfound confidence, which allowed Dr. Mandelbaum to make good on his promise that he would edit himself out of my life. Thank you, Dr. Mandelbaum!