You can divorce an abusive spouse. You can call it quits if your lover mistreats you. But what can you do if the source of your misery is your parent? I’m not talking about having a perfect parent, because there aren’t any. But what if you…
Dear Michael: We love your column in the San Diego paper. That’s why I am writing to you. My best friend just died of breast cancer. I feel such intense and upsetting emotions, I don’t know how to resume my normal life again. Help! Missing…
Dear Michael: I feel like such an idiot. I allowed myself to fall in love with this guy who really wasn’t that interested in me. I thought he was, at the beginning, but he gradually stopped calling me and wanting to get together. I let myself fall for…
Middle Age. Over the Hill. Past your Prime. Do these phrases inspire you to live a long, healthy and happy life? Me neither. I love the slogan of the organization Aging as Ourselves: “Age doesn’t define me; my attitude does”. It all sounds good, doesn’t…
You’ve probably heard some people describe their relationships as “high drama”. I Googled “drama” and found some interesting definitions: (1) a crisis, spectacle, thrill, sensation or disturbance; (2) any number of situations that have an easy solution, which would bring a fairly good outcome, but [high drama…
So many of my clients (and friends) complain about poor sleep or lack of sleep. Why do so many of us not sleep long, well and deeply? What’s going on here? The National Sleep Foundation (which receives financial support from pharmaceutical companies) estimates that 20 percent of Americans,…
When I was a kid in small-town Ohio, my grandma told me, “Only crazy people get therapy. Don’t be crazy.” End of advice. This is a typical response to therapy for some folks. We think that we should be able to handle our own problems…
Sometimes I wonder: Why do we fight, argue or disagree? We want our way. We want to be right. We want to get something. Are we willing to get it at any cost? For most of us, the answer is: no. In any relationship of…
You meet someone you like. You go out (or hang out) for a while. You get to know each other. It’s going well. Before you know it, you’re in a “relationship”. Time passes, and the relationship grows and deepens. It’s good. Hooray! More time passes, and, uh-oh, things aren’t so perfect anymore. The glitter…
Dear Michael: My elderly parents live in Cleveland. So far, they’ve been okay, but lately my dad’s health is shaky and my mom’s mental state isn’t the greatest. I am the only child who lives nearby; my brother and sister live in Montana and Florida,…
