Ordinary Days Sometimes, ordinary days can produce extraordinary insights into our human need for communication, hope and empathy. Years ago, in a Boston mental hospital, a girl known as “Little Annie” was placed in a solitary room referred to by staff as “The Dungeon.” It was basically a dimly lit … [+]

Are You Molting? Imagine being a young blue crab in Lake Ponchartrain. Up til’ now, daily life has consisted of walking around side-ways, loving the world and just doing what crabs do, but life hasn’t felt so good lately — too much stress, feeling boxed in, barely able to breathe … [+]

I couldn’t help but notice the severe limp as she struggled to walk unassisted into the room. She gathered there with 45 co-survivors, all refugees from Cambodia. They were known as “Boat People.” Historical note: The Khmer Rouge oversaw one of the largest genocides of the 20th century: an estimated … [+]

I recall a very depressed lady whose marriage had recently been pronounced dead. Over intervening months, she regressed to a point where she could barely function. “How do you see the future?” I asked. Her response was a bit startling: “I don’t see the future.” This was unimaginable to someone … [+]

Two buddies with a long-running rivalry were conscripted to star in the church nativity play. The one selected for Innkeeper never missed an opportunity to give his friend a hard time. The other boy played the role of Joseph. On the night of the performance, the Innkeeper deliberately went off … [+]

“The only person who cannot be helped is the person who blames others.”         — Carl Rogers You are the only person who’s going to sort out YOU. No one else can or even cares enough.  All psychotherapy is essentially self-help, and my job is to assist … [+]

   Some couples marry into an ideal, which turns into an ordeal, and then a raw deal, but there’s always hope for a new deal!                                       — Dr. Reid Doster The real … [+]

The phrase “It’s been a minute” can be heard among New Orleans folk to mean a very long time. For example, many years after Hurricane Katrina, the city’s more vulnerable populations still endure secondary wounding and re-traumatization. The vulnerable, however, are not limited only to economically disadvantaged, racial and ethnic … [+]