Letterman: Office Romance or Dating Disaster?
Your handsome coworker has been giving you the eye — do you go for it or say “no way”? Dr. Michelle Golland: David Letterman and his office trysts are in the glare of the media right now. Everyone is less focused on the alleged extortion attempts and more interested in whether he should have ever even entered into sexual relationships with women at work. His wife worked for him at The David Letterman Show for years before they were married and had a child together. This is one office romance that seemed to work out for him....
read moreJon Doing Right Thing for Wrong Reason?
Jon Gosselin is doing the right thing by stopping the filming of the new show “Kate Plus 8.” It seems like everyone other than Kate Gosselin believes it is the right thing to do. I believe part of her knows it is the correct thing for the mental and emotional well-being of her eight children, but the breadwinner of this large family is struggling with how she will pay her bills. I can empathize with that completely. I am sure the amount of money they are making right now may be hard to equal in other “normal” jobs, but...
read moreYom Kippur: Are You Choosing Life?
The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are all about choice — opting to leave negativity behind and pressing toward a positive future. What are you choosing today? During her sermon, my rabbi said, “We don’t choose when we come into this world or when we go out, but during the in-between we choose.” We choose to live or to die each year. What I mean is we choose to live an alive life or a dead life — a life filled with joy, connection, and often pain and sadness, or a life deadened by trying to avoid what...
read moreConsensual? Really, Mackenzie?
I have worked with many women who have been abused sexually by family members: brothers, fathers, and uncles. For some of them, the abuse started when they were little, for some when they were older. For many of them, the abuse went on for years, and for some, well into their twenties. Sexual abuse by a person who inherently has emotional power over you is simply that: abuse. There is an emotional power differential inherent in the father-daughter relationship at any age. Drugs and alcohol can help create a dangerous environment where...
read moreOut of the Closet: Raising Kids in Gay Families
While it is becoming more commonplace for gay and lesbian individuals to raise children, finding community support isn’t so easy. Here is one couple’s story. Gina Kaysen Fernandes: Vicky* remembers the moment she first held her adopted baby in her arms. “He was destined for us. There was never a doubt in my mind that he wasn’t mine,” says Vicky, who, along with her partner, Beth*, is raising a 6-year-old boy they adopted from Guatemala. Parenthood didn’t come easily for the couple. They struggled...
read moreMy Kid Left for College … Now What?
When kids go off to college, some parents experience empty nest syndrome. Both mothers and fathers can experience feelings of sadness, anxiety, and grief when their kids leave the house. Many parents find they have a loss of identity as well. The helicopter or hovering parents will find themselves at a loss with no child to manage at home. When kids go off to college, it will open up downtime in a whole new way. This may also bring up feelings of a loss of purpose, especially if a parent’s identity was caught up in all the happenings of...
read moreBullies, Work Violence, and Annie Le’s Murder
Workplace violence is on the rise in our country. On an average working day, three people will be murdered on the job in the U.S. One million coworkers are assaulted, and more than 1,000 are murdered every year, according to the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Homicide is the second leading cause of death on the job, after motor vehicle accidents. What is more shocking than these statistics is the fact that half of these cases go unreported. Workplace bullying and violence must be dealt with seriously and swiftly....
read moreWhitney Brings Teenage Daughter to Rehab
Whitney brought her teenage daughter, Bobbi Kristina, to her 30-day rehab stay so she could fully explain to her what had gone wrong in her mother’s life. She believes this was an invaluable experience for her and her daughter. While on Oprah, Whitney went on to say that she couldn’t lie to her daughter, and wanted her to know that her horrible drug addiction problems were associated with the lifestyle they were keeping. I also wonder if she did not want to leave her at home with her father, Bobby Brown. It seems to me that there...
read moreBiggest Loser’s Abby Rike: Dealing with Trauma
I keep hearing from clients and friends that they couldn’t imagine being Abby Rike on “The Biggest Loser” — who lost her husband, Wallace, 5-year-old daughter, Macy, and 4-week-old son, Caleb, in a car accident. Every single person said to me, “I would just kill myself. I couldn’t recover from that.” She is truly an inspiration for all of us mothers for her enormous courage of simply going on living, putting one foot in front of the other every day. Abby’s overwhelming loss of her entire family...
read moreKanye vs. Rep. Joe Wilson
Shame on you! One mom and expert psychologist thinks our leaders and icons need to live up to their responsibilities — as role models and as human beings. Shame and humility — that is the difference between Kanye West and Congressman Joe Wilson and their respective apologies for “mistakes” they both made publicly. Kanye’s apology of course is to Taylor Swift, and Rep. Joe Wilson’s is to President Obama and the U.S. Congress. Both men acted impulsively and emotionally in situations that required a certain...
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