Stress

QUESTION

Dear Irene,

My friend has been going through marriage problems ever since I've known her (13 years now). I have been there for her when she needed someone to talk to. When the problems got too big to deal with, I suggested counseling since I didn't want their marriage problems to affect the friendship that I have with her husband too and that my husband has with them. Read More

Regardless of how professionals choose to band together symptoms of personality disorders, rehabilitation facilities must have staff who are aware of them and more importantly, know how to address them during treatment.

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People need to know why. Making sense of life events, even events that seem so senseless as that which occurred at Fort Hood, is hardwired into the human psyche. We saw this clearly immediately following the Columbine shootings when theories about why abounded. Competing early explanations left no one, particularly the killers' parents, free of blame. Read More

 Learn how mindfulness meditation can help you deal with the overwhelming feelings of panic, sadness and pain of a crisis or challenge in your life. Often we resist change and give in to fear of the unknown. Yet the ancient Buddhist practice of mindfulness, remaining fully aware of what you are experiencing in the present moment, is the key to bringing yourself out of suffering and back into happiness. Read More

One merely needs to scratch the surface of the narrative the press has been unfolding about the lives and times of Nidal Malik Hasan to bare the horrific role conflicts he subjected himself to.  Read More

I have been spending a fair amount of time thinking about the pain and wonder of care giving for the disabled and elderly. I recently placed my 45 year-old brother, Dan, in a nursing home. He has antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, or a disease that causes blood clotting. He has had at least 28. Read More

QUESTION:

Dear Irene:

I have been friends with the most needy, self absorbed, delusional person for nearly eight years. This woman can be absolutely toxic to the point that I have panic attacks when I feel trapped into interacting with her lately. Ours has never been a 50/50 sort of relationship. Read More

Have you ever noticed how we talk about time? We often address it like a fierce competitor we have to beat to the finish line. We crunch it, beat it, and race against it. But I wonder what would happen if we were to treat time as a partner, as a friend, as the Siamese twin it was meant to be? In my book, time equals existence, not money as Benjamin Franklin was apt to say. Read More

Psychologists call it illusory correlation. The idea is that when we think about others, we tend to overestimate the association between groups and distinctive actions. It's one of the ways in which societal stereotypes are perpetuated and endure . And it's exactly what has many an American Muslim concerned in the wake of this week's tragic shooting spree at the Fort Hood Army base... Read More