Q: I have been married for 4 years. I do not feel like I have a life partner, it is like we co-exist with each other. He goes his way in the house and I go mine. I know he has depression and takes medication but he stays in his room from the time he gets in from work and I stay in the den with the kids so we have no life together. He gets aggravated at times and we then argue about it.

I just don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t blame him for everything that is going on but I have no help. When I try and talk about it with him he said he sees no problems.

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Q: I have a friend that is in her early 70's. She has a three bedroom house. She sleeps in her recliner because she cannot get into her bedrooms. She has a problem with saving everything. Her stove top is covered with papers, magazines, small boxes and just trash. I have tried to help her organize things but it seems like she just moves them from one place to another. Is this a mental disorder? She said that she didn't used to have this problem. I am worried about her and want to help if I can. Thank you. A: It certainly could be part of a mental illness. Hoarding can be a symptom of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), but given ...  
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Q. About two years ago, my husband and I was going through a hard time. We had a huge argument. Just so you know he is controlling and selfish. During our argument he all of a sudden had a headache, then he went into a dazed like state. When I thought it was over he was threatening to kill me and wished I was dead. He tried to cut himself and wanted me to do it also. I fought with him and got the knife away from him, and I hid it.

After that his personality turned to nice and calm but was in a daze it seemed like. Finally he came out of it but this time it was like a seizure. Then he

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Q. I’m 19 years old, and for the last few years I found I am unable of being happy. I'm very emotional and sometimes I feel I am going crazy. I always feel completely alone and have even self harmed. Me and my boyfriend are having troubles and I feel so unloved. Could I have depression? I'm so scared of what my future holds as I feel I will never be happy. A lot of the time I wish I wasn't alive which also scares me. My life is just hurting me too much. A lot of my problems are my boyfriend but at the same time he can help by just being there. What can I do? A. Since you recognize that you are ...  
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Q. I think I may suffer with depression caused by social phobia. I want to get help for this as it is holding me back career wise and also life wise. I am at risk of losing my job because of this condition. My problem is that I am finding it very hard to see a doctor because I fear he may send me to a therapist. I'm not sure what I fear from seeing a therapist but my instincts keep telling me not to go, and it doesn't matter how hard I fight it I just panic and end up back at square one.

My boss currently knows about this and he thinks that I am getting help. But secretly I am not.

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Q. I have a friend with eating-disorders. We mostly hang out by going out for beers, and afterwards we eat. Now I feel somewhat trapped. She always wants me to eat a lot, so I do because I don't want her to feel bad. This enables her to eat a lot too, and I just know that she is throwing it up as soon as she gets home. If we didn't eat so unhealthy, she probably wouldn't throw up, but telling her no will possibly hurt her self image. I feel as if she would think that I am judging her, or that I think she shouldn't eat at all. Same thing about the alcohol. She drinks every day and I shouldn't encourage that by ...  
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Q. My older brother is 18. He starting doing drugs and drinking in the 8th grade. Over the past 5 years he has stolen money from me and my parents as well as others in my family. Recently, though, it has been getting a lot worse. He also began to steal electronics and DVDs from our home and selling them for drug money. 2 years ago he went to rehab for a month. It did not work. Last summer he went again to rehab for a month and again it did not work. This year, he went to a different rehab for 4 1/2 months. All 3 times were court ordered. He has also been to jail already. As part of probation, he went every ...  
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Q. There's a woman at work who has a 10 year old daughter and an 8 year old boy. I've seen the daughter masturbate in the car and in other public areas. Her mom not only doesn't mind (or tell her to do it with privacy) but she encourages her to do it anytime she feels anxious or uncomfortable. She's done this for years, as a replacement for sucking her thumb or carrying a favorite blanket or doll. I just think this might be setting the little girl up for trouble in the future. Is this potentially damaging to the child? Or her brother, who witnesses her do it? If this is her only coping mechanism, what should I suggest to the mom, if ...  
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Q. Recently I was diagnosed with PPD and the doctors are still trying to pinpoint my previous depression before pregnancy. My question actually has to do with the relationship I have with my child's father. He is Bipolar and I have PPD so we were constantly clashing with our moods and such, and he's unmedicated. After finally seeing a counselor and a doctor, I have been prescribed Effexor, and I'm glad I'm starting to put my life on track.

A few weeks ago my fiance and I had started fighting worse than before, and this had been progressing since my daughter's birth. Now that I am fixing my condition, I expected my boyfriend to maybe do the same. Unfortunately, he seems to be in denial and

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Q. My 19 year old brother may be clinically depressed. He does not want to take any direction in his life. He does not want to do the typical things that a teenager would normally do. Meaning, he does not want to get a job. He does not want to finish college (he wants to quit). He does not want to get a driver's license. In fact, he doesn't seem to think that these types of things even matter.

He is a very intelligent person. He reads quite a bit, mostly philosophy now. And in doing so, he has become very contradictory in his thoughts. He talks in circles and says things such as: "Nothing matters..." "It doesn't matter what I do..." He seems to

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From a nurse: My husband and I have been married for 7 years, with a 3 yr old and 5 yr old. My husband is a health nut. I find him very sexy. I love having sex with him. He has been telling me that I make him feel insecure and unwanted. I want to have sex but I always fall asleep in the middle of foreplay. I want to save my marriage but he says he has given up and doesn't care anymore. He said my promises and apologies do not mean anything to him anymore. Please help me to fix this and save my relationship. A: Why is it that people in the medical profession ...  
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From a High School sophomore: I've been best friends with this boy for almost 4 years now. We've been dating on and off since then. He pretty much cured my depression and self-esteem problems. This last time we dated, we were together for nearly 10 months. We fell in love, but he lives about 70 miles away from me, and we barely got to see each other. That was okay though, because it didn't really affect the way we felt about each other. After a while though, he started getting in a lot of arguments with his friends and his family and I didn't understand why. I'm completely opposite all of his friends, but him and I are so alike and so close. ...  
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