A Blue Christmas?
December 9, 2009
Psychoanalyst Dr. Robert Schwalbe knows that when the Christmas carols start playing, the phone starts ringing.
The doctor, who specializes in treating men at his Upper East Side practice, said that much like a retailer, the holidays have become his busiest season.
“My practice booms at this time of year,” he said, estimating that he typically sees a 25 percent spike peaking in January. And that’s on top of the 50 percent increase he’s already noticed since the economic crisis began. [Read more]
Too Much Comfort and Joy
December 9, 2009
’Tis the season to celebrate with friends and family, and to eat and drink plentifully—often too plentifully.
According to a recent post on The Daily Beast website by nutritionist Susan Roberts, an adult typically gains between five and eight pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s by consuming approximately 20,000 excess calories.
“Everyone is at risk for over-consumption at the holidays simply because it is expected as a part of any celebration,” said Jeffrey Wilbert, a nationally recognized diet psychologist who is director of the Counseling Center for Emotional Eating in Ohio. Holiday office parties and domestic gatherings revolve around food and drink. [Read more]
Parenthood, Take Two
November 19, 2009
At 71, Fredericka Nelson should be the one being taken care of. After 40 years of cleaning offices to support a family on her own, the Brooklyn mother of six and grandmother of 21 thought she’d enjoy growing old in peace. [Read more]
Gender Bias
November 19, 2009
Nancy Gleeson never said “no.” When she saw sugar, she ate it, gorging on cookies, chocolate and banana splits every day for decades. She didn’t worry about the weight gain that left her tipping the scales at 225 pounds. She didn’t heed the family history that put her at high risk for diabetes—until she wound up in the emergency room with debilitating fatigue and a blood sugar level that was triple the norm. [Read more]
Dr. Mozart
November 19, 2009
Michael Gruson, a successful attorney, got the worst possible news from his doctor in March 2005: His persistent headache was more serious than anything an aspirin could cure. It was the symptom of a malignant brain tumor. [Read more]
Little Help for Hospice
November 19, 2009
We spend more money on healthcare in the last months of life than at any other time. It’s when we’re sickest and most in need of medicine, doctors and intensive care. [Read more]
Let the Light In
October 7, 2009
While high-rise living is quintessential to urban life, it may also be limiting exposure to natural light for people living in a 12-story apartment—especially early morning light—and making those tenanats more susceptible to Seasonal Affective Disorder.
SAD, also known as seasonal depression or winter depression, begins affecting people in late fall and can last through early May; in accordance with the time of year when overall daylight is shortest.
The specific cause of SAD remains unknown. [Read more]
Simply Happy
October 7, 2009
Maybe we’ve been wrong about depression. Maybe it’s not simply a biochemical malfunction best corrected by a Prozac prescription or a psychological malady requiring soul-baring confessions to a therapist. Maybe, says Stephen S. Ilardi, associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Kansas, what’s darkening our lives is the way we actually live.
“There’s increasing evidence that we were never designed for our sedentary, socially isolated, indoor, sleep-deprived, poorly nourished lifestyle,” says the bearded, wiry Ilardi. “If throughout the course of human evolution people were as vulnerable to depressive illness as 21st-century Americans, we would long since have gone extinct as a species.” [Read more]
Portraits of Strength
September 10, 2009
It’s a startling statistic: One in 8 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer over the course of their lifetimes. But it’s a number that the Greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is helping change for the better.
Each year the organization hosts the Komen New York City Race for the Cure, a 5K run/walk that raises money for breast cancer research and local community outreach programs. It draws 25,000 participants, including 2,000 survivors. And of course there are plenty of children taking part with their families, friends and schools. [Read more]
A New Look at Breast Cancer
September 10, 2009
In the United States alone, statistics show that nearly 200,000 women may be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and more than 40,000 might die from the disease.
This is why people like Dr. Larry Norton, physician-in-chief of breast cancer programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, remain important in the fight against this disease. For more than 40 years, Norton has been working on understanding the mathematics of tumor growth or, more simply, how cancer changes and spreads based on numbers. [Read more]
