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Long Beach native Dr. John F. Tholen says he knew early on that he wanted to establish a career in psychology while writing on the side.
With the recent publication of his first book, "Winning the Disability Challenge: A Practical Guide to Successful Living," Tholen has finally gotten around to doing just that.
Tholen began his writing career in junior high as editor for the school paper. While at Polytechnic High School (where his parents met as students in the 1920s), he took on the role of editor at both the school paper and the "Teen" section at the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Before his senior year, he attended a summer journalism program at the National High School Institute at Northwestern University. He said he became discouraged there. At the camp, Tholen said media professionals warned him of the amount of hard work required in the field and its meager monetary compensation. Eventually, he went on to study another one of his interests, psychology.
Tholen's educational background includes a bachelor's in psychology and master's in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Miami. He interned at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and worked with children's services at the Orange County Department of Mental Health before obtaining his license. Afterwards, Tholen started his own practice and has been running it since 1980, first in downtown Long Beach and now in Seal Beach.
The transition to author was one of necessity, he said.
In 2004, workers' compensation legislation SB 899 changed the relationship between insurance companies, doctors and injured employees by establishing a medical provider network - a set list of doctors that disabled workers can choose from. In addition, the bill provided employees with the option to seek a second and third opinion about their treatment. Also added was an independent review process to determine whether treatment was necessary in the event of a disagreement between an insurance company and an injured employee.
Tholen said there was much need for reform at the time, and with the bill, things went overboard.
"I thought this could be the end of my practice, or the way I'm doing it," Tholen added.
Instead, the bill became the catalyst for Tholen to take a new approach, and inspired him to begin writing his book. He adopted the method he advocates to many of his patients - wherein a crisis is manifested into a positive turning point, instead of a negative one.
"It was helping me to better understand what I do and to become more efficient in helping my patients," Tholen said. "Now I feel more confident."
Most of the time, Tholen said, people spend much of their energy and time on their job. Once unable to work due to injury or for other reasons, there are drastic changes in self-image and self-esteem that can result in depression and anxiety disorders.
He said he tries to redefine issues from "catastrophe" to "crisis." That changes their feeling from one of utter failure to one preparing to make a decision.
With his new book, Tholen said he hopes to help people with disabilities who are unable to get any mental health care. The book is designed to guide injured workers through their rights and benefits and also present them with a strategy to deal with the challenges being disabled can present.
"They say if you really want to learn something, teach it to someone else," Tholen said. "Writing the book was the same sort of process."
Tholen, a self-professed "exercise junkie," lives in Long Beach with his wife, Sandy. His two sons, Ben and Daniel, are in college. He is working on another book about coping with life-altering crises..
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