Am I Ugly or Am I Pretty?
Whether we care to admit it or not, the questions “Am I ugly?” and “Am I pretty?” chatter in a female’s mind throughout her lifetime. They are questions learned by girls at an early age.
A trend currently happening on YouTube speaks to this age-old phenomenon in a brand new way. Tween and teen girls are posting videos and asking complete strangers to tell them if they are pretty or ugly. Is this voyeuristic? A setup for cyber-bullying? An attention-seeking behavior? Unsupervised girls just being girls? Or are girls simply using current media communication means to do what girls, women,... Read More
Declining health is a natural process of aging. The majority of individuals over age 65 experience more physical health problems as they enter the golden years than they did earlier in life. Some experience mild, common health problems, such as high blood pressure, arthritis, memory problems, and fatigue, while others struggle with more debilitating 
I believe the answer to that question can be summed up in the wonderful poem that follows, by Emily Perl Kingsley…
Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability—to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this….
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip—to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy... 
Married couples communicate in a myriad of ways throughout the world. Different countries have cultural norms that people conform to, and these norms directly influence how individuals in intimate relationships communicate. These norms also affect other behaviors and attitudes that significantly affect 
Parents determine their level of parenting competence by gauging how well their children have grown and developed over time. It is important that a parent feels competent with their parenting abilities throughout a child’s life because this sense of competence directly impacts the parent’s self-esteem and well-being, which indirectly influence the child. When children are unruly and unresponsive to parental discipline, parents feel that their competence is in question. During adolescence, children act more impulsively, ignore parental guidance and engage in more externalizing behaviors than... 
If you have completed Exercise 1, congratulations to you. Please take a moment to pat yourself on the back. You deserve it, because it must have taken a great deal of courage to write about your family history. Most of my clients shed some tears in our therapy session when they share it with me. Then they feel very relieved.
Most people are not ready to share the letter with their family of origin right away. If you have a therapist available or a sponsor, discuss it with that person. If not, review it with a supportive, nonjudgmental friend. Before sharing this with your family, it is important... 
A man going to court with his family in Texas opens fire outside the courthouse, killing one and wounding three.
On the same day...a man armed with three knives stabs four people in Columbus, Ohio, before being shot by police.
Three days earlier...an American soldier kills 16 civilians in Afghanistan.
Stabbings. Shootings. So much violence. It's sad. Painful. Scary. Most of us point to those who commit the violence and judge them. Sometimes as crazy. Sometimes as bad.
But . . . where does the violence really come from?
Violence comes from our not having had the help to build... 
Children who are enrolled in public schools in low-income communities are at a disadvantage both academically and psychologically. These children experience elevated rates of mental health problems due to their environments, family structures, and financial insecurity. At school, their opportunities are restricted as a result of a less than adequate learning environment, minimal resources, and external factors such as increased 
Substance misuse among college students has been extensively researched. There is also limited research addressing the issue of substance (legal and illegal) misuse in college students with 
I treat couples, mainly coming in with sexual disorders, and much of the time I treat individuals also. In many cases, the person who comes in for the treatment is in a relationship, often times a long-term relationship. When a sexual malfunction pops up in a relationship or in the bedroom, it's easy to point the finger and assume the problem or blame lies within the person who exhibits the symptoms. For example, with arousal issues, such as excessive dryness or painful intercourse in females or rapid ejaculation or early termination of erections in males (when medical or organic causes have been... 
When we’re first in love with our partners, the world can feel like a very small place. We only have eyes for one another, and that bond, born of words, actions, gestures, physical touch, and hormones is a marvel of human experience. In that intimate couple experience, we might plan a future together. We imagine creating our own, two-person family, and what challenges, joy, and pleasure that will bring. We begin to share our joy with others, particularly our friends, siblings, and parents. Then the truth sets in: We are both members of an extended family, quite different families, as a matter... 
Binge eating is one type of eating issue that many adolescents and adults struggle with. It is believed that binge eating begins to develop in the early and preteen years. People who exhibit binge eating during their teen years are extremely vulnerable for the development of 
In therapy, many issues are covered, but sex may still be an uncomfortable topic for many clients and even therapists to talk about. Yet many people have sexual issues that need to be resolved in order for life to be the most fulfilling that it can be.
In general therapy, there may be an uncomfortable attitude in regard to clients and therapists talking about sex, an uncertainty of what constitutes sexual issues (considering there is a wide range of acceptable sexual behaviors, experiences, and attitudes in the modern world), and possibly a lack of guidelines for how to address sexual issues... 
I recently had the opportunity to share a few articles here on anger and how this affects us. It is my pleasure to now begin writing a bit about anxiety and how this, too, is a major issue for many of us. In fact, anxiety disorders are being seen more and more across the ages. For example, I see more children these days—no kidding—worrying how they will do on school/state-wide testing and other children overwhelmed with their family's separation or divorce. Then there are all of us adults overwhelmed with the economy, job, and housing issues and not feeling a positive sense of control over... 
