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Guest post from Dr. Dennis Ortman: EMBRACING DISAGREEMENT

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  “My actions are the ground upon which I stand.” --Five Remembrances   “We Americans are suffering an epidemic of loneliness,” commentators observe. Many reasons are suggested for our social isolation: the pandemic, our obsession with social media, our excessive individualism, our competitiveness, and so forth. I can validate this assessment in my work as a clinical psychologist. Many of my patients complain: “I’m depressed and so lonely. I feel disconnected from others, and even from myself. I don’t know how to be intimate. I’m not comfortable in my own skin.” Of course, the antidote to loneliness is having good conversations, both with ourselves and with others. We experience a sense of joy and meaning in life when we feel close to those we love. Intimate relationships grow through our communicating with others at ever deeper levels about what matters to us. We listen with an open mind and heart and reveal our deepest thoughts and feelings. However, such closeness...
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Economic Insecurity and Depression

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  Economic insecurity is not just about money. It is about the nervous system living in a state of perpetual “what if.” What if the job disappears. What if the rent rises. What if the car breaks down. What if one unexpected bill unravels the whole month. Depression often grows in the shadow of these uncertainties, where survival worries slowly become emotional burdens. What It Is Economic insecurity is the chronic stress of unstable income, unpredictable expenses, or insufficient financial cushion. It is the experience of living close to the edge — where every decision carries weight, and every setback feels personal. Even when people work hard, the ground beneath them can feel unsteady. How It Contributes to Depression Economic strain reshapes the emotional landscape. Chronic stress becomes baseline : The body stays in a heightened state of vigilance, wearing down resilience. Sense of agency erodes : When effort doesn’t reliably lead to stability, people begin to feel powerless. S...
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Building Functional Families in Complex Realities: When Some Children Are Disabled — Building Empathy Without Resentment

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  Families with disabled children live in a rhythm most people never see. There is the ordinary rhythm — school, meals, chores, laughter. And then there is the urgent rhythm — appointments, therapies, equipment failures, medical crises that arrive without warning. Parents learn to move between these two time zones with practiced grace. Children, however, often see only one thing: who gets the most attention. And attention, to a child, is the currency of love. This is where resentment can quietly take root. Not because siblings lack empathy, but because they lack context. They see the time you spend suctioning, lifting, soothing, or driving to specialists. They don’t see the emotional cost you’re carrying, or the guilt you feel for the minutes you can’t give them. They don’t know that you fall asleep worrying about all of them equally. The good news is that resentment is preventable — not by dividing your time evenly, but by making love visible in ways children can understand. Name ...
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