Dear Dr. Hurd,I am the primary caretaker of my aging mother. My efforts and sadness are compounded by the fact that she is suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s. Unlike death, where you grieve and then, in time, return to your daily … Continue reading
Category: Life’s a Beach!
Going outside your head
Dear Dr. Hurd, I enjoyed your recent article where you wrote, ‘How you feel is determined by how you think. Think better, feel better. ‘ And it works every time.’ But I wonder if that doesn’t open the door to … Continue reading
Imaginative Overeating
We humans are imaginative creatures. On a moment’s notice, we can dig up convincing reasons to do just about anything. Take overeating, for example. We have perfected a long list of motives for eating to excess — over and above … Continue reading
Rejection can be OK
Success is wonderful. We all want it. But the road to success can sometimes be blocked by failure. Detouring around those roadblocks can be a challenge, but it’s not without its rewards. In her article ‘Inspirational Stories of Famous Failures … Continue reading
Fears Won’t Kill You
I spend a lot of time in these pages talking about how you can change the way you feel about something by changing the way you think. I’m not talking about fooling yourself or rationalizing; I’m talking about considering the … Continue reading
How good is “good enough?”
A Delaware Wave reader emails that her father always cautioned her that ‘the grass is always greener,’ i.e., that she should always search for something better than what she already has. She wonders if endlessly searching for ‘something better’ could … Continue reading
Has your marriage gone stale?
Dear Dr. Hurd,My husband and I have been married for 10 years. Recently, I’ve become close to an old high school buddy who moved back to our home town. This friend happens to be gay, so there’s no reason for … Continue reading
Is Life Unfair?
A long-time ‘Life’s a Beach’ reader emails: ‘I have friends who are in relationships and have no qualms about cheating. If I even had a partner, I’d be respectful of him and would never lie. It just doesn’t seem right … Continue reading
The fallacy of “helping”
Dear Dr. Hurd,My family has been encouraging my brother to seek psychotherapy for some problems we feel that he has, and his doctor agrees with us. My brother is resistant to that, and we can’t understand why he doesn’t see … Continue reading
Is Road Rage just bad manners?
More than just another media catch phrase, ‘Road Rage’ now describes one of the more recent ‘diseases’ to be foisted upon us by some members of the mental health profession. To make it a little more official, they’ve named our … Continue reading
Should teens pay their own way?
A reader of this column writes, ‘I’m frustrated with my teenage son. Is it unfair for me to remind him that, while independence is great and that I encourage it, I am still paying for everything, and that he’s obligated … Continue reading
Pills aren’t the answer
Dear Dr. Hurd, I’ve been down and depressed for a while now. My doctor wrote me a prescription for some pills, and says my depression is a disease. But I feel that the problem is more emotional than medical. I … Continue reading