In asking the judge for leniency in his son Cameron’s drug-trafficking trial, Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas said that his own fame was to blame. Can living in the shadow of a parent’s spotlight be hazardous to a child’s health? On Tuesday, the younger Douglas was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of heroin possession and conspiring to sell crystal meth. In a letter to the judge,...

I hate this tasteless viral video of kids re-enacting “Scarface,” because to me, it epitomizes our culture’s need “to be seen at all costs” and it promotes the use of children for adult humor, entertainment and exploitation in a gut-level offensive manner. I have no problem with vulgar humor for adults, but when we are teaching young children (7- to 10-year-olds) to say things like “motherfudger” and...

I must admit, I love Sandra Bullock. She is talented, smart and funny, and she chose the bad boy and made it look like a good, solid choice. It added to her superpower quality in my eyes. It is the classic story of the cheerleader dating the bad boy in high school. The bad boy never believes he can get the cheerleader, and the rebellious bad boy on campus often intrigues the cheerleader. I have strolled on the “wrong side of the...

I am outraged that a school in Jackson, Miss., has canceled its senior prom because one of its students, Constance McMillen, 18 — an openly gay senior — wants to take her girlfriend as her date. Oh, and she can’t wear a tux either! We live in a free country where people should not be discriminated against based on their race, creed or sexual orientation. As a psychologist, when I hear about these stories of such blatant...

Tiger Woods was spot-on when he said, “Every one of you has good reason to be critical of me.” Dr. Michelle Golland: Watching him make his on-air statement, I saw a father and son who is truly broken. Getting in-patient treatment is no easy road — especially for someone like Tiger, who in the days prior to entering treatment was still trying to cover his tracks and keep his own lies going. Tiger’s in recovery all right...

One look into Amy Bishop‘s past will show a long history of violent behavior. Amy Bishop, mother of four (the youngest in third grade), is accused of gunning down three of her fellow professors at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The portrait that is now emerging of Bishop is one filled with resentment and rage. This rage may have been brewing for a long time: Bishop shot and killed her brother in 1986 with a shotgun. She was...