by Rosemary Lichtman, Ph.D. and Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D.
When a crisis hits – the end of a marriage, the loss of a job, or the death of a loved one – it throws you into a complete tailspin. Suddenly your world is no longer safe and secure. What can you do to pick up the pieces and take the first steps toward living a full life again? […]
by Valerie Gillies
“There are no classes in life for beginners; right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.” Rainer Marie Rilke
There’s an old video game called Prince of Persia. You progress from room to room, and need to choose, hidden among the clutter — shall I take the flashlight or the dagger? or maybe the rope? There is no way of knowing what will come next, what you will need. You just have to do your best, with no time to think, and keep on moving. […]
by Jane Samuel
Recently I read Michael Wolff’s New York article “Mother I Love You” (May 2012) and found myself nodding to every other experience he had penned about his involvement with an aging and terminally ill parent. Two years ago I would have read that article and been an outsider looking in, now I have pulled up a chair at the same table. […]
by Maggie Lamond Simone
“What do you want to do with your life?” It’s a question I ask my college students this time of year to help them define their goals, and I’m beginning to realize the silliness of the question. It’s almost like asking people casually at the grocery store what they did over summer break — expecting them to sum up 10 weeks of their lives in a sentence. Not an easy task. […]
by Susan Newman, Ph.D.
“She’s an older mother!” The obstetrician bellowed to the attending staff and everyone else in earshot as I was rolled in the operating room to deliver my son.
“Do you have to announce that to the entire hospital?” I cringed.
Even as more women wait until their mid-thirties and early forties to become parents, most physicians consider them to be of “advanced maternal age” and high risk simply because they’re older. In one way, the extra attention paid to each advanced maternal aged patient is reassuring. […]
by Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D. and Rosemary Lichtman, Ph.D.
Your thoughts are mental products although they don’t necessarily reflect an absolute reality. However, for you, they do represent how you feel. Some people can’t help but wear their hearts on their sleeves. Others are more able to manage their emotions and function as if everything is fine. […]
by Susan Newman
by Valerie Gillies
“In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet” – Sir Winston Churchill
I have long fancied myself to be a natural woman. Having worn denim for a larger percentage of my days than all other fibers combined, never having changed the color of my hair, succeeding in four unmedicated childbirths (like it was some sort of contest), remembering with grimaced face the few times I have been peer-pressured into manicures. For over 50 years, I have run pretty much on my own steam, glorifying in how well this machine was holding up, how tough and independent I could be. Well, baby, it’s now time for me to take her in for the 50,000 mile checkup, and I’m not liking it. […]
by Dr. Barb Depree
What makes sex feel so good? What ignites passion and sustains attachment? What is it that makes your heart flutter? And how can you keep those feelings alive, especially in the bedroom, after 10—or 40—years?
Turns out passion and attraction—all the stuff of poetry, song, and story—are the product of your most ancient brain—the limbic system—which you have in common with lots of other animals and which regulates a chemical stew of neurotransmitters. Emotions, drives, impulses, and desires originate in the limbic system. This part of the brain is wired for pleasure and passion, and it operates independently of our conscious choice or will. […]