The Politicization of Mental Health
Shootings, deaths and tragedies involving mental illness fill our news every day. Politicians are talking about mental health more than ever before. But, most political efforts to reform these issues...
View ArticleWhy We Like (Or Don't Like) Comfort Foods
We all know that stress can affect your diet. But a new study finds that there's much more to the story.
View ArticleThe One-Minute Group Meditation
Of all the interventions available for facilitators, this one minute at the end of group has impressed me most.
View ArticleYou Can't Have Real Intimacy Without This
Being human means being vulnerable. But oftentimes we try to control love and intimacy, not realizing that true intimacy can only arise as we develop the awareness to notice and the courage to embrace...
View ArticleAre You a Traumatized Woman?
When we peruse the landscape of our world half the women we see have experienced a life-altering traumatic event, perhaps a natural disaster like a tornado, or a human-made disaster such as a car...
View ArticleWe Really Do Die Alone
When working to improve public health, there are often many things that we simply can't change. Social isolation has proven to be a robust and significant risk factor of poor health and early...
View ArticleIs Digital Life Risky?
Young people who grew up with digital technologies and cannot conceive of a life without the Internet, digital games, and social media are sometimes called “digital natives” whereas older generations...
View ArticleHow Clinical Psychology Programs Get Wussified
Aren’t therapists supposed to be able to stomach strong emotion, confront conflict, keep calm, and carry on?
View ArticleRescue the Mangroves, Rescue Ourselves?
A small, dirt-road fishing village on the Pacific coast of Mexico organizes to restore their threatened ocean environment and provides hope for all of us. They remind us of the powerful hunger to take...
View ArticleIrrationality of A.A.?
My friend recently forwarded me the April 2015 Atlantic Magazine article “The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous” by Gabrielle Glaser. If I did not have personal and professional experience with...
View ArticleObama and Netanyahu in Family Therapy
After the initial evaluation and assessment, the therapist identified three classic family dysfunctions that exist in the relationship between Barack and Bibi: enmeshment, triangulation, and emotional...
View ArticleChanging Our Perspectives on Mental Illness and Health
Addicts and those with co-occurring disorders such as depression, anxiety, or PTSD are frequently overwhelmed by shame. This is not just an internal issue of being ashamed of past behaviors.
View ArticleAddiction or Dependency? Does it Matter?
Many of my patients often ask me, “What’s the difference between being addicted to prescription pain medications versus being dependent?” To help shed light on this important topic, I’d like to examine...
View ArticleDelirious Mania?
On March 9, on a Monday afternoon in DeKalb County, Georgia, Anthony Hill, a black Air Force veteran in postdeployment from Afghanistan, removed all his clothes, slid down from the balcony of his...
View ArticleAnorexia and the Dangers of Blog Post Titles
Few topics induce stronger emotion than parenting and children’s illness, and where emotions are heightened miscommunication can easily occur. Here I try to clarify my mother’s original argument,...
View ArticlePrecision Medicine’s Cultural Limits
"Everyone is different." This is the fundamental tenant of Precision Medicine: to utilize this difference to improve outcome. Real life is more complicated, and there is a lot that is not yet worked...
View ArticleSomatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a powerful method of overcoming trauma via the mind-body connection, and often without medication. This piece by Saint-Laurent and Bird is a great introduction for those...
View ArticleAffairs: The Healing Process
Affairs are devastating on so many levels, but at its core it is about trust and loss. A map for moving through the normal healing process.
View ArticleLetting Things Have a Life of Their Own
Turning people—turning all things—into projects is a very effective defense against allowing them to have a life of their own. Irrelationship provides a place for our attention to be focused instead of...
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