Title: Time For Connection Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D. E-mail: mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com Copyright: © 2003 by Margaret Paul Web Address: http://www.innerbonding.com Word Count: 631 Category: Relationships

TIME FOR CONNECTION By Margaret Paul, Ph.D.

Gretta and David fell deeply in love in their mid 50’s. They were both astounded at level of passion they experienced.

At beginning of their relationship, nothing got in way of their time together - not chores, children, work, friends, or "stuff". Nothing was more important than their time together.

However, when they got married and started living together, their passion seemed to fall by wayside. Sometimes they didn’t make love for weeks at a time. They called me for a session to see what was wrong.

Half way into session, David hit nail on head. "We never seem to have time for each other anymore."

"What are you doing with your time now?" I asked. "Getting stuff done," they answered.

"Why is getting stuff done more important than time together?" I asked.

As we explored this question, both Gretta and David discovered that they had been brought up with a strong work ethic: "Get everything done before relaxing." "Work before play." What they didn’t realize was that their "doing" was in way of their "being." Without having time to be, they had no emotional and spiritual connection with each other, or with themselves. Without their connection, there was no desire to express themselves sexually, especially for Gretta. Gretta complained that she didn’t feel connected with David and didn’t enjoy sex without connection, yet she made no room in her day for time to connect.

Title: DEPRESSION OR A MEDICAL CONDITION? Author: Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW E-mail: mailto:editor@overcoming-depression.com Copyright: by Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW Web Address: http://www.Overcoming-Depression.com Word Count: 528 Category: DEPRESSION

DEPRESSION OR A MEDICAL CONDITION?

Are you suffering from depression or a medical condition? Depression can be a symptom of an undiagnosed medical condition.

Decision trees are used in psychotherapy much like they are in other professions. At top of decision tree are always two items to rule out FIRST, before making a mental health diagnosis.

1. A general medical condition or

2. A chemical dependency

As a rule-of-thumb if it has been longer than 2 years since you have had a thorough medical examination it's time to call and schedule that appointment. Please, don't put it off until tomorrow, do it today (Are you hearing that gentlemen?) ;-)

When I speak of "thorough medical examination" I mean actual physical exam given by your family doctor and a full blood workup as well.

There are many diseases and medical issues that can cause depressive symptoms. Common ones include: AIDS, anemia, cancer, congestive heart failure, diabetes, infectious hepatitis, malnutrition, MS, rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid conditions.

The order of this decision tree is very important. You don't want to treat what you think is a depression problem, if there's a medical condition going unnoticed, untreated and becoming worse.