I've been really energized by this work. One of the best parts is witnessing the shift when a client starts to notice the change in a thought pattern, and is surprised to find themselves not having the panic attack when they usually would or not avoiding an interaction that would normally make them too anxious to function well. Seeing that kind of progress is a great moment for them, and very gratifying for me. I'm also excited about applying the cognitive approach to the challenges of making healthy lifestyle changes. So many New Yorkers are well-informed about the benefits of attending to their weight, getting more organized, and being proactive in managing their health conditions. It turns out that if you want to be doing the right things for yourself, the cognitive approach can help you get on track and remove the mental obstacles to staying on track. Finally, this is a dynamic time in the field of cognitive therapy. The evidence of its efficacy is constantly growing, and new treatment protocols are being developed to apply it to a broad range of problems. For me, the most thrilling recent development was a small study on treatment for depression which suggested that cognitive-behavioral therapy may actually cause changes in how the brain functions, and that these may differ from the changes caused by anti-depressant medications. The findings are very preliminary, but they confirm my intuitive sense that this work can "lay new tracks" in the brain, so change can occur at a very basic and powerful level.