What to Expect When You Get the Unexpected

Psychiatry

What Mental Illness Costs, Part II

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on September 3, 2014

Here is the dirty little secret of psychiatric disability: no matter who you are or where you live, eventually it catches up with your wallet.

Here is the dirty little secret of psychiatric disability: no matter who you are or where you live, eventually it catches up with your wallet.

Relationships

What Mental Illness Costs

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on September 2, 2014

There are times when the two full-time jobs you have to do, one for love, one so you can pay the hospitals and clinical practices that circumscribe your world, prevent you from self-care of any sort--and you suspect you might not have brushed your teeth in more than a month.

There are times when the two full-time jobs you have to do, one for love, one so you can pay the hospitals and clinical practices that circumscribe your world, prevent you from self-care of any sort--and you suspect you might not have brushed your teeth in more than a month.

Pregnancy

The Parent Trap

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on August 29, 2014

While "The Parent Trap" operates on the principle that crisis and discord are more interesting than harmony, and allows the former to occupy center stage for a good while before banishing them to the cellar, the "What To Expect" books gloss over the dysfunctional, the fretful, and the sad, in pregnancy and in young families’ lives.

While "The Parent Trap" operates on the principle that crisis and discord are more interesting than harmony, and allows the former to occupy center stage for a good while before banishing them to the cellar, the "What To Expect" books gloss over the dysfunctional, the fretful, and the sad, in pregnancy and in young families’ lives.

Asperger's Syndrome

On the Physics of Absorbing Unexpected Blows

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on August 27, 2014

If you are human, you have squared off against adversity. Sometimes you've won, sometimes you've lost.

If you are human, you have squared off against adversity. Sometimes you've won, sometimes you've lost.

Creativity

Do Depressives Make the Best Artists?

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on August 25, 2014

However you slice it, there's ample evidence that fretful minds and roiling psyches are sufficient conditions for the creation of compelling art.

However you slice it, there's ample evidence that fretful minds and roiling psyches are sufficient conditions for the creation of compelling art.

Anxiety

5 Reasons To Check In With Your Child’s Guidance Counselor

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on August 22, 2014

Childhood anxiety and depression often make their first appearance in response to school-related triggers.

Childhood anxiety and depression often make their first appearance in response to school-related triggers.

Psychiatry

In Praise of Oddballs and Unexpected Flavors

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on August 20, 2014

I have always told my kids that it’s good to be a little crazy. Crazy is INTERESTING, I remind them. I've had to say it to save face, because we are basically a family of oddballs.

I have always told my kids that it’s good to be a little crazy. Crazy is INTERESTING, I remind them. I've had to say it to save face, because we are basically a family of oddballs.

Child Development

Words That Hurt, Words That Heal

Deborah Vlock Ph.D. on August 18, 2014

That was the day four lives irrevocably changed: Ben’s, my husband’s, our daughter Saskia’s, and mine. It was far from our first day of struggle. But it was the first day Lars and I finally grasped that we were parenting a child with some kind of mental illness.

That was the day four lives irrevocably changed: Ben’s, my husband’s, our daughter Saskia’s, and mine. It was far from our first day of struggle. But it was the first day Lars and I finally grasped that we were parenting a child with some kind of mental illness.