Los Angeles Therapy Blog

The Undivorced

The NYT identifies a trend:  Permanently separated, but not divorced.

Technically, the two are married. They file joint tax returns; she’s covered by his insurance. But they see each other just several times a year. “Since separating we get along better than we ever have,” he said. “It’s kind of nice.”

The Search for the Stress Vaccine

Wired:  Under Pressure: The Search for a Stress Vaccine.

The list of ailments connected to stress is staggeringly diverse and includes everything from the common cold and lower-back pain to Alzheimer’s disease, major depressive disorder, and heart attack. Stress hollows out our bones and atrophies our muscles. It triggers adult-onset diabetes and is a leading cause of male impotence. In fact, numerous studies of human longevity in developed countries have found that psychosocial factors such as stress are the single most important variable in determining the length of a life.

Free CBT L.A.

It’s that time again:  the free CBT clinic at the Southern California Counseling Center runs from 2 to 6pm today, August 1st.  My quick interview with clinic founder, John Tsilimparis, is here.  [UPDATE: SCCC’s Free CBT Clinic no longer operating.]

American Family

NYT:  Family Relations: An International Comparison

It’s not just you.  Compared with elderly parents and adult children in five other industrialized nations, Americans are twice as likely to have “disharmonious” relationships, a new multinational study has found. And we’re correspondingly less likely to have “amicable” relationships marked by strong affection and relatively free of conflict.

Mental Health, CA

 

In never rains in California, but…

In a comprehensive new study of mental health status and the use of mental health services by Californians, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that nearly one in five adults in the state — about 4.9 million people — said they needed help for a mental or emotional health problem…