Family mental health includes its members' emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Each family member's mental health helps determine how they handle stress and how they relate to others. Good mental health is important for children, adolescents and adults. Family genetics and family history contribute to one's life experiences.
Alcohol and the Family
About 8% of American adults abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. This is a primary health concern and it has significant implications for families and child well-being and development. Approximately one out of every four U.S. children under the age of 18 years is exposed to the effects of alcohol abuse or dependence in a family member. Learn more...
Anger Cues and Control Strategies
In addition to becoming aware of anger, individuals need to develop strategies to effectively manage it. These strategies can be used to stop the escalation of anger before loss of control results in negative consequences. An effective set of strategies for controlling anger should include both immediate and preventive strategies. Learn more...
Answers to Common Questions about Counseling
Throughout life, there are times when help is needed to address problems and issues that cause emotional distress or make us feel overwhelmed. When experiencing these types of difficulties, individuals may benefit from the assistance of an experienced, trained professional. Learn more...
Are You an Enabler?
If you are involved with an addicted individual, become as independent of the individual as you can, develop new support systems for yourself, and to the extent feasible let the costs of addiction fall on the individual, not yourself. Learn more...
Assertiveness
Assertiveness is a manner of behaving that communicates respect for others as well as commands respect for yourself. Learn more...
Assessing Young Children’s Social Competence
Research suggests that a child's long-term social and emotional adaptation, academic and cognitive development, and citizenship are enhanced by frequent opportunities to strengthen social competence during childhood. Learn more...
Attachment: A New Way of Understanding the Problems of Parents and Kids
Attachment is the emotional connection between any two people. However, life's first attachments are by far the most important, as they set a template for all later relationships. Learn more...
Being an Effective Parent – Helping Your Child Through Early Adolescence
Parents often become less involved in the lives of their children as they enter the middle grades. But the young adolescent needs as much attention and love from their parents as they needed when they were younger. Learn more...
Children of Alcoholics
More than 6 million children live with at least one parent who abuses or is dependent on alcohol or an illicit drug. Learn more...
Communication — Helping Your Child Through Early Adolescence
Adolescents often are not great communicators, particularly with their parents and other adults. When parents know where their children are and what they are doing and when the adolescent knows the parent knows, adolescents are at a lower risk for a range of bad experiences. It is easier to communicate with a young teen if parents established this habit when the child was younger. Learn more...
Conduct Disorders in Children and Adolescents
Children with conduct disorder repeatedly violate the personal or property rights of others and the basic expectations of society. A diagnosis of conduct disorder is likely when symptoms continue for 6 months or longer. Conduct disorder impacts the child and their families, neighbors, and schools. Learn more...
Conflict Management
This article provides a brief overview of conflict and strategies for preventing conflict, assessing and resolving conflict, and negotiating a win-win solution. Learn more...
Conflict Resolution
Broadly speaking, conflicts occur when our needs and expectations for others are not being met, or our limits are being pushed too far. When you do decide to clearly communicate what you want from someone, it is very important that you do so kindly, directly, factually, and non-aggressively. Saying something nice, or complimentary, is generally a good way to begin this process. Learn more...
Connecting with Your Kids: Strategies for Tough Conversations
The challenge for parents is to learn to listen and to be available without being pushy. They must find ways to talk about the hard stuff, so that the child feels comfortable sharing with their parent(s). If parents can control their emotions and keep the situation safe, the child may be able to share their deepest worries. Learn more...
The Death Of A Child
When a parent dies, you lose your past; when a child dies, you lose your future. - Anonymous Learn more...
Divorce and Children
Although not all children who experience divorce have problems, children of divorce are twice as likely as children living in nondivorced families to have emotional and behavioral difficulties. Learn more...
Domestic Violence Fact Sheet
Domestic violence, also called intimate partner violence (IVP), partner abuse, and spousal abuse, is a serious, preventable public health problem that affects millions of Americans. Learn more...
Early Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. It proceeds in stages over months or years and gradually destroys memory, reason, judgment, language, and eventually the ability to carry out even simple tasks. Learn more...
Easing Transitions: Balancing Work and Family
To balance family and work, organize your time, develop a budget, and schedule family time. Learn more...
End-of-Life Care: Questions and Answers
The end of life is different for each person. Each individual has unique needs for information and support. The patient's and family's questions and concerns about the end of life should be discussed with the health care team as they arise. Hospice care often provides such services. Learn more...
Expert Consensus Treatment Guidelines for Schizophrenia: A Guide for Patients and Families
Although widely misunderstood and unfairly stigmatized, schizophrenia is actually a highly treatable brain disease. The treatment for schizophrenia is in many ways similar to that for other medical conditions such as diabetes or epilepsy. The good news is that new discoveries are greatly improving the chances of recovery and making it possible for people with schizophrenia to lead much more independent and productive lives. Learn more...
Expressing Your Feelings in Relationships
If you want to share your feelings about a behavior that you find bothersome, it is important to know what not to do. Some ways of expressing feelings are not helpful because they tend to threaten others. One of the most common of these ineffective approaches is called the "you-message." Learn more...
Fathers and Discipline
Discipline refers to training and teaching specific behaviors of selfcontrol and moral development. This is a tall order for all parents, yet one that has historically been embraced by fathers. Learn more...
Grandparents’ Guide For Family Nurturing and Safety
Parents and grandparents are bound to disagree over child-rearing choices. The trick is in knowing how to cool the friction before the fire gets out of hand. Learn more...
Helping Your Child Learn Independence
Adolescents do best when they remain closely connected to their parents but at the same time are allowed to have their own points of view and even to disagree with their parents. This page contains some tips to help balance closeness and independence. Learn more...
Helping Your Child Learn Responsible Behavior
This page focuses on practical suggestions for helping young children appreciate the importance of acting responsibly. It also provides ideas on how to help children make responsible choices, and stick with them, even when doing so is hard. Learn more...
How Can We Strengthen Children’s Self-Esteem?
Children with a healthy sense of self-esteem feel that the important adults in their lives accept them, care about them, and would go out of their way to ensure that they are safe and well. Learn more...
How to Navigate the School System When Your Child Has a Disability
It is the parent's job to advocate for the best education that can be provided for thier child. Parents know their child and should be their cheerleader and supporter. Parent's involvement in their education will make all the difference for their children. Learn more...
How To Stop Arguing – and Start Talking – with Your ADHD Child
This article teaches parents to help children turn their ability to argue into a positive trait rather than a negative one. Learn more...
Hyperactivity
Hyperactivity, which is sometimes associated with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is defined as excessive physical activity or movements that have no purpose and are increased in speed. Learn more...
Impulse Control: The Early Years
Impulse control, sometimes called self-regulation, refers to a child's ability to control his or her behavior. An important part of growing up is learning how to show emotions at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. Children who learn to control their anger or frustration, and who use words to express their feelings, get along better with others. Learn more...
Infertility
Infertility means not being able to get pregnant after one year of trying (or six months if a woman is 35 or older). Women who can get pregnant but are unable to stay pregnant may also be infertile. Learn more...
Infidelity
Affairs can be devastating to a marriage and can cause tremendous emotional distress to the offended spouse and children in the marriage. Learn more...
Inhalant Abuse
Inhalants are chemical vapors that people inhale on purpose to get "high." The vapors produce mind-altering, and sometimes disastrous, effects. These vapors are in a variety of products, such as paints, glues, gasoline, and cleaning fluids, which are common in almost any home or workplace. Learn more...
Loneliness in Young Children
Lonely children may miss out on many opportunities to interact with their peers and to learn important lifelong skills. Learn more...
Optimism and Health
Some studies have revealed that individuals with an optimistic perspective on life generally have a more positive sense of their own well being, are less likely to experience anxiety, are less prone to depression, and live longer and healthier lives. Learn more...
Planning for Long Term Care
Although most older people are independent, some need help with everyday activities. For many people, regular or "long-term" care may mean a little help from family and friends or regular visits by a home health aide. For others who are frail or suffering from dementia, long-term care may involve moving to a place where professional care is available 24 hours a day. Learn more...
Stages of Adjustment to Divorce
Children's adjustment to divorce is a long process. Divorce does not happen all at once, either. It is a series of events and changes. At different points, children deal with different issues. Also, different children react to the same changes and situations in different ways. Some studies show that children react to divorce in three stages. Learn more...
Straight Facts About Drugs and Alcohol
Many signs, such as sudden changes in mood, difficulty in getting along with others, poor job or school performance, irritability, and depression, might be explained by causes other than drugs or alcohol. Unless you observe drug use or excessive drinking, it can be hard to determine the cause of these problems. A good first step is to contact a qualified alcohol and drug professional who can provide further advice. Learn more...
Symptoms of Emotional Damage to Children of High-Conflict Divorce
The long-term emotional damage to children as a result of the improper conduct of their parents during a divorce inhibits their ability to lead happy and productive lives within the society. Learn more...
Ten Ways to Be a Better Dad
Too many fathers think teaching is something others do, but a father who teaches his children about right and wrong, and encourages them to do their best, will see his children make good choices. Involved fathers use everyday examples to help their children learn the basic lessons of life. Learn more...
The “Healing Separation”
A Healing Separation is a structured time apart which can help a couple heal a relationship that isn't working. It can also help revitalize and renew a relationship that is working. A successful Healing Separation requires that both partners be committed to personal growth, and to creating healthier relationships with themselves and each other. Learn more...
The Numbers Count: Mental Health Disorders in America
Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. Learn more...
Tips for Dads: Practical Tips for Knowing Your Child
First, a father should listen to their children. Also, fathers should listen to their child's friends, teachers, coaches, and, especially, their mothers. All of these people see a different side of the child, and they will give dads insights they would have never noticed on their own. Learn more...
Tips for Helping the Child Who Expresses Anger
Some young people turn to violence, because they do not see other ways to endure what they are feeling at that moment. They may not anticipate the repercussions of their violence. Learn more...
Trading Spaces, Sharing Parents: Helping Your Child Adjust to Visitation
Parents experiences with a new stepfamily are often difficult, but the changes and transitions are just as difficult for children. One particular problem for the child during visitation is sharing parents. A child may be feeling like a visitor in the new home, especially if the new spouse's children live there and the visiting child lives elsewhere. Learn more...
Understanding Anger
People often confuse anger with aggression. Aggression is behavior that is intended to cause harm to another person or damage property. Anger, on the other hand, is an emotion and does not necessarily lead to aggression. Therefore, a person can become angry without acting aggressively. Learn more...
When A Child Is Dying
A team of psychologists, hospice professionals, social workers and spiritual counselors can be helpful to the family as they say their goodbyes to the dying child and prepare for what lies ahead. Learn more...
Why Step Relationships Aren’t Easy
When two people remarry and one or both have children, they do not have the luxury of simply marrying as partners. They must commit to the complexity of learning to marry as parents, too. This parental dimension to their union requires additional communication as they not only work out how to function as a couple, but as a family, as well. Learn more...