California Journal: A new twist on mental health: Running with the therapist while discussing life’s problems
Sepideh Saremi, 33, a Redondo Beach psychotherapist, offers her clients the option of running or walking with her as they talk. Running next to the ocean, we like to say, increases our “endolphins.” “There’s definitely a bridge between running for fitness and running for mental health,” Saremi said. She has also connected with William Pullen, an English therapist with a London practice who coined the phrase “Dynamic Running Therapy.” But the granddaddy of the movement, as Saremi and her colleagues generally acknowledge, is an American psychiatrist named Thaddeus Kostrubala. :: A lot of Saremi’s running clients, as you might imagine, are high achievers who resist traditional therapy because sitting around talking — while paying $200 an hour — feels like a waste of time. “I have people coming in who say, ‘I’ve been considering going to therapy for six years.’ I say, ‘That’s a really long time to be struggling and suffering before you step into my office.’ I think the running is what helps them make their decision.” As Saremi and I ran together, we covered many subjects: drug addiction, death, sex and money.
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