The following are some of the characteristics of overly permissive parents that I consider most important. Most of the parents are devoted to doing the best for their children. In relationship with the parents, the youngster is driven by anxiety in demanding rights and freedom, and the material advantages of being grown up. Initially the
Is She Doing Too Much, Or Too Little? My client, Barbara*, had been sharing a house with four other women for the past 3 years. Two of the roommates were original renters of the house and their names were on the lease. One of them, Millie, handled most of the household responsibilities. She collected the
What does it mean to accommodate, or give up “self”, to preserve harmony? Ellis is a 53 year-old father of two. His wife, Stacy, is 51. Ellis runs a successful insurance business and Stacy is a homemaker. Their kids, Evan, 22, and Sheri, 19, are living at home. Evan started college at 18 but quit
Q: My husband and I are having a lot of problems lately. I asked him to come to marriage counseling but he says I’m the one with the problem so I should just go by myself. How can we work on our relationship if he won’t even admit he has a problem? Q: My daughter,
Margo didn’t really want therapy for herself. She had called about her 23 year-old son, Stephan. She was hoping I’d see him for therapy to help “straighten him out”. I told her I don’t work with kids that age if they are still living at home and financially dependent on their parents, which was the
Sam and Edna are arguing. They are yelling over one another, each jumping in before the other can finish a thought or a sentence. Their back and forth is getting louder and louder, faster and faster and nastier and nastier. They’ve done this a thousand times before. If asked about it later, each of them
There are many physiological reasons why diets don’t work. This entry explains some emotional reasons why diets are doomed to fail. Diets reinforce an “external locus of control” vs. an “internal locus of control”. One’s “locus” (Latin for “place” or “location”) can either be internal (meaning the person believes that they control their life) or
Shelby is a 42 year-old woman who has come into therapy because she’s unhappy with her marriage. She says she’s lonely and depressed because her husband, Perry, doesn’t pay enough attention to her or the kids. He’s either at work or home in the garage tinkering with one of his projects. He usually drinks a
