Bipolar Like Me - 10 Things to Do If You’re Alone for the Holidays

Toys for the Holidays: Buying Gifts for Other People’s Children

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Holiday time. For many of us, shopping in the toy aisle is our chance to reenter the world of childhood. The old joke about the father who buys a train set "for the children" and ... Read more... »

The 15 Myths about Pet Loss

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

"I didn't know anyone else felt as deeply as I do towards animals" a number of people have confided in me. When it comes to your love of animals, you may not be as alone ... Read more... »

The 3 Myths of Grief and Children

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Sometimes adults minimize the depth or complexity of emotions that children of various ages can experience, especially when it comes to the loss of a loved one. Grief is just as real for a child ... Read more... »

You’re on the Phone Again? Helping Children Learn Relationship Skills

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

One parent writes: My daughter spends all day with a friend. She no sooner gets home than she is on the phone or online to the same friend! For hours! What can they possibly have ... Read more... »

Helping a Loved One Cope with Loss

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Before the Funeral... Offer to notify his family and friends about funeral arrangements ... Read more... »

Your Health and Grief

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

The loss of a loved one is a life-shattering experience. But unbeknownst to many, it affects us physically as well as emotionally. The grief a person experiences is felt on an emotional level. The resulting ... Read more... »

Making the Best of a Bad Situation

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

"Making lemonade out of lemons" was an adage I had heard all of my life, but until I was faced with what looked like the worst nightmare of my life, it really had no meaning ... Read more... »

New Year’s Resolutions: Role-Modeling the ‘How’ of Making Change

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

There's something in the human condition that likes new beginnings. Diets always start after the holidays. Birthdays are a great time to quit smoking. Every week gives us a Monday to start some new project. ... Read more... »

Brain Imaging: A Technological Breakthough in the Assessment of Pain

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

In the early nineteenth century, physicians treating pneumonia did not recognize its cause (germs) and so did not know how to provide appropriate treatment. Two hundred years later, physicians treating chronic pain are in pretty ... Read more... »

The Turkey Trail: Which ‘Home’ for the Holidays?

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

When we were in our early 20s, a friend of mine called it "the turkey trail:" Thanksgiving dinner at 2:00 at her mother's house, another full holiday meal at his mother's at 6:00. Each mother ... Read more... »

Cluster Headaches: Brain Biology Provides Important Clues

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Cluster headaches have been widely recognized for centuries. Only recently has the cause of these often brief, but excruciatingly painful episodic headaches begun to be better understood. What medical researchers have discovered has been surprising to ... Read more... »

Dropping from Shopping: When Buying Gets Out of Hand

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Writing on an eating disorders message board, Kristi (not her real name) gives a compelling account of another addiction: Last night I went to three different stores and spent several hundred dollars in, oh, an hour ... Read more... »

Medications for Anxiety, Panic and Phobias

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Everyone experiences anxiety at one time or another: "butterflies in the stomach" before giving a speech or sweaty palms during a job interview are common symptoms. Other symptoms of anxiety include irritability, uneasiness, jumpiness, feelings ... Read more... »

Medications: Symptom Relief, Not Cure

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Just as aspirin can reduce a fever without clearing up the infection that causes it, psychotherapeutic medications act by controlling symptoms. Like most drugs used in medicine, they correct or compensate for some malfunction in ... Read more... »

10 Things to Do If You’re Alone for the Holidays

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Try one or several of the following if you find yourself alone for the holidays. De-mythologize and adjust expectations. Elaine Rodino, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Santa Monica, Calif., says there are so many categories of ... Read more... »

Archive for November, 2006