Depression can strike anyone, but people with diabetes may be at a greater risk. Diabetes is a serious health concern that afflicts an estimated 16 million Americans. Treatment for depression helps people manage symptoms of both diseases, thus improving the quality of their lives. Several studies suggest that diabetes doubles the risk of depression compared to those without the disorder. The chances of becoming depressed increase as diabetes complications worsen. Research shows that depression leads to poorer physical and mental functioning, so a person is less likely to follow a required diet or medication plan. Treating depression with psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of these treatments can improve a patient's well-being and ability to manage diabetes. Causes underlying the association between depression and diabetes are unclear. Depression ...   Read more »

It’s not often that the rest of us get to view the inner life of the psychologist. The client-therapist relationship and indeed most books about therapy are focused on the client. But in his debut memoir, Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist's Memoir, Daniel J. Tomasulo changes the rules and uses his skills as a psychologist who specializes in psychodrama and trauma to better understand himself. As he struggles with life’s contradictions, his efforts to find meaning, and his very human failings, we are brought along on his very personal journey. Life’s lessons often come at a cost. Fortunately for him, and for us, he has a sense of humor that both blunts the painful and eases understanding. The book begins as he ...   Read more »

You and your partner have decided to live together. Whether you see it as an alternative to marriage or as a temporary arrangement, it's important to understand your legal rights and responsibilities. You may see yourselves as being as committed to each other as a married couple but the law doesn't necessarily view you that way. In most states you do not automatically have the right to help each other in medical emergencies, to benefit from each other's retirement plans, or to inherit each other's property. Property that the two of you buy while you are together isn't necessarily divided equally if you decide to part. If a child is born to one of you, the other doesn't automatically have parental rights. It's true ...   Read more »

The things that children find funny tell us a great deal about their level of development and what is on their minds. There is a connection between the 2-year-old who bursts into a fit of giggles upon hearing the nonsense phrase "bottle, battle, bittle" and the young adolescent who laughs at the bawdiness of an off-color joke.

The specific things children laugh at tell us which developmental tasks they are struggling with. That is a pattern that runs throughout childhood. It explains why 3-year-olds, who are often still mastering toilet training, are enthralled by "bathroom" humor while 7-year-olds, who no longer consider toilet-training an issue, think such jokes are just stupid.

Laughing and smiling are among the most human of behaviors. A twelve-hour-old infant will shape his

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The decision to work with a therapist is never straightforward, but there are times in life when we just need that extra emotional support. While we may have loved ones who will help us through rough times, it is often a good idea to seek the less biased support of a professional when dealing with life's difficult emotional challenges. Many people who go into therapy have good experiences. The patient feels understood and well supported by the therapist, who uses his skills to facilitate the patient's discovery and healing process. But what if your therapy leaves you feeling frustrated? What if you believe your therapist isn't "getting you"? What if you aren't receiving the outcome you expected? If your therapy isn't going well, ...   Read more »

Dissociation is a common defense/reaction to stressful or traumatic situations. Severe isolated traumas or repeated traumas may result in a person developing a dissociative disorder. A dissociative disorder impairs the normal state of awareness and limits or alters one's sense of identity, memory or consciousness. Once considered rare, recent research indicates that dissociative symptoms are as common as anxiety and depression, and that individuals with dissociative disorders (particularly Dissociative Identity Disorder and Depersonalization Disorder) are frequently misdiagnosed for many years, delaying effective treatment. In fact, persons suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder often seek treatment for a variety of other problems including depression, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, alcohol or drug abuse, temper outbursts, ...   Read more »

According to social learning theory, our attitude toward money is learned behavior that is passed from generation to generation. Money hoarders live by the phrase "but I might need it someday" and resist spending, sometimes to their detriment. Overspenders view possessions as central to their identity, or see spending as a quick fix to create a mood change. We all probably can place ourselves somewhere along this continuum. It's worthwhile to do some self-searching to understand our attitudes toward money and how they affect our happiness. Money is a far more emotional topic than most people realize. The great American economist and journalist, Sylvia Porter, wrote, "Money never remains just coins and pieces of paper. It is constantly changing into the comforts of daily life. ...   Read more »

Looking for a book to help you or a loved one better understand attention deficit disorder (ADHD)? We recommend the following: Driven To Distraction : Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood From Amazon.com reviews: This clear and valuable book dispels a variety of myths about attention deficit disorder (ADD). Since both authors have ADD themselves, and both are successful medical professionals, perhaps there's no surprise that the two myths they attack most persistently are: (a) that ADD is an issue only for children; and (b) that ADD corresponds simply to limited intelligence or limited self-discipline. "The word disorder puts the syndrome entirely in the domain of pathology, where it should not entirely be. Although ...   Read more »

Looking for a book to help you or a loved one better understand bipolar disorder (also called manic depression)? We recommend the following: Madness: A Bipolar Life By the author of the groundbreaking memoir Wasted about her struggle with eating disorders written nearly a decade ago, Marya Hornbacher is back. This time with a look at her struggle with bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) in her new book, Madness: A Bipolar Life. It is a lively biographical tale following the author’s life from age 4 to the present, and all of the stories that she believes related to her bipolar disorder. Read our full review here... Manic: A Memoir While living a Jackie Collins-like lifestyle ...   Read more »

Looking for a book to help you or a loved one better understand depression? We recommend the following: Active Treatment of Depression Addressing his fellow professionals in the mental health field, O'Connor argues that the current state of understanding of the causes and treatments for depression are woefully inadequate and quite often counterproductive. He argues that no single theory can adequately explain the causes and no single treatment plan can successfully be applied universally to depressed patients. He also calls upon his colleagues to recognize that although incidents of depression may sometimes be successfully treated, all too often depression is a chronic disease that is not improved by one-time interventions of pharmaceuticals or other therapies. O'Connor advocates for an ...   Read more »

By the author of the groundbreaking memoir Wasted about her struggle with eating disorders written nearly a decade ago, Marya Hornbacher is back. This time with a look at her struggle with bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) in her new book, Madness: A Bipolar Life. It is a lively biographical tale following the author's life from age 4 to the present, and all of the stories that she believes related to her bipolar disorder (she wasn't diagnosed with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder until age 24, 10 years ago). Ms. Hornbacher's writing style is raw and in-the-moment, and she doesn't mince words with very detailed descriptions of her thinking, feelings and behaviors -- some of which may be too much for readers easily triggered ...   Read more »

A willingness to be vulnerable is a significant feature of lasting relationships — ones in which partners are allies, not foes. The need to form a mutually protective alliance is innate, according to psychoanalyst John Bowlby. This need persists throughout life; the search to be both cared for and caregiver underlies falling in love. Long-lasting couples manage to keep this vulnerability alive. Each person's awareness of the importance of partnership underlies his or her attentiveness to the other. This "protective love" focuses on the partnership and the ability to put the other first. As parents, they instinctively soothe their children's tears, and in the same way, they are responsive to each other. Such deep caring comes easily at a relationship's beginning. Lust and novelty keep us ...   Read more »

Maybe you've been together for a number of years and moving in together seems like the next logical step. Maybe it's a matter of saving money. After all, why pay rent at two places if you're always together? Maybe you think living together will help you decide if you're really meant for each other. Whatever the reason, if you are an unmarried couple and thinking about sharing a home, you're certainly not alone. More than 2/3 of married couples in the U.S. now say they lived together before getting married. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were about 11 million unmarried couples living together in 2000, representing over 8 percent of American households. Most of these couples are under age 30; an increasing number ...   Read more »

People frequently complain about a lack of time. Is there a realistic way can we steal back precious hours for what we really want to do? Streamlining your life may be the answer. Call a halt on "putting up" with things, which is essentially a trap that consumes energy and is not good for you. We live in one of the most affluent cultures that the world has ever seen, with unprecedented access to technology designed to simplify our lives. And yet time is in short supply, taken up with people, possessions, tasks, habits, rituals and routines that make us anxious, drain our energy and do not give pleasure or add value to our lives. John Lennon of the Beatles famously said: "Life is what happens when ...   Read more »

I read Terri Cheney's Manic: A Memoir with a bit of suspicion. While living a Jackie Collins-like lifestyle as a Beverley Hills entertainment lawyer to the stars, she endures ECT without anaesthetic (and bit half her tongue off), a brutal night in jail, two suicide attempts with dramatic rescues, a severe eating disorder, and a glamorous romance ended with the cruel statement, "I would marry you in a minute, if it wasn't for the manic depression." There's much more, too. The first chapter comes on strong, reeling with an overabundance of intense action. Surely some is embellishment? Cheney introduces the 240-page memoir with the caveat that her memory is impaired from both bipolar and its treatments. It is common for amnesia to accompany mania, and ...   Read more »