In our two previous columns we have shown that having the body’s response to stress continually turned on is like living in a mosquito infested swamp. Stress may not give you malaria, but having the stress-response turned on all the time can make the body vulnerable to a number of diseases. We reviewed how the […]
In the last issue of the Journal, this column explored the silent revolution that has occurred in the past few decades regarding the contexts in which diseases arise. We used malaria as an example of one of the many diseases that now rarely occurs in this country and we contrasted malaria with the diseases that […]
Suicide recently received national attention of the President of the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Surgeon General, the Center for Disease Control and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMSHA). The amplified concern related to the increased prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors resulted in the aforementioned […]
The headline on the May 7, 2002, edition of The Charlotte Observer was: “Depression Study: Placebos Work, Too.” The story went on to say that after millions of prescriptions for Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft and tens of billons of dollars spent on these prescriptions that treat depression, the jury was finally in. Anti-depressant medications work; and so […]
The unhappiness paradox is one lawyers share, as much or more, than any other group in our culture. The richer we have grown as a society, the more dissatisfied we have become. The 1950’s were the happiest decade of the century. Since then the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide rate has tripled, recorded […]
One out of five Americans experiences mental illness each year; however, the majority of those who need treatment do not get it. This is the conclusion of the first-ever US Surgeon General’s report on mental health which was released by Surgeon General David Satcher in December 1999. That there are so many of our nation’s […]
Not too long ago, a client whom I was treating for prescription drug abuse, looked at me and said, “It’s my desperate need to silence my feelings that drives me to want to use.” She went on to describe what it felt like to live in her skin. “It’s as if the people in my […]
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. 2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. 3. Follow the three R’s: respect for self, respect for others, and responsibility for all your actions. 4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. 5. Learn […]
It wasn’t too long ago that you saw him on television and read about him in the newspapers, as he spoke for his famous client. He relished the spotlight, the notoriety, and the money; and he seemed to be at the top of his career. Mike, a pugnacious lawyer, was short in stature but larger […]
The surprising part of living with addiction, for many of us in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was the discovery we made that even when we left home, we carried home inside of us. That whatever had happened to us growing up was not left behind but followed us into our adult relationships. And […]
Since about 1980, there has been a phenomenal interest in and writing about shame, a topic that had received little prior attention. We have more understanding of the results of childhood neglect and abuse, and how that relates to addiction, the self’s inner relationship with the self, and the significance of shame. We now have […]
By Saskia Davis, ©1984 Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. 1. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on […]