21st Century Aging

The topic of illness makes most of us feel anxious and helpless. Because of the fear and anxiety associated with the topic of illness, many people avoid conversations about the all-too-present reality of how physically vulnerable we are. Read More

It would be nice if we could see more elderly women represented in news media. Read More

Ideas about what is normal about grieving should not be imposed; as outsiders we never really know the true story of a close relationship. Read More

The intensity of fears about radiation poisoning on the West Coast and ways that people are acting on these fears reflect a kind of mass hysteria. Read More

The news about empirical research supporting psychodynamic therapy can be met like the only water available in the midst of a severe drought. Indeed, psychodynamic psychotherapy has recently been viewed as vindicated. Read More

Daphne Merkin's penetrating, moving, and poignant article in today's New York Times Magazine, which describes the hopes and disappointments of nearly forty years in various forms of analytic treatment, is likely familiar to many. Read More

Adjustment problems in midlife are no laughing matter. Middle-aged adults have the highest suicide rates in the country for the second year in a row. Read More

In trying to do it all, especially during this tough economic time, we women may be neglecting ourselves.  Though often our instinct is to think about others, we need to start putting ourselves first. Read More

I recently had the chance to think about the juxtaposition between what most of us know we should do to take care of our health and what many of us actually do related to forging a healthy lifestyle. Read More

Many topics addressed on the blogosphere create enormous anxiety when answers to a question are not known. When articles do not provide definitive answers, there tend to be a lot more negative and even hostile comments. This is understandable. Ambiguity is hard to tolerate.  Read More

We have come a long way in terms of educating the public regarding the lethal consequences of cigarette smoking. But new electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, seem terrifyingly reminiscent of the days when smoking was blatantly encouraged by physicians and Lucky Strike’s slogan, It’s Toasted, made smoking seem like a harmless, soothing and cozy activity, as opposed to what it is: a game of Russian Roulette. Read More

While people, in earnest, might try to change certain behaviors around the New Year, such as reducing or stopping smoking, the advertising companies are one step ahead of us in terms of trying to prevent behavior change. Read More

Aging has never been pleasant. But never before in history have people faced long life spans with such uncertainty. Read More

It's not just teenagers who text while driving. Read More