According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), about 25 percent of vets returning from the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are suffering from PTSD. That’s about 500,000 veterans. If we include family members, that number more than doubles. Not surprisingly, returning veterans—particularly those with PTSD—have a higher divorce rate than non-veterans. And...Continue reading
Category: Relationships
The Tolerator: Is This Your Style Of Relating To Your Partner?
“I love you just the way you are…” croons this lover to the live-in partner who has just tracked in mud again on the new Berber carpet, and rear-ended a parked car trying a new paralleling maneuver. “Love me, love my shortcomings,” swoons the “Tolerator” partner. Their theme song echoes the ideal of unconditional love...Continue reading
The Pleasure of Touch
Are any of these scenarios familiar? It’s bedtime. You’re tired. You crawl into bed, and your honey moves over to you and puts a hand on your thigh. Is this a suggestion for sex? Scene number two: You’re at the office at your desk. Your boss, who is of the opposite sex, comes over to...Continue reading
Say “I Do” to Reducing Heart Attack Risk
Over the years, there have been a number of studies that show that marriage is good for men—that married men are generally healthier and less prone to a variety of illnesses than unmarried me. But according to a new study from Finland, it turns out that marriage is good for women too. In fact, wives...Continue reading
Keeping Your Distance: American Men Deal With Intimacy
Intimacy is a scarcity for American men –if by “intimacy” we mean revealing and sharing what is innermost about us. Few men live by this creed. Intimate connection becomes an abstraction, a nice idea, a frustrated lack. The typical American male can’t grasp intimacy, having precious little real experience of it. Just mentioning the word...Continue reading
Is It Nuts to Want to Live to 100?
How many times have you ever said something like, “I’d give my left nut to [fill in the blank with something you really, really want…]”? Of course you didn’t really mean that—and if you were suddenly presented with whatever it was that you wanted, you’d try to find another way to pay for it. So...Continue reading
Men and Suicide: Much More Than a Mental-Health Issue
Anyone who’s ever looked at suicide statistics knows that men are 3-4 times more likely to kill themselves than women are (women, however, attempt suicide more). But what a lot of people don’t realize is that men in lower socio-economic groups—especially men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s—are significantly more likely to commit suicide than...Continue reading
Parental Divorce Linked to Stroke in Males
Men with divorced parents are significantly more likely to suffer a stroke than men from intact families, shows a new study from the University of Toronto. The study, to be published this month in the International Journal of Stroke, shows that adult men who had experienced parental divorce before they turned 18 are three times...Continue reading
For Men, Time Spent with Family Members Can Be a Lifesaver
There’s plenty of research that shows that people (men and women) who spend time with friends have higher levels of well-being than those who don’t. Makes sense, doesn’t it? A new study just published in a British health journal went a step further. It turns out that having a wide circle of close relatives (outside...Continue reading
Married? Let’s Drink to That. Or Not.
There have been studies out showing the health benefits—or the risks—of marriage. Just over the past few years we’ve learned, for example, that married people generally have healthier eating habits and are less likely to die prematurely than unmarried people. And we know that single and divorced men drink more alcohol than married men. But...Continue reading