September 5th, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General, Relationships)
Q: My 31 yr. old, educated niece has been dating a 36 yr. old professional man for 1 1/2 yrs (income/money is not an issue). At the beginning of the relationship they both admitted that they would eventually like to be married and have children (in general).I have been around this couple a lot, and they are very loving, helpful, and caring to each other. And I know for a fact that they do love each other.The Problem: my niece would like a marriage commitment ...
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September 5th, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General, Relationships)
Q: Is it wrong for me not to ask my boyfriend for sex? I have this problem with asking my boyfriend for sex i dont know why. i love him and care for him and i love having intercourse with him but i just cant seem to ask him for sex and i dont know why!
A: Maybe you should relax and trust your own instincts. Part of developing an intimate relationship is working out how to be sexual with each other. ...
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September 3rd, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General)
Q: I have a 4 year old daughter and an 8 month old son. My daughter has also showed love for animals and is a very loving little girl, constantly hugging and kissing us. Since her brother was born she does have moments of jealousy and usually she takes it out on us, although there have been some times where she has poked her brother and said he is naughty. We try to give her as much attention as possible and mostly ...
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September 3rd, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General)
Q: An acquaintance with a long history of symptoms of OCD has suddenly landed in jail. How does someone who is entrenched in ritualistic behaviors (and has never been treated) cope when suddenly put into a prison environment? Will they plunge into suicidal depression? This is someone for whom simple tasks like showering take hours because they must be completed in specific steps. They haven't held down a job for decades so any sense of adhering to someone else's schedule is alien to them.
Thank you.
A: ...
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September 3rd, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General, Relationships)
Q: I have been dating a woman for 3 years. She is very cold. I don't know, really much about her emotionally, as she will never open up to me. She refuses to make a commitment to me, as in marriage. I started seeing a gal that is 20 years younger than I , and she is becoming very important to me. I can't give her a 100% because I am still waiting around for my girlfriend to commit. We have viritually no sex life ...
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September 1st, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General, Bipolar)
Q: 18 months ago my sister - married with 2 young children - began an affair with a man - also married with a child. He made it clear he would not leave his family and, I think, he felt 'safe' that she would not do so either (he is known to have had affairs before - a shallow charmer). However, he began the 'if only we could be together' type of talk and no sooner had he said it than my sister had thrown ...
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September 1st, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General)
Q: Almost 4 years ago, my husband's ex married a man who admitted to lewd and lascivious acts with a minor (his own daughter). He got 3 years probation which is over but because of him she lost all visitation with her two children: a daughter 18 and a son 16. Both children have learning disabilities and are overall great kids. The problem is they still care about their mother; however, she has told them she doesn't want to dwell in ...
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September 1st, 2008 by Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker (General, Relationships)
Q: Hi, I have been married to my husband for about 1 year now. We dated for about 7 years before that and we never really spend more than 1 or 2 days a week together. We did not live together either. When we got married, my husband assumed i would start taking care of the household chores, I thought we had discussed that we would do 50/50...and that included financially as well. Well it turns out we were on 2 different pages, and we ...
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September 1st, 2008 by Kristina Randle, LCSW (General)
Q. Regarding the article, “Positive Mindset Lowers Risk of Breast Cancer”, I have been hearing a lot about this lately and I am worried about it. And I know that worrying about it just causes more stress and therefore increases my chances for cancer or other major illnesses.
I have been going through a very stressful period of time for a long time now, although recently I have started feeling better. 10 years ago my brother and father committed suicide and my mother died from breast ...
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September 1st, 2008 by Kristina Randle, LCSW (Relationships, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID))
Q. I’m writing concerning my best friend (let’s call her “Lucy” for the sake of this inquiry). Lucy’s mother was diagnosed with DID about six years ago. Recently her mother has refused to see her therapist and has decided to reduce the dosage of her medications. As a result, all the symptoms, emotional instability, flashbacks etc. have been worsening. I understand the common position by therapists is that “you can’t help those who refuse to help themselves” and while I would agree with that, ...
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September 1st, 2008 by Kristina Randle, LCSW (Relationships, Therapy)
Q. I recently found out (via the internet) personal information about my therapist that made me question his character and values. It was public information, and I figured there would be a lot of therapeutic benefit to confronting him about what I'd found out. I told him how much this information upset me, and that I found it difficult to see him in the same way and was considering finding a new therapist. He interpreted this as a way of "pushing him away" and ...
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September 1st, 2008 by Kristina Randle, LCSW (Relationships)
Q. My husband is depressed, has a mood disorder and pain disorder along with anger issues and refuses to seek help: I have been married for just over a year to a man that I have known for 8 years. He was injured in a car accident in 2001 and has been receiving Social Security Disability payments along with Worker's Compensation.
In the beginning of his disability (back injury) he was cooperative and was active in going to his doctor's appointments, making appointments, meeting with his ...
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