From one mom to another: 27 things I’ve learned about motherhood and parenting through the years

by Donna Lamb, LCSW April 19, 2013

Someone very dear to me is about to deliver her first child, a son. She is preparing for him; my instinct and need is to prepare her. There’s so much I wish I could tell her about motherhood and parenting, yet there’s no way I could even begin to encompass it all. I’ve winnowed it […]

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The shame game: obesity as an indication of an increase in disordered eating and poor body image

by Hannah Szlyk, LMSW April 12, 2013

Every time I hear a media story about “the war on __,” I automatically become suspicious. Considering America’s history of the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror,” my skepticism meter perks up, and I feel the urge to cringe. Despite hailing from the state of “live free or die,” I am usually puzzled […]

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Examining the criminalization of mental illness

by Mathew Estey, LMSW April 8, 2013

Serious mental illness is debilitating, confusing and overwhelming. As a society, one might imagine our response to mental illness might model the response to other public health challenges like heart disease, diabetes or breast cancer. Sadly, the opposite seems to be the case. Take the time to Google “mental illness is” and you find “mental […]

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Dreams: What are yours telling you?

by Heather Kranz, MEd, CRC March 11, 2013

How many of us can relate to awakening from a dream that felt so real the residual emotions remained with us for hours afterwards? Or eagerly recounted the unusual plot of a recent dream to friends or coworkers in an attempt to interpret what it might mean? The phenomenon of dreaming has been romanticized by […]

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Can we handle the truth? Exploring society’s drive for the idealized image

by Hannah Szlyk, LMSW February 28, 2013

If you had the opportunity to live a “golden life” and achieve your dream of success and fame, would you do it? What lengths would you take to pursue this image or pathway to success? Would you too fall into the traps that both star athletes Lance Armstrong and Manti Te’o now find themselves? And, […]

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Veteran suicides, drug overdoses and other causes of early death: epidemic or not?

by B. Christopher Frueh, PhD, and Jeffrey A. Smith, PhD February 12, 2013

How are Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans dying? Is there an epidemic of premature deaths, relative to their civilian counterparts, among the still relatively young men and women who saw combat deployment over the past decade? In an era of big headlines and the twenty-four hour news cycle, the average American citizen might justifiably presume that suicide […]

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We need our prefrontal cortex to work

by Jon G. Allen, PhD February 7, 2013

I am fortunate to have a challenging job that requires flexibility and creativity, but it’s often difficult and sometimes downright exhausting. One time I complained about this effortful experience to our former chief of staff, Richard Munich, and he responded, “That’s why they call it work!” I find Dick’s matter-of-fact attitude toward the difficulty of […]

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POT: What’s new in plain old therapy?

by Jon G. Allen, PhD February 7, 2013

More than two years ago, I wrote a post on this blog entitled, “Is psychotherapy going to POT?” Tongue in cheek, I was protesting the proliferation of brand-name, evidence-based therapies with all their acronyms: CBT, DBT, ERP, EMDR and the like. There’s no way any therapist can learn to practice 150+ brands, and a half-century of […]

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Where is Providence in the midst of tragedy?

by Rev. Salvadore Delmundo, Jr. December 22, 2012

Providence—the belief that God sees all things, reigns over all things and is concerned for all things, to bring about the ultimate divine purposes of creation—is always at the forefront of discourse and reflection whenever tragedy strikes. The issue of providence for people today, in light of the Sandy Hook school shooting, arises out of the incongruity […]

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Shifting Sandy Hook information landscape means understanding will have to wait

by John Oldham, MD, MS December 21, 2012

The nature of the devastating tragedy in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, is virtually unimaginable, and the outpouring of grief from our nation has been understandably strong and sustained. A torrent of information has assailed us from every news outlet with almost hypnotic magnetism; we all want to know how to understand how this could have happened. […]

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