We Are Only Human

On the path to self discovery

by Nancy Rappaport, M.D.

Cambridge Strong

Students in Massachusetts were on spring break last week, so when they resume their routine tomorrow, we need to assess the impact of the tragedy and create a plan that restores a sense of security. Read More

Gratitude

Despite the horrific events of this week and the lockdown, I am still filled with gratitude. Read More

Rolling in the Deep

How do we help troubled students and assess violence in schools? The common denominator is prevention. Read More

ADHD Medication Can Help Kids, But It Can't Fix Schools

Education reform does not come from introducing Ritalin into the cafeteria lunches of poor schools. Real reform comes through productive interaction between teachers and students in the classroom. Read More

'But I didn't mean to...'

Students with sexualized behavior are one of teachers' biggest concerns. It is unusual and upsetting, and they often do not know how to respond. Read More

Three Ways to Help 'Loners' and Improve School Safety

While most so-called loners never commit violent acts, schools must make it their business to reach out and support these students. Read More

Don't Draft Children to Fight School Shooters

Would you want your kids manning the frontlines during a school shooting? Read More

On the Front Lines

Teachers put our children first every day. Read More

The Generosity of Gratitude

It’s been shown that acknowledging what you’re grateful for makes you more motivated to be generous. So, this Thanksgiving, I’m proud to acknowledge the work that my colleagues and I get to do, the struggles of my students, and the incredibly hard work of all the educators and administrators out there. Read More

Supercali-fragilistic-expiali-docious!

The recent alleged "nanny murder" has set off alarms for parents, but parents owe it to the numerous women who show up every day to care for our children not to let headlines override our own judgment -- and their good work. Read More

The Art of ADHD

It’s all too easy to make a rapid diagnosis of ADHD and then swiftly fork over a prescription, but this is a quick-fix solution that doesn’t do a child justice. Read More

A Mindful Approach to Parent Conflict

Interactions between school personnel and parents don’t have to end in handcuffs. Read More

Sexual Misconduct by Educators: What We Need to Do to Protect Students

What precautions can schools take to prevent educator sexual misconduct, and what should they do when the unthinkable happens? Read More

The Abuse of Stimulants

I am a child psychiatrist who has spent the last 20 years working with the public schools. If you read "Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill," Alan Schwarz' alarmist recent article in the New York Times, you might think I spend my days cavalierly prescribing medications for children who don't need them. You might think I am duped daily by entitled kids who want medications to get better grades. Read More

Breaking the Behavior Code

About 10 percent of the school population—9 to 13 million children—struggle with mental health problems. In a typical classroom of 20, chances are good that one or two students are dealing with serious psychosocial stressors relating to poverty, domestic violence, abuse and neglect, trauma, or a psychiatric disorder. Read More

Ramping Up Schools’ Preventative Approach

Many educators have a limited repertoire of constructive responses when confronted by belligerent students who don’t follow the rules. Read More

Passion for the Possible

Joey is a second grader who can explode at times, ripping down pictures from the classroom wall. At other times, he charges for the door if he gets frustrated with schoolwork and then lurks in the hallway. Read More

Be a Behavior Detective

About 10 percent of the school population, or 9–13 million children, struggle with mental health problems. In a typical classroom of 20, chances are good that one or two students are dealing with serious psychosocial stressors relating to poverty, domestic violence, abuse and neglect, or a psychiatric disorder. Read More

A Suicide in the Family

Every 15 minutes, there is another devastated family faced with the challenge of how to make sense of a tragic loss by suicide. In most cases, there are multiple causes that drive a young man like Junior Seau to shoot himself tragically in the chest. Read More

Bears, Fear, and Risk Management

Two weeks ago, I took a trip to Katmai National Park, a remote part of Alaska. The bush pilot dropped my husband, a guide, and me off and as he hopped on to his float plane said, "If I don't hear from you in ten days, I'll come looking for you." We were dropped off to kayak and camp in the location with the highest concentration of Grizzly Bears in the world (2000 in the last census).

The recent efforts of three states (Florida, North Carolina, and Alabama) to consider laws that restrict doctors from asking patients or parents about whether they own a gun is an alarming direction. Read More

Making the Grade: Caring for Our Children in Schools

A recent study from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the CDC analyzing data from the 2009 Massachusetts Youth Health Survey found that students who were either victims of bullying or perpetrators were four times more likely to have been physically hurt by a family member compared to those students who said they were neither a victim nor a bully. Read More

Spring Cleaning: Giving Up Coffee

I decided to take the plunge and for ten days, with certain trepidation, I am going to give up coffee. If we are what we eat, then I confess I am attached to the aroma of coffee, the jolt I get to jumpstart my day. I like being caught in a cycle of sugar and caffeine euphoria. I am also taking a hiatus on processed sugars, red meat, and foods like pasta and bread. Read More

Blind Spots: Computer Games and Confessions of a Clinician

I am a child psychiatrist who spends a lot of time talking with teenagers, but I am remarkably clueless when it comes to understanding how they may spend six hours a day glued to the computer screen. Read More

Movie Review: All Good Things

All Good Things is a movie suffused with underlying loss—it permeates the eerie machinations of the main character David Marks (a fictionalized version of Robert Durst, son of a wealthy developer, his wife notoriously missing). His mother killed herself when he was a small boy. This ostensibly leaves David Marks guarded. Read More

Mark Madoff: What about the children?

The suicide of Mark Madoff made news because he is the son of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. Lost in the clamor is the impact on Mark Madoff's two children. Over seven to twelve thousand children lose parents to suicide in the United States every year. Read More

The Healing of Narrative: The Gift of Elizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards' gift, and one of the reasons why the nation mourns her death, was showing the healing that comes after a trauma, the building of a narrative of what it means. People looked to Elizabeth as a role model, and most importantly her children needed her to find a way to get past her disappointment and adversity and make sense of what betrayal means. Read More

A Teacher's Suicide: Lessons Learned

Suicide is often seen as the tip of the iceberg. When Mr Ruelas', a Los Angelos teacher, died by suicide last week, it is acknowledged that the motives are far from clear. However some have associated Mr. Read More

First Do No Harm

I wrote my recent memoir In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother's Suicide over eighteen years. In the middle of the night I tried to resurrect my mother, to have her come alive across time, to create someone that the reader cared deeply about. It was a private exploration. Read More

Alleged Russian Spy Kids: Loyalty And Betrayal

Prosecutors in an alleged spy ring say they are Russian Citizens living in the U.S. as married couples. Four sets of parents raising seven children in school and college playing soccer, having school friends and carrying on relatively sheltered predictable lives. Now these children face the prospect of life with their parents in prison labeled as Russian spies. Read More