	Loading
Blog SHOPPING CART MY ACCOUNT

Off the Couch - The Latest in Psychology and Mental Health

Current Articles | Categories | Search | Syndication

Articles from excerpt

Monday, June 08, 2009

Rescuing Yourself from Your Need to Rescue Others

In legends and folklore, the white knight rescues the damsel in distress, falls in love, and saves the day. Real-life white knights are men and women who enter into romantic relationships with damaged and vulnerable partners, hoping that love will transform their partner's behavior or lives; a relationship pattern that seldom leads to a storybook ending. White knights can be any age, race, sexual orientation, culture, or socioeconomic status, but all have the inclination and the need to rescue. Although white knights can exist in a wide range of relationships, such as in a business or a friendship, we will limit our focus to the white knight in intimate relationships. Take a few moments to consider the various relationships you know about or those in which you've been involved. It's likely you know of relationships that include people who have found partners in need of rescuing-the rescue could have been from anything-unhappiness, financial chaos, substance abuse, depression, an abu...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Monday, June 08, 2009

Friday, June 05, 2009

Seeds of Service

In 1983, I [author Dr. Stewart] visited India for the first time. There I had the privilege of working at the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, an institution that is the result of the pioneering work of Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy. From that time forward, my life as both a surgeon and a human being was permanently transformed. After his retirement in 1976 as the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the nearby medical school, Dr. V, as he was lovingly called, was moved by a desire to serve his community with a higher standard of ophthalmic care, regardless of caste or capacity to pay. He opened a small eye hospital in a converted house with two operating rooms and twelve beds. From this humble beginning, and with the help of Dr. V’s dedicated family, the organization has become the world’s largest eye care system. Presently more than 1.5 million patients are cared for and more than 250,000 surgeries are performed annually at five hospitals. What makes this even more remarka...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Friday, June 05, 2009

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Pregnancy and Postpartum... Anxiety??

Why Don’t More People Talk About Anxiety During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Phase? In the public eye, postpartum depression and its risks have overshadowed anxiety during pregnancy and the postpartum phase, but we hope that this is beginning to change. Those who suffer from anxiety know just how devastating its effects can be. However, at present, only about 20 percent of obstetrician-gynecologists (OB-GYNs) say that they routinely screen for anxiety during pregnancy and only about one-quarter of anxiety cases are recognized by their obstetricians. As researchers continue to bring this important issue to the forefront, things will change. Until then, the message is clear: If you are a pregnant or new mom and you are struggling with anxiety, tell your obstetrician! Don’t wait for someone to ask— too many women suffer in silence. Take an important first step on the road to recovery and let your doctor know that you are anxious. Adapted from The Pregnancy & Postpartum A...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Capturing Moments of Happiness

Many depressed people can’t conceive of feeling “happy.” The purpose of this section is to show you that you do experience at least momentary happiness on occasion. Most people, even those who aren’t depressed, don’t feel elation—a state of intense happiness—on a regular basis. However, they do experience the many shades of happiness that are also available to you: Pleasure (watching a kitten play) Enjoyment (reveling in a hot bath or shower) Satisfaction (finishing a task) A sense of mastery (completing a difficult project) Relief (finishing a task you’d dreaded) Gratitude (when someone, even a stranger, unexpectedly does something nice for you in some small way, such as opening the door for you, picking up something you’ve dropped, or catching up to you to return something you inadvertently left behind in a cafe or on the subway) The purpose of noticing these approximations of happiness is this: first, to show you tha...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009

Thyroid: Small Gland, Big Deal

Your thyroid is a miraculous gland. Located at the base of the front of your neck, it produces the hormones that are responsible not just for a sharp mind, but also for the svelte figure and cheerful outlook of our youth. Do you look around and see yourself or friends, family, and strangers your age getting bigger, balder, and more irritable? As we age, many people, especially women, develop low thyroid function, which is reflected in weight gain, hair loss, constipation, dry skin, high cholesterol, fatigue, allergies, breathing problems, impaired vision and hearing, sleeping disorders, dizziness, numbness, loss of libido, aches and pains, more frequent infections, and increasing incidence of mental and emotional problems such as depression, rage, anxiety, irritability, and even schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (De Groot, Hennemann, and Larsen 1984). Let’s face it, any of these symptoms would be enough to make us depressed and irritable. Sadly, even though no other hormone affects su...

Posted By / 12:00 AM / Friday, May 22, 2009

Page 17 of 17