This article introduces a specific and potentially harmful type of trauma-stress syndrome, typically experienced within family systems. To date, this syndrome -- domestic emotional distress disorder (DEDD) -- has not been submitted for consideration as a formal diagnosis by the psychiatric community. Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD delayed (symptoms of PTSD displayed beyond six months) … [Read more...]
Playing the money game with kids
So much pressure these days to work harder and longer hours. Meanwhile, the economy continues to ride an unpredictable roller coaster. It's important to pause and look closely at not only how we budget our money but what really, at the end of the day, brings our families pleasure and connection. So often our kids will come up and say, "Mom (or Dad), can I have 5 bucks for this and that?" … [Read more...]
Choosing ‘good enough’ over perfection
In the 1950s, a wise pediatrician from Great Britain named David Winnicott came up the idea of the "good enough" parent. Having treated children and families for many years, Dr. Winnicott recognized that children do well when a parent does a "good enough" job raising them. What that meant from his perspective was for parents to provide good enough custodian care and good enough emotional … [Read more...]
Monkey love: When hugs mean everything
Back in the 1950s, Harry Harlow of the University of Wisconsin conducted an important study of baby monkeys at his research lab in Goon Park. The purpose of Harlow's study was to see under which conditions did baby rhesus monkeys best thrive. For the experiment, Harlow used wire frames to create two kinds of surrogate mothers. He presented these artificial moms to infants who had been … [Read more...]
A woman’s place is in the home office
Women at the turn of the century had won the vote, and then in the mid-1940s World War II was over and the nation was victorious. Slowly but surely, women began to spread their wings, enjoying newfound confidence as they entered the workplace. Possibilities for a better life were everywhere. While the stigma of the "little woman" homemaker remained embedded in the hearts and minds of some … [Read more...]