In April 2007, The US Supreme Court overturned the death sentences of three Texas men convicted of murder. Their sentences were thrown out by a 5-4 decision because it was the court’s opinion that the juries were not able to consider relevant information about their mental histories that could have been used to lessen their […]
Stuttering: New Developments in the Cause
Stuttering affects 1% of children before puberty and decreases to 0.8% in adolescence (source Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). It can be very debilitating for some leading to years of shame and embarrassment. In 98% of cases the onset of stuttering is before age 10 and research estimates are less specific about recovery […]
Postpartum Depression – Getting Help
Postpartum depression hurts mom and the entire family. Some epidemiologic studies have revealed that postpartum depression can have the following negative consequences: increases the chance of alcohol and illicit drug use in teenaged mothers adversely affects temperament and cognitive development in the infant increase the negative interactions with their toddlers and preschoolers There are other […]
Bad Relationships as a Repetition of the Familiar
Our relationship with our parents, particularly the opposite sex parent, significantly influences how we choose our companions. It’s commonly said that women marry their fathers and men marry their mothers. There is a lot of truth to this. When a person has a bad experience with their parent such as emotional absence or constant criticism, […]
Postpartum Depression – Who Gets it?
Postpartum depression is defined as depression that develops within the first four weeks after childbirth and occurs in about 10% of women. Postpartum depression statistics have shown the following risk factors: a history of a mood disorder unwanted pregnancy unemployment of the mother lack of breast-feeding the mother as head of the household (source: Journal […]
Adult ADHD Leads to More Divorces?
I saw an advertisement in one of the psychiatry news journals with the capture line “Broken Promises.” It was an advertisement for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) medication. The ad went on to state “Adults with ADHD were nearly 2x more likely to have been divorced.” That got my attention. Of course, I wanted to […]