Approximately 4 million people with drug problems also have mental illness problems. This means that about 30% of those with a drug or drug and alcohol problem also suffer from a serious mental illness including personality disorders, major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. [SAHMSA, 2002] Addiction and depression often go hand in hand. If one [...]
With all that I have written in these columns in the last several years I have never shared any thoughts on grandparenting. Until it began to take on a personal meaning. Grandparenting is just around the corner. I will join an increasing number of adults who, ready or not, are entering this next phase of [...]
A Happy Long Term Marriage is the goal that most married couples have set for themselves. Many marriage services include the phrase “til death do us part”, or something similar to state the intent that this relationship is for the long term. Another phrase found in Christian ceremonies states that “what God has joined together [...]
It has been my experience practicing pastoral counseling for 25 years that The Christian Holy Season of Lent often is a time when clients are plumbing the depths of their inner lives as they deal with issues in their lives. Father Thomas Keating likens the season of Lent to Divine Therapy. A Trappist monk who [...]
There are so many changes going on around us that it seems impossible to keep up. Maybe it is. Jobs are changing, through loss. Companies are closing. Houses are not selling. People are moving. Some are afraid to move. Less income is placing much stress on all of us. A method to handle all of [...]
The State of Michigan is suffering. With all of the company lay offs and business restructuring, with health and pension benefits being reduced, many of our fellow citizens are living in fear of their jobs, healthcare and ability to afford to live from day to day. No community seems free of the far reaching impact [...]
Just since Christmas I have gotten several requests and inquries about my anger management program. Anger is something we are born with; it just never goes away. And, indeed, it should not. Directed anger shows the passion and the strength about how one believes in someone or something and provides the energy necessary to move [...]
In so many places, and certainly in the work that I do, the word “vulnerable” is often used. Being vulnerable seems to be part of being human. There are pros and cons to being vulnerable. All of us can be vulnerable at one time or another. In researching this topic I came across a website [...]
One of the health concerns during these days of recovery from the hurricanes in the south could be compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is what occurs to a caregiver when they have given too much. A person can succumb to anxiety and depression. The caregiver might have survivors’ guilt that the condition of concern happened to [...]
In the New Year everyone talks about resolutions; people seem to want to change things for the better. Sometimes people focus on what they would like to change about themselves, either behaviors, or attitudes or beliefs. To look at what we want to change about ourselves one of the places which we must look at [...]