National Suicide Prevention Week starts on Sep. 4 and culminates with World Suicide Prevention Day on Sep. 10. Here are valuable resources you can view to raise awareness about this public health problem and help save lives: Take a moment to learn about suicide risk factors and warning signs. To further spread awareness, click the… Read more »
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When we are triggered emotionally, it can all feel sort of choiceless; like we have lost control of ourselves. Even if we have the awareness of our reaction, it is difficult to stop our emotional response, because the nervous system, the brain, the memory centers are all interacting. Our learned style of relating Most often… Read more »
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Suicide has been recently described as an “epidemic.” With tragedies associated with the current financial crisis and the increasing suicide rate of military personnel, a need clearly exists for more extensive training in the management and treatment of suicidal clients. It is the most common clinical emergency therapists face, yet many do not receive formal training…. Read more »
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Upon exploring my psychological issues rather late in life I discovered something entirely unforeseen: that while I had been unconsciously avoiding feeling “sad” my entire life this emotion was not only satisfying but a key to who I really am. I had until then said my goal in life was to be “happy”. After this… Read more »
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I recently read a five-page article in a popular magazine that quoted a committee of experts on nutrition, behavior medicine, cooking, and health that suggests that we, as Americans, should throw out everything we know about meal planning, calorie counting and deprivation because there is a simple way to eat smart. The staggering statistic that… Read more »
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It wasn’t easy for Sara, a 28-year-old sales manager, to choose to leave her well-paying job at a telecommunications company to work for a friend’s business hot to recruit her. Yet with promises of equal pay, better hours and increased time off, Sara followed her heart and took the job, only to be let go… Read more »
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The 4th of July weekend carried a strange theme for me this year. It started when I was driving my 10-year-old niece home from a family pool party and she asked me, puzzled, “Why do so many people hate the way they look?” I realized that she was referring to comments she’d overheard while happily… Read more »
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Lifestyle changes begin with setting Intention. If you don’t have an intention, it easy to lose commitment to action. Intention is not a goal but an overarching frame for the “why” of doing something. For example, someone might have a goal of losing weight, but an overarching intention of feeling well, with more vitality for… Read more »
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In Psychological Defenses in Everyday Life, (1989), I described a patient who complained that her husband was habitually late for dinner. Dinner was ready at 6:30, but he often came in as late as 8:30 without calling to let her know that he would be late. She asked me, “Is that right?” in a tone that… Read more »
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The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Plata on May 23 ordering the state of California to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 (from more than 140,000 to 110,000 inmates) over the next two years has received headlines, editorials and letters to the editor in newspapers around the country, as it should have…. Read more »
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