It’s Christmas Day. Your teenage son is refusing to emerge from his darkened bedroom because the love of his life (relationship duration: three weeks) has broken up with him. Your favorite cousin has fallen (leapt?) off the wagon right in your living room and upended the rum into the eggnog bowl. It’s no longer “laced” with liquor – it’s positively trussed. And while we’re on trussing: Your turkey – that lovely, fresh 22-pounder you had to pay a proverbial arm and leg for – seems to be cooking … [Read more...]
Beating the Back-to-School Blues
October 4, 2012 By
In a few weeks, buses will be taking the place of car rides to the beach. Back-to-school anxiety can affect the entire family. Kids are worrying about missing the bus, making new friends, and doing well in school. Their worrying may even lead to sleepless nights and stomachaches. Parents are beginning to worry about those hectic mornings, missed school buses and carpooling chaos. With all of this, how can anyone get excited about the first day of school? Parents can help ease their children’s … [Read more...]
Control: Who’s Got It and Who Wants It?
September 19, 2012 By
Remember when you were a kid and played King of the Hill? Or you were playing with dolls and one person always insisted hers was the Queen of the Castle? Well, control issues are about that. When one person insists on always being King of the Hill or Queen of the castle, others are reduced to secondary roles. That raises a whole series of questions, for example: Do you prefer to be subservient? Does the secondary position make you feel less valued? Would you prefer to be King or Queen … [Read more...]
Understanding Anxiety Disorders
September 19, 2012 By
Getting sweaty palms and “butterflies” in the stomach right before an important job interview, a big speech, a first date or any challenging situation is normal. Anxiety disorders, however, are medical illnesses that differ dramatically from normal feelings of nervousness. The symptoms of these disorders often occur without any warning and can actually interfere with one’s life. Anxiety is the most common medical illness in the U.S., afflicting upwards of 20 million Americans. If left … [Read more...]
A Person is Not a Puppet: A Quick Look at Emotional Manipulation
September 19, 2012 By
Every teacher can rattle off a list of excuses given by students to get out of taking a test or to excuse missing homework. If you’ve heard someone make that kind of excuse yourself, you probably thought it had no consequences. So what if the dog that ate their homework was stuffed, or they didn’t really study for the test and copied the answers from someone else? No one got hurt, right? Not quite. What if you are the person who handed in all the homework on time, and were completely prepared … [Read more...]