Suppose you’ve become concerned about some of your child’s behaviors, and you decide it’s time they see a therapist. Maybe your son is “gaming” too much, and his grades are dipping. Perhaps your daughter isolates herself in her room, and rejects social opportunities. Your first response is to tell your son what he should be doing, or insist your daughter talks to you. As a parent, it makes sense that you would become anxious to the point of agitation. Parents are always terrified about the short and long term impacts of problematic behaviors. Your child ignores your efforts, which causes you to amp up your pursuit of solutions, only to…
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Five Keys to Calm During COVID-19
As if anxiety in our country isn’t high enough, a virus that spreads like brush fire is threatening our health, social connections, and possibly our livelihoods. Times like these are sure to amp up our tendency toward “what if?” thinking, and as we all know, the anxious mind never allows for a “what if?” with a happy ending. While I would never advocate for apathy in a time of global pandemic, absolute panic is not the way to go either. Panic leads to rash decisions, and for parents, the certainty of making our children feel as if the world is not safe. Here are some thoughts on how to keep…
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When “Gaming” Becomes an Addiction
The moment I first held an Atari 2600 controller at a friend’s home in 1981, I was captivated by the possibility of in-home gaming, not having to “put my quarter up” and wait my turn, or ask my financially strapped mother for said quarter. Times were tight, and asking for quarters compromised my mom, who hated saying “no”, but often needed to out of necessity. That year my parents came through with a 2600 of my own for Christmas, and my life changed. Time spent gaming has increased in correlation to evolving technology to the extent we are now at the point where the World Health Organization (WHO) has included…
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How Parents Can Respond to Kids Who Self-Harm
When Parents Overreact to Their Child's Thoughts and Behaviors, the Child Feels Isolated and Unsafe.
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Why Some People Die Long Before They Stop Breathing
We Can All Choose to Sit Around and Wait For Death, or Live Until We Die.
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The Little Known OCD Subtype that Could Kill
Obsession with thoughts of one's own death does not always constitute suicidality.
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Telling Loved Ones to Fight Through Anxiety or Depression Adds Injury to Insult
Anxiety and Depression are Disorders that When Exacerbated By Guilt, Shame, and Isolation, Can Result in Self-Harm or Suicide
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How Twitter Became a Responsibility
As I type this sentence, I’m thinking about a Canadian woman named Jody, whose Twitter handle is @onelastkick71. Because I have not seen a “tweet” from her in 24 hours, I am wondering if she is still alive, and fearing she is not. Through my social media connection with Jody, I’ve sensed anguish in her tweets, the most recent of which read, “pray for me not to wake up tomorrow.” I hate that she’s in this pain. I hate my feelings of helplessness, and I hate that I have no idea if she’s taking a social media break, or if she is gone. At some point, Twitter got serious, and I…
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Our Suicide Epidemic Is Worse Than We Would Like to Believe
Suicide is our country's second most prevalent killer, yet research lags, and misjudgment obscures the truth.
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Rebuilding the “Male” Model
There Is Still Work To Be Done To Change the Meaning of "Man"
