In the mental health profession, we sometimes refer to this time of year as the “busy season.” The holidays are often a time of stress and contact with family members that we usually only see during the “holidays.” Many patients who I have not seen in months call and ask if I have a few …
Continue ReadingAffairs: Can They Be Good For Everyone?
Affairs – they can be incredibly complicated. And the web that is woven can often involve more than the two people married to each other and the outside love interest. Last week, the ethicist in the NY Times responded to a letter written to him about an affair. I think he did a pretty good …
Continue ReadingSAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons. Most of my patients complain that their symptoms begin in the fall, continuing through the winter and end in the Spring. However, some patients feel SAD in the spring or early summer. Symptoms of SAD include: Irritability Low energy Low …
Continue ReadingMotherhood and Sex
Very often patients will tell us that before they had children they thought about sex, enjoyed sex, were adventurous sexually. And then they became a mom. And the lights went out. Being a mom and a sexual being is not an oxymoron. But for many women it is, and how you conceptualize the effect of …
Continue ReadingGetting Off On TV
For some of my female patients, just hearing me say the word “porn” makes them cringe, look away and change the subject. At this point, I feel like I have lost them into an abyss of discomfort and the conversation about watching anything to get turned on hits a wall. So I thought, what about …
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