By MICHAEL SHAPIRO, PhDJanuary 2020 It occurred to me this week that I had not written a blog entry for the month of December, 2019. For the year 2020, I will resolve to pay better attention to deadlines…and then to not make any more resolutions! Speaking of which…what is the deal with New Year’s resolutions? […]

By MICHAEL SHAPIRO, PhDNovember 2019 So…you’ve been diagnosed with a mental, behavioral, or emotional issue that requires treatment. Or not. Maybe you’ve just hit some “bump in the road,” and you’d like a little guidance to help you navigate a work issue, career issue, or relationship issue. Or, maybe you’ve begun to suspect that something […]

By MICHAEL SHAPIRO, PhDOctober 2019 In my previous blog, I introduced the notion of clinical depression and (hopefully) differentiated this from “normal” sadness due to grief or loss. We then discussed the four-part nature of clinical depression (well, okay, there wasn’t actually much discussion. I did all the talking).  Now, did you know that there […]

By MICHAEL SHAPIRO, PhDSeptember 2019 No blog about behavioral health issues would be complete without a discussion of depression. Winston Churchill (who some think suffered from major depression or bipolar disorder) referred to his episodic dark moods as his “black dog.” He didn’t actually invent this term; in fact, it was a pejorative term used […]

By MICHAEL SHAPIRO, PhDAugust 2019 As I was saying at the end of our last episode, because of the myriad of things that look like ADHD but are not, a diagnosis of ADHD should never be made casually, and should never be based solely on opinion, observation, comparison (“My other kids were never this much […]

By MICHAEL SHAPIRO, PhDJuly 2019 In my 36 years as a psychologist who specializes in treating children, there has been no more controversial and confusing issue than the diagnosis and treatment of…um…of…now what were we talking about again? But seriously, back in the Dark Ages when I started my training (and men still wore bearskins), […]