Healthy Relationships
Everyone wants one… but how easy is it to achieve?

Anxiety Screening - Part 1
Just like eating or sleeping, anxiety is a normal part of life. Under the "right" circumstances, anxiety can be beneficial because it motivates us to take action. Faced with an unexpected or unfamiliar challenge, the feeling of anxiety prepares us for the upcoming event. Anxiety heightens our alertness and readies the body for action. Anxiety can also protect us by urging us to flee when we are in danger.

Anxiety Screening - Part 2
Snakes? Fear of heights? Horrified to fly? Fear talking in public? Constantly checking to see if you turned off the oven and lights?

School's Out
Some parents believe that June, July, and August are the longest months of the year. Kids are bored after just three days of freedom from school… teens want to be out doing something each and every night… and constantly someone is in the kitchen complaining there is nothing to do around here. So how can parents survive the hot, lazy days of summer and still maintain their sanity?

Office Relationships
With employees spending more and more hours at work, co-workers often have more opportunity to build stronger relationships at work than at home. In addition the "perks of power"-- travel, fine dining, camaraderie, unquestioned authority, can be very seductive and exciting compared to what's waiting at home for some partners.

Can drawing be a key to your personality?
Can a simple drawing be used to interpret something about your personality? Is it possible that a drawing can reveal valuable information which helps you understand how you view yourself, others, and the world?

Graduation
It's time for graduation. Within the next few weeks high schools and colleges around the Tri-County area will celebrate this joyous ceremony. Unfortunately, this life passage is rarely addressed in mental health literature, leaving families and graduates unprepared for the emotions involved in the transition. It is certain that both the graduate and the graduation family face new challenges, as well as anxiety and fears.

Single Fathers
Single fathers with primary custody of their children are often a forgotten population. With Father's Day nearing, it seems important to explore some of the unique circumstances of single dads. Statistics indicate that the number of single fathers in the US has grown 25% in the past three years. Research shows the number of fathers who have primary custody rose from l.7 million in 1995 to 2.1 million in 1998. Single fathers with primary custody now compose one sixth of the nation's 11.9 million single parents.

Attention Deficit Disorder
What do Issac Newton, Pablo Picasso, John F. Kennedy, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Jordon, Winston Churchill, Abe Lincoln, Walt Disney, Van Gogh and Albert Einstein all have in common? Would you believe this famous group all had a disorder called Attention Deficit Disorder. Normally viewed as a negative diagnosis, many famous individuals with the disorder have changed the world with their vision, passion, and talents.

What Really Matters In Life
Here's an exercise to help you assess what really is important and valuable in your life. Try this experiment:

Are You Addicted to Work?
According to a study conducted in 1998, the average American is clocking 44 hours of work per week, an increase of 3.5 hours per week since 1977. Adding to those numbers, Americans are working more hours than workers in France (39 hours) and Germany (40 hours).

30 Quick Ways to Reduce Your Stress
Do you want to know some quick ways to reduce your stress? Well, here are some simple formulas to help your well-being and serenity.

Lowering your stress during leisure time
Here’s a strange paradox: leisure takes some work. Most of us assume that all we need to do is make some free time and we will automatically feel happy. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite that simple. To really use leisure time as a stress reducer, it is essential that we devote a little time to planning. In the final portion of our three part series on reducing our daily stress, we will look at making leisure hours more relaxing and replenishing.

Enlightenment
I have to admit it: I'm addicted to books. I love the smell of the paper and the ink. I get high just visualizing the suprises that might be unlocked inside the pages. Each book has the potential of a magnificient journey into myself and the future.

Holiday Stress
The season of over-doing, over-eating, over-committing and over-spending is upon us. As we approach the holiday season, many people call this the time of "holidaze". Internal and external pressures seem to paralyze us, causing behaviors which are out of our normal range of functioning. Caught in past failures, or "holiday dysfunctional thinking", we believe it is necessary that we "do this year perfectly" by finding just the right gift, (remember how many of you were standing in long lines to get that Elmo or that new Beanie Baby?) while others believe they must be Martha Stewart written up in House & Garden or Bon Appetite. Unrealistic pressures seem to steamroller our best judgements, and we find ourselves lost in the Holidaze Mayhem. (The best indicators of this clinical dysfunction are glazed eyes, numbed bodies performing numerous activities, empty wallets, and mental confusion.)

Letting Go of College Freshmen
The transition: Walking a fine line between interest and intrusion? August is the transitional month for college students leaving their homes and moving to their 'new home' at their chosen college campus. For many parents this is the first exposure to letting go', not only psychologically but also physically. Perhaps this is the time we learn to guide and support our sons and daughters from a distance.

Leaving for College
It is time for your son or daughter to leave for college - how are you handling the adjustment?

My resignation from "Adulthood"
I hereby officially tender my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year old again. I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Do thoughts come into your mind, and you have trouble letting them go?