Paula Bloom is a practicing clinical psychologist, frequent contributor to CNN and a featured blogger for PBS.org. Dr. Bloom connects with patients and viewers with an engaging, down-to-earth style . She has been interviewed on a wide range of subjects, including happiness, parenting, psychiatric illness, mental health, communication, workplace issues, and motivation. She has been featured  on Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s show on the CNN Accent Health network and  quoted in Dr. Gupta’s blog on CNN.com. In addition, she  speaks about mental health and happiness to many groups, including parents, women, educators, physicians and business groups.

As a child of Chilean immigrants and the first person in her immediate family to be born in the United States, Dr. Bloom has an intimate understanding of cultural issues and their impact on shaping individuals and groups. She has native fluency in both English and Spanish, and does TV appearances and speaking engagements in both languages.

Through her training and work on suicide hot-lines, community mental health centers, and medical and psychiatric units, Dr. Bloom quickly realized that she knew far more about mental illness than mental health. Her focus has now shifted to helping individuals find a greater sense of productivity, purpose, and meaning in their lives. Dr. Bloom believes that all of us have a limited amount of mental health “capital,” and often very little emotional “overdraft” protection. She challenges us to consider which thoughts and behaviors we can afford, and to abandon those old patterns that drain us.

 Dr. Bloom earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Nova Southeastern University. Her private practice is located in Atlanta where she lives with her husband, children and a dog named Candor.