n his book, “Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety”, Daniel Smith discusses anxiety and the myriads of ways it has affected his life. Just as his father’s anxiety was completely different from his mother’s, David’s anxiety is completely different from his brother’s.

Do you take things a little too personally? Do you become very defensive? At times, we all do, but a new discovery shows that many people are born “highly sensitive”. Using brain activation studies, researchers at Stony Brook University have proven that hyper-sensitive people are genetically different from people with a normal degree of sensitivity.

Samantha Brick, a 41-year old writer, is happy, has bright cheerful eyes, an air of confidence and loves to smile. She carries herself with pride and views herself positively. Her self-proclaimed beauty, however, is drawing bitter criticism from the media.

What began as an information gathering project has become a four year experiment. Once a month, six women meet at the home of Wendy Wilson, clinical social worker and psychoanalyst, to discuss their aging experiences.

Despite our advances in other areas of medicine and our acceptance of those who suffer from physical challenges or disease, misunderstanding and the stigma attached to those who suffer from mental illness abound.

How much therapy is enough? One study found that patients improved most dramatically between their seventh and tenth sessions. Another study looked at 2,000 people who had from 1 to 12 sessions, and found that 88% improved after one session, with the rate dropping to 62% after 12.

Living alone is one of the least discussed and most poorly understood issues of our time. Although some regard living alone as anathema, living alone is “the most prominent residential type.” In his book, Going Solo, Eric Klinenberg explores the history of and the social attitudes toward living alone.

Self-punishment learned in childhood can continue into adulthood and is common even in people who are psychologically healthy. There are three major reasons why people punish themselves. Some feel they deserve to suffer and others feel that suffering will make them a better person.

According to research, autonomy, which is the desire to make choices according to our own free will, is hardwired in all of us. External pressures from other people, internal pressures, like guilt or shame, or anything that causes us to feel coerced can quickly cause our feelings of autonomy to vanish.

There’s an old story about a man who buys a beautiful suit that will only fit if he “wears it properly”. According to the suit maker he should bend his knee, pull his arm up, bend his elbow and raise his shoulders almost to his ears. In this position the suit fits perfectly.

A recent study has shown that a person’s heart attack symptoms after they’ve lost a loved one shouldn’t be dismissed as “just” a psychological reaction to grief. The stress of losing a loved one appears to significantly increase one’s risk for heart attack, especially for those already at high risk for heart problems.