BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Lovesickness can kill and should be taken more seriously as a legitimate diagnosis, according to health experts. Frank Tallis, a clinical psychologist in London, is among those calling for greater awareness of the "illness" in a report in The Psychologist magazine. He said many are "destabilised by falling in love, or suffer on account of their love being unrequited" and this could lead to a suicide attempt. Few studies deal with the "specific problem of lovesickness", he said. Physical exhaustion Prof Alex Gardner, a clinical psychologist in Glasgow and a member of the British Psychological Society, agreed that doctors needed to be more aware of lovesickness as a possible diagnosis. He said: "People can die from a broken heart. You get into a state of despair and hopelessness." He said as a result of love, in some people it could lead to an extreme state of physical exhaustion. In extreme cases lovesickness could drive people to take their ow...

These last few years I've been sorting life out... again. Whether its because of midlife crisis, pulling myself back together after a severe personal trauma or finding my balance after losing myself in motherhood, its been hard and rewarding. I realized that I will never arrive at a point where I'm done. Life and understanding will be an ongoing process of self-examining and the folding and unfolding of circumstance. I've also now become a parentless child. Death has claimed my parents, who had me when they were 'older.' And the contents of their home now sits in boxes in mine. I sort through it when I have energy but more importantly, when I can mentally & emotionally handle it. Being 'top dog' in the family now as freed me to feel. Feel the rage and anger at the cruel parenting I received. But sometimes I can't. My conditioning is so thorough that I have a hard time getting angry and staying angry at things I should. I will become incensed...

The Radical Christian Right Is Built on Suburban Despair by Chris Hedges (this article illustrates something I learned the hard way: PREDATORS HUNT THE WOUNDED . Whether it be emotional or sexual predators who swoop in on the lonely and depressed or the Radical Christian Right who swoop in one the disenfranchised. With Super Tuesday under our belts and a Presidential election coming, its vital we keep these things in mind. This habit of the Religious Right is, in my little opinion, nothing short of Social, Emotional and Spiritual Vampirism) The engine that drives the radical Christian Right in the United States, the most dangerous mass movement in American history, is not religiosity, but despair. It is a movement built on the growing personal and economic despair of tens of millions of Americans, who watched helplessly as their communities were plunged into poverty by the flight of manufacturing jobs, their families and neighborhoods torn apart by neglect and indifference, and who...

BEGINNINGS OF DEPRESSION by Jeff Foster The medical condition of depression is a result of many different reasons and it is often tough to decide the exact cause of depression. Some reasons can be related to long ago abuse and injury while others many be related to current stressful situations such as financial issues or abuse and even other reasons for depression can be related to either illegal drug use or as a result of side effects of certain prescription drugs. There are many who believe that people choose to be depressed and it is the homeless or mentally ill who suffer, not the “normal everyday” folks. But nothing could be further from the truth. Take a look at the example below to see just how quickly depression can take hold on a previously stable soul. A loving couple of adults in the early years of marriage have two young children. Because they made the decision that the wife would be a full time mom, she left her office job and returned home to raise their family. The dad ...