Jed Diamond, Ph.D.

Men and women of all ages are affected by stress-related depression caused by continuing economic decline. However, I have found that mid-life men are particularly vulnerable. In the most extreme cases, emotionally unstable men can resort to violence directed at themselves and others. Read more…

Oprah is mad as hell and she isn't going to take it anymore.  Once again she lost a bunch of weight, looked good and felt great.  And once again she put on a bunch of weight, looked fat and felt awful.  She's certainly not alone.  Studies show that in our lifetime 7 out of 10 women and 9 out of 10 men will become overweight.  We've all been on the latest diet, taken off some poundage and promptly put it back on again.  But if Oprah, with all her high-tech trainers can't keep the weight off, what hope is there for us? Read more…

We're Running Ourselves Ragged

As a psychotherapist who has been helping people deal with the stresses of life for more than 40 years, I see everyday the ways in which the "American Dream" has become a nightmare. More and more people feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and depressed. They run harder and faster to stay ahead, but seem to be falling farther and farther behind.

"I appear be successful," a 43 year-old man told me, "but in truth I feel terrified. I have a good job, but I don't feel secure. In this economy, I know I could lose it at any time. We have money in the bank, but we spend a lot, and if I didn't keep working, we would crash pretty fast. I feel totally frazzled." Read more…

You don't have to be a social science researcher or psychotherapist to recognize that things are falling apart. You just have to be alive and willing to see the world as it is and not withdraw into drugs, alcohol, over-eating, television, movies or other readily available escapes.  OK, let's be honest. Things can get overwhelming and we need some escapes. Otherwise we'd become suicidal. Read more…

Most people these days feel like they're under stress at work. If we're not worried about losing our jobs, we're taking on extra work because other people have left. It seems that work stress has become a fact of life.

According to Dr. Richard O'Connor, author of "Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness," anxiety, depression, addiction, nonspecific illness, personality extremes, and much of the worry that besets all of us -- are all the tips of the same iceberg, all manifestations of our response to the stresses of contemporary life, all connected beneath the surface, all reinforcing and buttressing each other. Read more…

"Dear Abby:

"I am a 50-year-old man who has been married for 22 years. My wife and I have two wonderful teenage children. About six months ago, my wife's niece (I'll call her Rene), whom I had never met, came from another country to live with us so she could go to college in the United States. She is in her early 20s."

As I read Abigail Van Buren's "Dear Abby" column in my local newspaper, I shook my head and thought, "Here's another family headed for trouble." The man's letter continued: Read more…

I still remember growing up and being taunted because I threw the ball "like a girl." Most boys have some experience of being shamed for acting in a way that other boys interpreted as "feminine." It's no wonder that years later, men would be slow to accept the idea of "male menopause."

Nevertheless, all men go through a change of life that has a hormonal basis, just as women do. It has been called "andropause," "PADAM" (Partial Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male) or "ADAM" (Androgen Deficiency in the Adult Male). Whatever we call it, if we're age 40 or older, we must deal with it. Symptoms include irritability, fatigue, erectile dysfunction, and changes in sexual desire. Read more…

I see more and more midlife males who go from "Mr. Nice Guy" to the "Husband From Hell," seemingly overnight. It was only after years of my own denial that my wife Carlin finally helped me see the change in myself. Read more…