In this SERIES of monthly COLUMNS Dr. Stephen will help you: • Find out more about your depressed mood • Name that tune: A description of depressive and mood disorders • Change your depressed mood through action • Decide if you need medication COLUMN TWO: NAME THAT TUNE: A DESCRIPTION OF DEPRESSIVE AND MOOD DISORDERS Depression has been called by many names over the span of human existence. “D” words win with the most entries…which seems only fair—Despondency Despair Disconsolate Dispirited Doleful Downbeat Downcast Downhearted Dejected Down... Read More

…by Julie Clark Robinson “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,\’ that would suffice.”  — Meister Eckhart Choosing a china pattern with my fiancé all those years ago wasn\’t quite the love fest a young girl dreams about all her life, but it has lead to something quite lovely. There were a few things I became quickly aware of that summer evening in Marshall Fields. One was that the rolling of my betrothed\’s eyes (when he thought I wasn\’t looking) meant that such decisions were to be mine from that point forward. The second thing... Read More

…by Prill Boyle One evening several years ago, as I was prodding my husband Michael to take another step up the career ladder, he looked me square in the eye and said, “I\’m not ambitious. If you want fortune, fame…or fancier digs, be ambitious for yourself.” He told me that if I wanted to be President of the United States, he\’d be happy to be First Gentleman, but he was tired of trying to live up to my idea of a successful husband. Those four words—be ambitious for yourself—changed the tone of our relationship and opened a new chapter of my life. I took a critical look... Read More

You\’re busy checking off the items on your to-do list. Most of the gifts have been wrapped. And the holiday cards made it to the post office this morning. Oh, but you forgot about your daughter\’s teacher! And what to take to the Smith\’s annual Christmas Eve get together? And then the cookies for the school carnival and you used the last of the sugar in yesterday\’s brownies for the church fund raiser. Then just at the same time that you are trying to figure out what to wear to the office party, what should occur? Your two tiny elves run into your bedroom loaded down with... Read More

Did you know it takes walking 10,000 steps or 4.5 miles a day to lose one pound? I bought a pedometer and was disheartened to see that I walked about 3,000 steps in a day. But on one particular occasion, one hundred steps made a difference. My husband, Don, and I traveled to Columbus, Ohio for business. We checked in, got settled in our room, and Don departed in our car to attend a meeting. I basked in the peace and quiet, and took out a book to read. Soon hunger pains pulled me from my book. I needed a snack, so I phoned the front desk to ask where I could find a vending machine. The woman who... Read More

Most people are looking for the secret to success; the secret to being a millionaire; the secret to winning at working. To help them find it, Amazon.com currently inventories 1,797 books promising success secrets, everything from “Mustang Sallies: Success Secrets of Women Who Refuse to Run With the Herd” to “The 21 Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires.” So, if you\’re one of those looking, I\’ll save you some time. The bottom line is this – there is no secret. There\’s no magical formula to follow; no short-cuts to take or lottery tickets you can purchase. People... Read More

I am now getting to the age where I have more friends working on their second marriage than their first. Some of those still in their first marriages often have in-laws or grandchildren living with them. And I can\’t tell you how many families I know where the wife is the primary bread winner and the husband the primary caregiver. With the mixture and matches that come with families in this modern world, it is becoming almost unusual to find a traditional family. . Nevertheless, we women often view estate planning in a traditional way. Traditionally, the husband alone met with the attorney... Read More

Because eldercare is often unexpected, intermittent (at least initially), and always unpredictable, few of us realize the time and toll it\’s taking on us personally in terms of money, relationships, and peace of mind – to mention nothing of our sanity! It\’s also difficult to accurately predict the true length of our commitment. In fact, according to the 1999 MetLife Mature Market Institute Study, a majority of those anticipating 1 to 2 years of caregiving actually spent 4 or more years providing care. Add to that all the complicated bureaucratic and legal restrictions, such as... Read More

kay, that title may not be original, but my idea is. Hold on to your stocking stuffers\’ people cause I have a whopper of an idea for Christmas this year. I\’ve been giving this gift buying-running-to-the-mall-fighting-the-crowds-going-into-debt-and-cooking-for-the-multitudes thing, a lot of thought. What say this year we reverse the roles? Hmm? I mean, who says that kids should get all the neat toys and gifts under the tree, anyway? And what about the best candy always going in THEIR stockings? Exactly WHO made up these rules? I know I didn\’t. You? More than likely, it was someone... Read More

In this SERIES of monthly COLUMNS Dr. Stephen will help you: • Find out more about your depressed mood • Name that tune: A description of depressive and mood disorders • Change your depressed mood through action • Decide if you need medication COLUMN ONE: FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOUR DEPRESSED MOOD Question: Why did the chicken cross the road? Answer: To prove to the possum that it could be done. Didn\’t laugh? Two options. One, you are a dyed-in-the-feathers animal lover and find no humor in chickens or possums, nor in any irreverent combination of... Read More