Not too long ago the headline for this column was “The Chemistry of Self-Centeredness” (Bar Journal, Winter 1997, vol. 2 # 4). In the Bill Moyers special on addiction, the hour entitled “The Hijacked Brain” demonstrated how the brain is actually changed by addiction, how the neurochemistry of selfishness occurs. Maybe that is one reason […]
If Professor Daniel Gilbert is right, then you are wrong to believe that a new car will make you as happy as you imagine it will. You are wrong to believe that finally getting that big case in will make you as happy for as long as you might imagine. On the other hand, if […]
Overeating is a tradition of the holiday season, with most people taking great delight in big meals, high-fat munchies, high-calorie sauces and spreads, and rich desserts. For compulsive overeaters, however, the indulgence can get way out of control, with serious consequences. Like alcoholics, compulsive overeaters have intense physical cravings and a mental obsession, but with […]
“I’ve achieved every goal I ever set, and I still feel empty.” The words vary. The message is the same. Uttered with defeat and resignation, they lack the exhilaration promised from accomplished goals. The executives and professionals I work with share their desperation with me. On a treadmill through life, they race faster and faster […]
One of the most difficult aspects of helping a person struggling with alcoholism or depression is to be able to bring hope. We don’t derive hope from taking tests for alcoholism or depression, or from hearing a lecture about these subjects. Mainly we get hope from hearing the experience of a recovering person, and identifying […]
A lawyer (let’s call him Joe) comes home every day and pours a big drink into a Bobcats cup, goes into his den and closes the door. Because his wife has been complaining about his drinking he has started keeping a bottle in the car, so he had had a couple of long pulls even […]
One of the leading mental health issues facing lawyers, including lawyers suffering from alcohol addiction or depression, is anxiety. Anxiety can be a terrible emotional experience. It is a feeling that something horrible is about to happen, that is not actually happening. A mechanism in our body has been triggered to put us into a […]
Society puts the burden of coming to grips with homicide on lawyers and the justice system. It is a lawyer’s job to prosecute the accused, try the case, and defend the accused. Yet, more people in America die of suicide than from homicide. Unlike the elaborate justice system, with its guaranteed right of appeal for […]
The Stories of fellow alcoholics are the fresh minted coins of survival. You pass yours to the next person in the hope he or she will see a gleam of their own life and find the reassurance of recovery. This is the story of a PALS member offered anonymously in that tradition. As I approach […]
More and more I see that getting help, being healthier, having greater joy begins with giving up an old idea. Some old ideas: That I can seek to regain the pleasure drinking once brought and not have problems with my health, my family, and being depressed. That because alcohol has been the solution most of […]
Denial is a big part of addiction. The step from denial into recovery is a huge one, and for women lawyers it is very large indeed. As a young associate in a private firm, I faced a terrible fear. That fear was about addiction. I had gone straight from college into law school and from […]
It was good to hear that many of you enjoyed the article on time. (Campbell Law Observer, Vol.l9, No.7, September, 1998). Your comments suggested I should try to dig a little deeper into several questions. What is the psychological understanding of disjuncture felt by time experienced as going t0o fast? What similarities, if any, does […]