by Dr Aletta | Nov 26, 2012 | Family Matters, Mental Health, Relationships
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that one in every four adults – approximately 57.7 million Americans – experience a mental health disorder in a given year. One in four, and that’s just the US! And for every person in the world diagnosed with a...
by Dr Aletta | Oct 10, 2012 | Mental Health
Today is World Mental Health Day! It is easy to dismiss treatment for mental health problems as a luxury. Even in my typically American middle-class community in Western New York, people have to make hard decisions about what gets attention. Will it be renovations to...
by Dr Aletta | Sep 3, 2012 | Mental Health, Self-Esteem
One of the best books I was assigned in graduate school was Anna Freud’s, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. Here is a quick review: When The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense was first published in German in 1936 it was at once recognized as a major...
by Dr Aletta | Aug 20, 2012 | Anxiety, Mental Health
When we get overwhelmed we tend to see things in black and white. Depressed, sad, angry, anxious, take your pick of mood, when the going gets tough, it can feel like a heavy wet blanket of yuck. We feel helpless to do anything about it, it is too consuming, a blinding...
by Dr Aletta | Aug 13, 2012 | Mental Health, Self-Esteem
Have you ever had anyone tell you to stop crying? That just drives me nuts. Too often when people see tears they assume you are out of control. Not true. Actually when people say ‘Don’t cry’ (especially men, let’s face it) it’s because...
by Dr Aletta | Jun 21, 2012 | Chronic Illness, Mental Health
Ever since the relapse of my kidney disease I’ve struggled with depression, with the close to twenty pounds I’ve gained because of the medication I have to take and fatigue. This relapse brings back the memory of all recurrences of the disease from the...
