Cherry Creek Psychology, Dr. Maximillian Wachtel

Not much to report. Court went well on Friday afternoon. While I was waiting for the case for which I was there to be called, I had to sit through a preliminary hearing on a first-degree murder charge, though. That was fairly gruesome.

I figured, no matter how bad or stressful it was for me on the stand as an expert witness, my day was going to be better than that of the accused murderer.

I had some strange dreams on Friday night, and I woke up on Saturday morning very glad that, in addtion to my forensic work, I get the opportunity to work with normal individuals who are struggling with normal psychological issues (as opposed to those who are trying to decide whether or not to kill someone).

All in a day’s work– Max Wachtel, Ph.D. (maxwachtel@cherrycreekpsychology.com; www.cherrycreekpsychology.com)

One of the benefits of being my own boss is that I can set my own schedule. I work slightly longer hours throughout the week, and then I typically take Fridays off so I can spend the day with my daughter.

Today, however, is one of those days where I need to work. I am scheduled to testify as an expert witness in an Adams County court, and I usually don’t have much control over when hearings are scheduled. So, I am gearing myself up for that this afternoon.

January is typically a fairly slow month for therapists. In November and December, a lot of people start therapy to deal with the upcoming stress of the holidays. By the time January rolls around, many of those people feel a lot better and don’t see the need to continue in therapy (which makes sense…if you can meet with a therapist for a few sessions to work through some temporary stress, there isn’t always much need to continue on after that stress goes away).

The therapy portion of my practice has definitely slowed down a bit this January (which, again, is fine, especially since I know that this is a yearly trend). But, the forensic portion of my practice never seems to slow down. Apparently, crime is not seasonal.

Anyway, I will be working this afternoon. Most likely, so will you. And so will a lot of criminals.

Thanks for reading– Max Wachtel, Ph.D. (maxwachtel@cherrycreekpsychology.com; www.cherrycreekpsychology.com)