Befriending our inner mind with curiosity opens the way to secure attachments, empathy, and intimacy.

​Because relationships dominate our inner world, knowing what we feel, and what we think about how we feel, cultivates self-awareness and acceptance. We learn to respect that others have their minds; we stop blaming and seeking scapegoats. Self-reflection, a learnable skill, links raw emotion--the kind we feel in our hearts and guts--to past events and behavior patterns. Knowing the story behind our painful feelings soothes and regulates our emotions so we can think before we act. Creating and updating a lifelong self-narrative--including the good, the bad, and the ugly--are the cornerstones for gaining wisdom and loving-kindness, qualities that interrupt cycles of trauma. The brain creates new neural connections during these processes, improving emotional health and cognition.

Jacqueline Heller, MS, MD, is board certified in psychiatry and neurology and is a psychoanalyst. In Yesterday Never Sleeps, she draws upon decades of clinical experience to weave together a powerful narrative that contains neuroscience, memoir of her life as a child of holocaust survivors, and patient histories involving a range of psychological ills and trauma. Dr. Heller offers a uniquely holistic approach demonstrating how the therapeutic process and self-analysis help us make sense of our history and forge a better future.
About the Author:

Jacqueline Heller is a physician with board certification in psychiatry and neurology and is a psychoanalyst. Over her thirty-year career, she maintained a psychiatry practice and treated patients at a community clinic. Dr. Heller was an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences within the David Geffen School of Medicine. She actively supervised psychiatrists in training for individual and small group settings.

Dr. Heller received a BA in Biology from NYU, an MS in Basic Medical Science from NYU, and an MD from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her psychiatry internship and residency were at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. Her psychoanalytic training was at the New Center for Psychoanalysis, formerly known as the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She has been certified by the Center for Reflective Communities to lead reflective parenting groups.

Dr. Heller recently retired. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.