For many years, mental health professionals were guided by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to differentiate bereavement from depression. In other words, if someone is grieving the loss of a loved one, don’t assign a primary diagnosis of depression. However, it looks like this is about to change. The American Psychiatric Association is in the [...]

Often, we use words like depression, bi-polar, panic attack, generalized anxiety disorder, and more to describe normal reactions kids have to life circumstances. This can be dangerous and gives kids the wrong message about life and our ordinary human experience in response to adversity. For example, a teenager breaks up with her girl friend and [...]

Note: The following story comes from my practice and is more about processing style than communication style. The two are aligned and sometimes the separating line is faint and fine: when we process information, after all, we are in communication with ourselves. Jeffrey had been injured in an accident while boarding an oil tanker. He [...]