The New Year is here again and it brings to mind a former patient – let’s call her Jody. Every year, toward the end of December, Jody would read me her list of New Year’s resolutions and then a week or two later she’d show up at my office with a downcast look and her shoulders hunched over in shame. She was despondent and embarrassed because yet again, she was unable to keep even one of her resolutions.

Whether it was going on a diet, starting an exercise program, clearing out her…

We all want happiness and we think that it’s so hard to come by but really, it’s not. It’s just that we’ve been looking for it in all the wrong places. We think that we’ll be happier if we have more money, power, fame or influence. We think we’ll be happier if we’re richer, more attractive, or if we have nicer stuff. None of this is true. Of course, we need a certain amount of money in order to be secure, but it’s been proven that more money can’t bring us more happiness.

Happiness…

After years of being a psychiatrist and dealing with depression and other mental health issues, this is what I’ve learned: When someone is depressed, there are things you should say and things you shouldn’t say.

You should say these 5 positive things:

1) “I see that you’re having a hard time.” People feel better when they’re understood and not judged or…

Relationships aren’t always easy. Sometimes they go smoothly, and we feel like things are effortless between us and the other person, but sometimes we encounter someone who can really make a lot of trouble for us.

Quite often, there are signs of trouble early on. We can protect ourselves from the difficult people if we pay close attention to these “red flags.”

If we don’t pay attention to the red flags that warn us of a difficult person in our presence or if we’re in denial…