Last year I had the chance to read David McCullough’s biography of John Adams and to read the Adam’s biography that preceded it by Catherine Drinker Bowen published in 1949. What is striking about the two stories of one man’s life is how McCullough focuses on Adam’s emotional life his insecurities, his emotions under pressure in […]
What is alternative about alternative medicine? Increasingly we note that main stream pharmaceutical companies are mass producing and selling the most popular herbal remedies such as St. John’s Wort and echinacea-goldenseal. Acupuncture is now covered by some insurance companies for certain medical problems. Recently, I was at an addictions conference and a former medical school […]
“Anger is liquor to the “dry drunk” alcoholic. Once anger comes in, just like alcohol, it has to wear itself out; it goes through the body just like liquor.” These were the words of a PALS volunteer to me recently. They struck home. I have been working with lawyers and judges dealing with alcohol issues […]
A man and his wife and small daughter go into a restaurant for dinner. The waitress comes over and takes the orders of the husband and wife. Immediately the five year old daughter pipes up and gives her own order: “I will have a hot dog, french fries and a Coke.” The dad immediately interjects: […]
Case Study A. This is a lawyer 31 years old who works for a prestigious law firm in a North Carolina city. He is married, has two children, and makes over a $100,000 a year. He works 60 hours a week and tries to bill at least 2000 hours a year. He finds himself waking […]
For a long time there has been much research on addiction but there hasn’t been much research on the solution. I like to talk about recovery, the solution. Now for the first time there is exciting research about recovery. Using addictive drugs can evolve from controlled social use into the compulsive relapsing disorder that characterizes addiction. This […]
“The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him — it cannot fail” –Walt Whitman. In a recent speech in Laramie Wyoming, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor noted that job dissatisfaction among lawyers was widespread, profound, and growing. She added that attorneys are more than three times as likely to suffer […]
So might the epitaph of many of us read. Or, “Tried to get everything done, didn’t and died anyway.” Are we just trying to get through the day and check one more thing off our list? Are in fact our lives just a series of tasks? Are we just waiting to get some unseen list […]
If Professor Daniel Gilbert is right, then you are wrong to believe that a new car will make you as happy as you imagine it will. You are wrong to believe that finally getting that big case in will make you as happy for as long as you might imagine. On the other hand, if […]
Overeating is a tradition of the holiday season, with most people taking great delight in big meals, high-fat munchies, high-calorie sauces and spreads, and rich desserts. For compulsive overeaters, however, the indulgence can get way out of control, with serious consequences. Like alcoholics, compulsive overeaters have intense physical cravings and a mental obsession, but with […]
“I’ve achieved every goal I ever set, and I still feel empty.” The words vary. The message is the same. Uttered with defeat and resignation, they lack the exhilaration promised from accomplished goals. The executives and professionals I work with share their desperation with me. On a treadmill through life, they race faster and faster […]
One of the most difficult aspects of helping a person struggling with alcoholism or depression is to be able to bring hope. We don’t derive hope from taking tests for alcoholism or depression, or from hearing a lecture about these subjects. Mainly we get hope from hearing the experience of a recovering person, and identifying […]