My patients have made it clear to me how important their feeling responsible for others is in maintaining PTSD symptoms. It seems that taking responsibility for others develops as a way of coping with abuse.  It makes sense in that people who are being abused are not being protected by adults around them and therefore…

Recently one of my patients said that they were being “too empathic.”  She was referring to being understanding of others even when it was stressful for her. She did not feel it was right to not say something or not encourage the others. In exploring this further, it seems that she was making excuses for…

I have been seeing similarities between young children and dogs.  This started after I had a number of patients talk about the benefits of owning dogs and how their dogs help them to feel calm and peaceful.  Some of my patients have used their dogs as “comfort” animals [like a “service” dog] and they tell…

My daughter and I just had a discussion about whether letting go is ever achieved by withdrawing from someone and giving up trying to help someone.  My daughter was sad to think that a solution to feeling responsible for others could be eliminating them from your life.  She felt that this would then seem to…

There has been controversy whether adults can have ADHD/ADD.  There is also some support for children outgrowing their ADHD/ADD and therefore not having the diagnosis as adults.  There is also a question raised about the possibility of the onset of ADHD/ADD as an adult.   I have assessed a number of adults who were not…

An article in the June, 2016 Clinical Psychiatry News by Howard S. Sudak, M.D. [Commentary New suicide data: Reason to panic or ponder?] discusses new suicide data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicating a 63% increase in U.S. deaths by suicide for females and a 43% increase for males equaling a national…

I just finished listening to a TED talk by Suzanne Simard on “How trees talk to each other.” My conclusion from listening to her is that trees form communities and in a number of ways look out for each other, sharing carbon and other nutrients. Apparently, some older trees are like hubs that send out…

From the Harvard Public Health magazine of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health report on “Guns and Suicide…the hidden toll” by Madeline Drexler, Editor of Harvard Public Health magazine. Ms. Drexler summarizes data on the association of suicide and gun ownership.  She reports that many more people kill themselves with guns [19,392 in…

Recently one of my patients came in and announced that “I don’t care and I don’t care that I don’t care.”  She said that she realized this just the day before.  She reflected on this and indicated that it was a relief not to care.  She feels less stressed and yet still feels responsible for…

There is research evidence [Kelleher et.al; American Journal of Psychiatry Vol 70: Issue 7: Pages. 734-741]that adolescents who are assaulted or bullied are significantly more likely to experience psychotic symptoms. They also noted that adolescents with psychotic symptoms were significantly more likely to be assaulted and more likely to be bullied.  So, they found a…