Verified by Psychology Today

Michael J. Formica EdM, NCC, LPC

About

Michael J. Formica is a board certified counselor, integral life coach, teacher and self-development expert who writes and lectures extensively on spirituality, psychology and related disciplines. He attended Columbia University's Teachers College, among others, and, in addition to three advanced degrees in psychology, has been awarded degrees in both theology and philosophy. Michael has had training in the Theraveda and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, and is an Initiate in the Shankya Yoga lineage of H.H. Sri Swami Rama and the Himalayan Masters.

Over more than 25 years as a practicing psychotherapist, Michael has developed a broad clinical focus that centers on compulsive dependency, addiction and relationships, as well as anxiety, depression and a number of personality disorders. As Director of Clinical Services at Boys and Girls Village Day School, he helped to develop a multi-tiered clinical model that was an integral part of a larger therapeutic educational program formally cited by the Connecticut Board of Education as "what should be a model for alternative educational programs throughout the state".

In addition to his work as a clinician and educator, Michael has made notable contributions in the areas of conflict resolution, child development and motivational behavior, as well as intelligent media design and cognitive science. He has published more than 250 articles on psychology, healthcare, sociology, cultural anthropology, spirituality and related topics, and his work has been featured in a number of national publications and media outlets, including The New York Times, Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Fox News, MSNBC, and NBC News. Michael has also edited several books, including Dr. Steven Reiss' Myths of Intrinsic Motivation and recently contributed a chapter to Gale Publications' Opposing Viewpoints: Addiction.

Michael's professional experience also includes faculty positions at a number of colleges and Ivy League universities, program consultation to several New England school districts, and advisory positions with the American Psychological Association, the National Science Foundation, the National Holocaust Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

Michael has been a devoted teacher and practitioner of yoga for almost 20 years, in addition to having studied and taught traditional Eastern martial and medicinal arts for more than 30 years.

Books by Michael J. Formica EdM, NCC, LPC
Recent Posts
Grief’s Dance of Anger
If we sit with our anger long enough, we discover it's grief, often built up over time, and made up of our small disappointments and larger losses.
Raising Children With Benign Neglect
The notion of parenting through benign neglect has recently garnered media attention. What we learn is stepping back from helicopter parenting isn't such a bad thing.
Grieving for an Emotionally Estranged Parent

No one person’s experience of grief is the same as another’s, particularly should we find ourselves grieving an emotionally estranged parent.

No one person’s experience of grief is the same as another’s, particularly should we find ourselves grieving an emotionally estranged parent.

Love as Daily Practice

Feeling love is not as easy as loving yourself. You are deserving of love as you are and allowing someone to love you can help you practice love toward yourself.

Feeling love is not as easy as loving yourself. You are deserving of love as you are and allowing someone to love you can help you practice love toward yourself.

Mechanisms of Misinformation

When a concept, idea, or belief is fed by lean, rather than critical, thinking we become bearers of falsehoods underlying a culture of misinformation.

When a concept, idea, or belief is fed by lean, rather than critical, thinking we become bearers of falsehoods underlying a culture of misinformation.

Increased Suicidality in the Face of the Pandemic

Suicidality, at its core, is a failure to see options. It is a cloying sense that "there is nothing more to do." But more pointedly: "There is nothing more I can do."

Suicidality, at its core, is a failure to see options. It is a cloying sense that "there is nothing more to do." But more pointedly: "There is nothing more I can do."

Social Distancing: What You’re Feeling Is Grief

While we are living in the Age of Anxiety and may be standing on the precipice of the Next Great Depression, we are, more poignantly, in the midst of the Great Grieving.

While we are living in the Age of Anxiety and may be standing on the precipice of the Next Great Depression, we are, more poignantly, in the midst of the Great Grieving.