Coping with your less-than-ideal family during the season of thanks and joy           0 inShare   Published on November 18, 2013   It’s not even Thanksgiving, but Christmas is everywhere in New York City, as it has been since the day after Halloween.  I no longer dread the holidays the way I once did but the idealized image —of that big, happy, smiling family—still eludes me, as it did during my childhood and later.  For unloved daughters and sons, the stress of the holidays sweeps in much more than the nuisance of crowded stores, piped-in joys, worries about money or pleasing everyone with the right gift.…

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY                  It is generally held that the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (BD) are at risk for BD. The degree of risk is an important question for both clinicians and parents. A recent study of bipolar offspring by Birmaher and colleagues1 sheds light on this issue. These authors compared the lifetime prevalence of bipolar and other psychiatric disorders in children whose parents had–or did not have–BD. The study involved 233 parents with BD and their 388 offspring and a control group of 143 parents without BD and their 251 offspring. Parents with BD were recruited from outpatient clinics…

    Facts for Families   Starting school is a major milestone for children and parents. School is a place away from home where a child will have some of his greatest challenges, successes, failures, and embarrassments. Because school is beyond the control of parents, it can be stressful for both the child and the parents. At school, a child will learn about how the world works, about appropriate social interactions, and about people outside his family. He will learn about himself, his strengths, weaknesses, interests, and who he is socially. He will have to perform in a way that he never has had to at home. He has to…

Field Guide to Families Nurturing strong relationships—one issue at a timeby Lynne Griffin, R.N., M.Ed. Something for every reader in your family     Published on June 25, 2012 by Lynne Griffin, R.N., M.Ed. in Field Guide to Families Nothing says summer like a day at the beach with a tote full of books. Check out the picks I shared on Boston’s Fox Morning News for great escapes through reading. The list has something for everyone in your family.