by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on September 17, 2011
Linda, a 42 year old attorney with two young boys, felt guilt and disappointment both on the job and at home. She never quite felt that she was where she needed to be at any given time. For all of her accomplishments, she felt like a failure as a lawyer and as a mother. She strove for perfection in all facets of her life, but now was finding that juggling motherhood and her professional life made this impossible. The standards that Linda set for herself were unattainable and therefore an innate form [click to continue…]
September 17, 2011
by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on July 10, 2011
While most of us were celebrating the July 4th weekend with friends and family, barbecuing, watching fireworks and ushering in the summer, a teenage girl was brutally murdered. The chilling death of 18-year-old Lauren Astley appears to have been at the hands of her former 18-year-old boyfriend, Nathaniel Fujita. Both teens come from Wayland, Massachusetts, which I often refer to as “Pleasantville”–simply because nothing much seems to happen here. Our little enclave feels like a safe haven from [click to continue…]
July 10, 2011
by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on April 11, 2011
My relationship with my father was complex. I sometimes wondered what I would say upon his death. Perhaps I would say nothing or perhaps I would blurt out all those things I never dared to express to him directly. Two weeks ago today my father died unexpectedly. Convoluted and tumultuous feelings continue to swirl through my mind and body–there is an ebb and flow and the occasional tsunami of emotion.
In the end I found it to be both healing and instructive to write some of my thoughts down that I said before my friends and family at his Shiva. I chose to mindfully honor my father and the life he lived. What guided me in my search for the right words [click to continue…]
April 11, 2011
by Karen Siris on December 6, 2010
One school’s plan to ban bullying and create a caring community… Two boys, perspiring and smudged with playtime dirt, approach the main office of their elementary school. Seeming right at home, they rush past the secretary’s desk, making a beeline to the principal’s open door. The principal invites them in, and one at a time they explain their plight—several of their classmates wouldn’t let them join a basketball game. In addition, they said that one particular child had called them names, telling them [click to continue…]
December 6, 2010
Tagged as:
Bullying,
Loneliness,
Resilience
by Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger on November 17, 2010
Cutting or self-injury (SI) is about scratching or cutting your body with a sharp object (scissor, razor blade, paper clip, glass, tweezers etc.) enough so that the skin is broken and bleeds. As was mentioned in Cutting Part 1, this behavior is not usually meant as a suicidal gesture.
Every story regarding why an adolescent would engage in cutting behavior is different, yet there are certain commonalities.
- Adolescents who cut experience powerful feelings of loneliness and isolation.
- Often these are kids who have been bullied or rejected by their peers.
- Their parents have unrealistically high expectations, or they have witnessed [click to continue…]
November 17, 2010
Tagged as:
Depression & Anxiety,
Self-abuse,
Support Systems
