Stock Doc: Healthy Mind, Healthy Profits

Editor's note: Alden Cass, a psychologist, writes two columns for TheStreet.com: one that delves into how behavior and emotions affect investing, the other a health column specifically for men.

Many men working within the financial services industry have a preconceived notion that psychologists are too "touchy feely" or too serious to understand their daily plight. Often, I find that they can be correct in making that generalization.

Conversely, I'm not the typical psychologist that your parents forced you to see when they got divorced or when you acted out in high school. I'm action-oriented, practical and not afraid to tell strong-willed executives that they are wrong, when necessary.

My practice is composed of armchair investors, alpha male traders, advisers, investment bankers and athletes. All of these people adhere to a similar goal in life: meeting their bottom line. They are fiercely competitive, self-critical, compulsive, indulgent and entitled. These polished individuals with perfectionist attitudes are desperately searching for happiness.

They may often define happiness as a byproduct of their overall financial success, status of their jobs and how comfortable their family lives may be. My job is to help them eliminate painful emotions or frustrations before they negatively affect their quality of life.

Over the next year, I plan to help you gain some insight into what makes you tick and give you some tips for gaining emotional control over your job and relationships. By describing case studies that you might identify with, I will demonstrate new skills for managing your emotions and significant relationships as well as complex work environments that include severe market mood swings.