Dear Mr. Dad: Just after our first trimester, my wife and I lost our baby. I’ve been focusing on being there for her and supporting her every way I can. But this miscarriage has hit me pretty hard too and I’m having a tough time coping. Part of the problem is that I feel guilty...Continue reading
While ultimately rooted in the religious practices of East Asia, meditation and mindfulness are essentially the cultivation of a positive and tranquil mental state via focused periods of practice. Just as your body needs nutrition and exercise to function properly, so too does your emotional center and state of mind require special tools for their...Continue reading
Facing a condition such as bipolar disorder can be frightening. However, for one Yale Medicine patient, healing has happened through a range of personal connections. In his cooking classes, Bob Forlano likes to make dal, the Indian dish with red lentils, celery, onion, garlic, thyme and cumin. “And since I’m a steak-and-potatoes guy,” he says, “I...Continue reading
When I was growing up there were certain things that boys did and other things reserved for girls. Boy sports included boxing, basketball, and football. Girl sports…Well, girls weren’t encouraged to engage in sports at all. They were the pretty cheer leaders who did back flips when we scored a touchdown. They were the ones...Continue reading
Sex and gender differences are central to our lives. We all think about them, struggle with them, and seek to better understand them. From Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady who lamented “Why can’t a woman be more like a man” to Sigmund Freud who wondered “What do women really want?” to our nursery rhymes which...Continue reading
Love has been a complicated presence in my life from the very beginning. My parents had been trying, unsuccessfully, to have a baby for many years. My mother was finally able to get pregnant through a procedure of collecting and injecting my father’s sperm into her womb (a procedure that was “experimental” seventy-plus years ago)....Continue reading
It can be difficult to find the right words to say to someone who is clearly struggling. As a result, many well-meaning people say the wrong thing to their loved ones who are battling depression. The important thing to note is that depression is a serious mental illness that could be life-threatening. Try to choose...Continue reading
We were planning to celebrate my 13th birthday with a dinner at my special restaurant, The Pump Room, which served my favorite dessert, a strawberry short-cake with homemade whipped cream. But the celebration was interrupted with a phone call from my uncle, Harry. “Edith, Muni escaped from Camarillo today,” uncle Harry told her. I could hear his anxiety...Continue reading
Men are well-known for not looking after themselves and their health. While women will typically go to the doctor when they notice signs that something might be wrong, many men are capable of putting things off for years with the result that minor health problems often turn into something much more serious and potentially life-threatening...Continue reading