Welcome to Dr. Zender’s Psychology Today blog, The New Normal.
Traumatic accidents can seriously impact every area of your life. However, with the proper information and support you—or someone you care about—can reclaim the life you were meant to live. In Dr. Zender’s blog, you will find tools, tips and ideas to facilitate your recovery process —tools that will help you to cope with your physical and psychological injuries and conditions. You will learn to do more than just survive, you will learn to thrive!
A note to auto insurance companies: You will find valuable information here that will help you better serve your insured customers. In fact, when patients get the proper supports, needed care and treatment up front, they need far fewer resources in the long run than if support is withheld. That translates into a big win-win for your company and a boost to your bottom line!
Overcoming Childhood Trauma
While writing my book on recovering from auto accident trauma, I found myself revisiting how I came to follow my path into clinical work which has now spanned over 40 years. Many major life decisions begin with painful emotional events and traumas that break the human heart. A journey then begins to heal the shattered self. In the preface to [...]
Depression and Pandemic Fatigue
Starting in March of this year, the world began an uncharted journey into a global pandemic related to a new virus called COVID-19. The pandemic abruptly changed the way we live, relate to others, and function on a day-to-basis. For many people, anxiety and depression are experienced to some degree as a response to this crisis. Fear, confusion, irritability, and [...]
The Silent Epidemic: Accepting the Changes that Follow Concussions
Football season is going to be missed by many, especially parents who long to watch their children play. But we should take this opportunity to focus on a serious topic that is often left out of football talk: TBI related to sports injuries. How I Became Interested For over 15 years, my work has focused on a sub-specialization of trauma [...]
Surviving a Car Accident During a Pandemic
For over fifteen years, I have subspecialized in an area of trauma psychology dealing with surviving car accidents. No one wants to think about what is involved for the hundreds of thousands of people who each year survive car accidents in the United States, and indeed many millions worldwide. In doing research for my forthcoming book, I discovered we are talking about the 40,000-death [...]
Shattered Windows, Shattered Bones, Shattered Lives
Billions of people around the world are affected directly or indirectly by roadway collisions. In the United States alone, approximately 3 million people every year sustain auto-accident injuries, which often become lifelong disabilities. In the months following a devastating collision, survivors and their loved ones are often overwhelmed dealing with the aftermath. Survivors may feel like they’ve been transported to [...]
The Role of Community in Healing
A patient recently told me during a therapy session about a movie she recommended I see. As always, when a movie is discussed as meaningful to the psychotherapeutic process, I was intrigued to see what it is about and how it might further elucidate significant inner issues. The movie was "Lars and the Real Girl," a 2007 film written by award-winning playwright and [...]
