A Mental Health Reader

The Downside of Expectations

2012-05-16

Is Hating Someone Because They are Different a Mental Illness?

2012-05-16

The DSM-IV does not accept that the hatred of someone because they are different as a mental disorder. According to a recent ABC News article, The American Psychiatric Association (APA) does not list racism in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the bible of psychiatrists worldwide. Most psychiatrists believe that racism is a cultural and social problem, not a matter of individual pathology. Harvard University psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint thinks that's a mistake.

OCD and Transitions

2012-05-15

But I am also keenly aware that change, by its very nature, comes with stress, and for Dan, the changes are already huge. He is not in school anymore, living with his three best friends. His girlfriend is not nearby. In fact, none of his friends are around now. He has to make a lot of decisions; types of decisions he has never had to make before. Dan, like other college graduates, is basically building a new life for himself, and though that can be stressful for anyone, it is often even more so for those struggling with OCD, the "doubting disease."

Fast Food, Health and Depression

2012-05-14

How good are your eating habits? I have worked with many people for whom a meal is something they have on the way between one appointment and the next. Another variation on the theme is that, dinner is something that consists of hamburgers from McDonald's,

Equal Rights for Gay Marriages

2012-05-11

This Wednesday, May 9, 2012, President Obama gave his support for giving gay married couples the same rights as those who are heterosexual and married. This was a courageous move because the issue is so fraught with controversy...

Find What's Sacred

2012-05-11

Thich Nhat Hanh Shares Some Good News

2012-05-11

Families and Groups with Rigid Boundaries

2012-05-10

One of the major features of family life is that members act to maintain the status quo. In other words, with few exceptions, there is resistance to change. However, many families recognize that change is inevitable. They recognize the fact that...

The Significance of Mental Health Month

2012-05-10

Did you know that May is Mental Health Month? I didn't - until I received an e-newsletter from the U.S. Army outlining what it is doing to raise awareness of mental health issues among our nation's soldiers. I was encouraged by this, but I also wondered why I had not known about Mental Health Month before then. Shouldn't this have been plastered all over the news?

Complacency, Apathy and Resignation Be Banished and Transformed

2012-05-10

How come we hate ourselves so much? This is the question the Dalai Lama asks of Americans and finds no answer. We treat complete strangers far better than we treat our spouses and immediate family members. I guess that's an indicator, along with irritation, anger and outright hate, that we do feel something strongly toward our closest loved ones, which could be seen as cause for some sort of acknowledgment if not celebration.

Successfully Negotiating the Crisis-Trauma, Grief-Transition Passage: Six Emo-Existential Questions

2012-05-09

It is time to examine "Six Self-Assessment Questions for Successfully Negotiating the Crisis-Grief Trauma or Transition Passage." These questions are also relevant for anyone in the throes of burn-in or burnout. The questions relate to your sense of: 1) Ideal vs. Real Self 2) Security vs. Danger 3) Time Sense 4) Aliveness vs. Stagnation 5) Animation vs. Alienation 6) Freedom vs. Responsibility.

Parental Depression and Children

2012-05-09

Research shows a direct connection between parental depression and the likelihood that the child will develop depression and other types of behavioral and psychiatric problems. Considering the fact that one in five Americans will experience depression...

How Do You Measure Your Worth?

2012-05-09

The Benefits of Self-Questioning Part One

2012-05-08

There are many benefits of self-questioning. You can learn to ask yourself questions in a way a therapist may ask. Learning to be introspective and becoming emotionally unstuck are the benefits being discussed here.

Adoption, Finding the Birth Parents

2012-05-08

Lisa Lutz, well known author, wrote a brief article for the Sunday Times Magazine section, May 6, 2012, called, "Meet the Parents." Lutz, herself an adopted child, discusses the fact that, at age twenty five, she wanted to meet her birth parents. She states that she never had a strong...

One Year Later...A Sobering Milestone

2012-05-07

My Mother/Father has Alzheimer's Disease

2012-05-07

This is an Email recently sent to me by an adult daughter witnessing the decline of her elderly mother. It's not a decline due to physical health problems but due to Alzheimer's disease. This Email is typical of the tragedy of what so many families go through as they watch their loved one become lost in the web of dementia:

Clean Air = Clear Thinking (Or How Pollution Undermines Cognitive Health)

2012-05-04

If your mind feels a little hazy when you get home from work each night, it might not only be due to a stressful day at the office. It might be the air you're breathing on your daily commute.

Having Trouble Exercising? Cultivate a Mindful Habit

2012-05-04

What Has Supported My Recovery from Depression?

2012-05-03

A friend recently asked me if I could help him understand the recovery from depression that I've experienced over the last several years. At the same time, a reader asked if I could elaborate on what I mean by taking charge or putting myself at the center of my own recovery - an idea I first discussed soon after starting my personal blog. Both are closely tied together, and I thought I'd summarize a few thoughts I've had so far on how to account for what I've been through.

Rebuilding Trust - Part II

2012-05-03

Satisfying relationships are built on a foundation of safety and trust that you won't be hurt physically or emotional. Your past influences whether you're trusting too little or too much. Once trust is broken, your sense of safety is in jeopardy. You feel insecure and may begin to question your partner's honesty, motives, intentions, feelings, and actions. Walls start to grow as you try to protect yourself. Specific steps must be taken to repair the relationship.

Olfactory Sensations (Smell) and Stress Reduction

2012-05-02

All of us have many visual and emotional associations to certain smells and aromas. When I smell chlorine I immediately think of swimming in a pool and that evokes childhood summer time memories. It is common to have a hungry reaction to the smell of baking bread or...

The Burn-in Virus: Lingering Loss, Prematurely Buried Grief, and the Rise of Grief Ghosts

2012-05-02

Now it's time to define more carefully the newly conceived "Burn-in" and to differentiate burn-in (with its typically more internal, yin energy and "draining" essence) from burnout (with its more external, "straining" yang nature). Akin to burnout, burn-in is also a gradual process by which a person detaches from work and other significant roles and relationships in response to excessive and prolonged stress and mental, physical, and emotional strain.

Aging and Drug Addiction

2012-05-01

They are called the "golden years," the days when people reach the age when the kids are grown and have their own kids, work is done and it's time to retire and enjoy life. According to SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration),...

Avoid the Rush

2012-05-01

More Evidence That Staying Active is Good for the Brain

2012-04-30

These athletes are incredible. Why do they do it? Some of them have told me that it keeps them feeling young. Others say it's to prevent disease. All of them allude to the notion that it gives them a sense of purpose and satisfaction in life.

An Interview with David S. Remmert, Ph.D. on Forensic Psychology

2012-04-30

Dr. Remmert explains that forensics is a very broad term for anything that has to do with the legal system. There have been many iterations of the definition of what forensic psychology, forensic entomology is. And for just about every profession there is a branch of forensics, whether it be engineering or whatever. He says that forensic psychology, on the other hand, came into the field about 100 years ago with some pretty important cases having to do with the mental health of the person, particularly in reference to their mental capacity, their intelligence. And forensic psychology specifically refers to the application of psychology to the legal system.

How Do You Know When You are Ready for a New Relationship?

2012-04-27

Many people make the mistake of thinking that the best way to heal from a broken heart is to get right back into a new relationship. Rarely is that the best way to heal. It is like trying to cover up a wound without cleaning it out first.

Spring Cleaning for Your Social Network

2012-04-27

The Dangers of Online Therapy

2012-04-26

Over the last twenty years we have witnessed the incredible revolution in computer technology and the amazing revolution in cyber space. What this has done is to provide new and fast forms of communication that literally unites the far reaches of the world. When a couple living Georgia, the small nation next to Russia, contacts me...

Addressing Problems at Schools in Context: A Philosophical Statement

2012-04-26

A core value that seems to be emphasized amongst parents in this part of the developed world implies a need to provide their children with "everything." The desire for parents to uphold this value is derived from a variety of origins: a social norm or expectation, a desire of the parent to provide children with what they themselves didn't have growing up, a belief that this will lead to greater success and opportunity in life.

Asylum Squad Comic Strip 55

2012-04-25

This one, as it says, is just a little recap strip I did, for anyone who started the series later on and didn't want to plod through the earlier, wordier strips. I have recaps in part 2 as well, but they're not all on one page like with this old format.

Lessons Learned from Almost Dying: A Personal Journey

2012-04-25

It is now three years later and I am running and listening to the same song before I fainted; Leela James's version of I Want to Know What Love is and I look at the grassy area where I had passed out and wonder, "What happened to me that day?" "Did I actually die for a fraction of time?" "Where did I go?" "Why am I still here?"

So You Think You Can Multi Task?

2012-04-24

I often hear women saying that they can multitask, as opposed to their men, because they have always had to. Can this be true? Are women better than men at multitasking? I hear this from such people as my wife, her friends and female friends of mine. In fact, even men seem to agree that women are better at multitasking than they are...

Steps Back are Not Setbacks: Finding Solid Ground Can Be Essential

2012-04-24

Down the trail loomed Mooney Falls that the Supai Indians had named in honor of a miner of this name who found a very fast and fatal way down the approximate 175 foot high descent, given there was no accessible way down. When we arrived there, what greeted us was a remarkably steep descent that in places had a dynamited trail with steel pegs drilled into rock at particularly difficult byways.

Succeeding in Relationships at Work and Home

2012-04-24

The Transitional Objects and Self Comfort

2012-04-23

Do you remember Linus from the Peanuts cartoon? He always carried around his little blue blanket. That was typical of what most kids do from about one year old up until approximately three or four years of age. It's what is called a "transitional object." The transitional object does not have to be a blanket...

Bridging the International Corporate Geo-Cultural Divide or Presenter Beware and Buyer Be Aware

2012-04-23

For the first time I was accused of being "Amero-centric." This caught me off guard as I tend to see life as double-edged; the glass is frequently both half full and half empty. I'm trained to see the strengths and potentialities, vulnerabilities and faults of individuals, groups, and systems. I'm a big fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald's pithy and prescient aphorism: The test of a first rate intellect is the capacity to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

Defining Your Own Spiritual Path

2012-04-20

Looking back on that experience, I think I was defining my own spiritual path in order to achieve a sense of spiritual wellness. Unconventional? Sure. Spiritually fulfilling? Absolutely. It worked for me.

Being Kind to Your Body is Healing to the Mind

2012-04-20

To Trust or Mistrust - Part I

2012-04-19

Many people claim that they trust others until they have reason not to, but when you first meet someone, you don't know anything about their integrity or past conduct, except what they tell you. Trustworthiness is proven over time by actions, not only by words.

To Retire or Not, A Complicated Decision

2012-04-18

There was a time, not so long ago, when people retired from their occupations with a full pension from the corporation they worked for after thirty years. Since that time, people do not stay at one corporation for that long for a whole variety of reasons, some of their choice and many not of their choice. Consequently, most people face the decision of

Electronic Health Records: Celerity

2012-04-18

An Unlikely Approach to Healing Depression

2012-04-17

Find Your North Star

2012-04-17

Change Your Body, Change Your Mind

2012-04-17

When we're feeling stressed out or when we're highly emotional, it is common to experience certain psychological symptoms. Most of us have gotten stuck in worry, felt close to panic, thought negative things about ourselves or had trouble focusing at some point or another. These symptoms can be painful and when they are prolonged, interfere with our ability to function or cause us to act in ways that are risky, we've got to find strategies to lessen them.

Health and Mental Health, Should We Screen Children?

2012-04-16

"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Which came first, the heart attack or the episode of major depression six months ago? Is the depression irrelevant to the heart attack? For a very long time, mental issues were thought to be separate from physical health.

Residential Programs for OCD: Issues to Consider

2012-04-16

I've written before about my son Dan's stay at an intensive residential treatment program for OCD sufferers; it was a mixed blessing. One of our main frustrations with the program stemmed from the way my husband I were regarded by the staff. For reasons that are still not completely clear to me, they saw us as overbearing, controlling parents, and instead of encouraging Dan to include us in the major decisions regarding how he should proceed with his life, they discouraged him from consulting with us at all.

Does Past Abuse Signal Future Abuse?

2012-04-13

Many women have consulted me for psychotherapy after having survived a terribly abusive relationship. More often than not, their presenting problem is depression and anxiety that they attributed to the loss of their lover. Curiously, it was the termination of the relationship, which they experienced as rejection, that bothered them...

Are You an Engaged Workaholic?

2012-04-13

No, I'm not asking whether you are betrothed and pulling all-nighters in order to plan the perfect wedding. I'm asking whether you work all the time and actually enjoy it. Imagine working 70-80 hours a week, rarely taking a day off (even on weekends) yet waking up each morning excited for the day's challenges. You have energy, are in good health and have meaningful relationships despite the limited time you have to invest in them.