Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

In a recent study by Frederic Wolinsky, professor of Public Health at Saint Louis University, 9/11 created a profound psychological shift in people over 50. The study involved 437 adults, and the average age of those studied was 64. The study finds that elders' sense of control dropped significantly in the six months after 9/11. The study also found that the most religious suffered the greatest damage to their sense of self control (most were Judo-Christian).

As reported in a recent issue of Psychotherapy Networker, this finding could portend an increase in depressive symptoms among the elderly and an increased need for attention. I find that my advanced training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) provides skills uniquely fitting for a situation that calls for assisting clients to balance a realistic sense of what they can control versus an acceptance of what they cannot control. Contact me for more information about the use of dialectics in therapeutic coaching.

A recent edition of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychology reported on a study that observed behavioral transmission of anxiety from parent to child. The study involved videotaping parents diagnosed with anxiety disorders working on tasks with their 6- to 12-year-olds. During work on a difficult task, anxious parents were more withdrawn, engaged in less productive behavior with the children, agreed with their children less, praised them less, and ignored them more. The researchers posit that this type of interaction leaves children alone to cope with their own anxiety.

Of course, parents cannot teach what they themselves were never taught. In my training as a therapeutic coach, I have been delighted with the amount of material available to assist people in managing emotions, and I have been equally puzzled as to why more traditional psychotherapists never teach these skills to their clients. I have incorporated some of these techniques in the tips sheet 9 Tips for Decreasing Stress. Regular coaching meetings are most effective in developing extensive coping and emotion-management skills; please contact me for more information.

A recent edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published work by Kirk Warren Brown and Richard Ryan that indicated that building Buddhist-like mindfulness skills might help some clients as much as trying to explore their past or change their behavior. Mindfulness can be described briefly as generating a calm, nonjudgmental, focused awareness of the present moment. The research found that mindfulness skills contributed to high personal autonomy, and low internal conflict and stress. Mindfulness skills were also attributed to fewer mood disturbances and less stress in cancer patients.

Mindfulness training is a key component of the advanced DBT training I received. I am also familiar with mindfulness from my reading the works of Joan Borysenko and Jon Kabat-Zinn. These skills are one of my primary approaches to eliminating pervasive anxious moods and depression, and they are very effective. To read more about mindfulness, you can view my information sheet on mindfulness.

When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.

--Marquis de la Grange

A recent review by Giovanni Fava, which examined decades of clinical literature and recent neurobiological findings, concluded that depression treated with antidepressants has poor long-term outcomes. People using antidepressants long term may be at greater risk for depression relapse, and relapse often occurs a few months after ceasing medical treatment. In response to some arguments that depression is a biological condition and that it can get progressively worse, Fava states that some studies suggest that we need to factor in that some people develop tolerances for the medication that is independent of the severity of the depression. He maintains that adjusting "faulty" serotonin levels (which is the primary method of treatment by antidepressant medications) cannot simply be "fixed." Changes in one part of the brain create a myriad off other chemical and architectural changes.

It is good to see mainstream medical practitioners catching up to the idea that our current crop of antidepressants either provide relief at about the same level as the placebo effect, or can simply encourage the client to avoid looking at the beliefs, thinking patterns, and behaviors that form the underlying lynchpins to the depression. I sense a return to a more holistic approach that factors in the person's understanding of themselves, the world, and their place in life. My therapeutic coaching has shown me that one can "learn" their way out of depression.

Besides loving and trusting your spouse, supporting his or her personal goals and dreams may be key to maintaining a happy marriage, new study findings show. The findings were based on a study of 117 married couples. Dr. James E. Maddux of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia stated that, "...Individuals should evaluate what the other person is trying to accomplish in his or her own life, and determine whether those goals are compatible with what they are trying to accomplish." Dr. Mason published his study in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Overall, individuals who perceived themselves as having high levels of support from their spouses in their personal pursuits reported greater satisfaction with their relationship than less-supported peers. Further, those who agreed that they and their spouses were able to work together successfully to achieve shared goals, such as buying a home or having children, were also likely to report marital satisfaction.

Approximately 75% of those seeking therapeutic coaching from me seek guidance on matters related to finding a life partner. And this work always begins with assisting my clients to be clear on who they are and what they want to achieve in the world (if you will, be clear on their sense of purpose). I also emphasize focusing on a "spirit of partnership," which involves focusing on your partner's happiness. This more sophisticated couples and relationship coaching gets to the heart of the compatibility issues cited in this study more effectively than the simplistic "communications skills" taught by most traditional psychotherapists in couples counseling.