By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. In this seventh month, on the seventeenth day it seems appropriate to take the Problogger 7 link challenge.  It’s a good  time to review old posts and share some highlights of our work over the last few years.  Here are 7 links that fit into seven themes picked by Problogger’s Darren [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. We Americans are a worried bunch. News reports of plummeting financial markets, high unemployment, oil slicks and other disasters give us ample concern for the future. As a family therapist I see children as young as 10 worried about global warming, crime and the affordability of college. At 10 that’s a [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. Many years ago, as a lonely starving student, I took a walk to get away from my dingy apartment and my blue mood.  I saw a rumpled flyer on the wall of a store.  It read “Volunteers needed for suicide prevention hotline and food bank.  No experience necessary.  Training provided.  Call [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. In the iconic 1967 film, Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman delivers the classic line, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”  Since then the line appears in movies, songs and the daily lives of humans everywhere.  Some communication failures can be kind of cute.  When my daughter was three [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. John got to work a little earlier so he could finish his report at a research institution before the rest of the staff arrived.  As he entered the windowed office he was surprised to see two colleagues leave his work station.  He touched his computer.  It felt warm.  He booted it [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. Chelsea King, 17, went for a jog after school last Thursday.  Her body was found Tuesday in a shallow grave a half mile from her car.  Chelsea was a straight A student, an athlete and a musician in the prestigious San Diego Youth Symphony. Beloved by many for her charming personality, [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. It poses quite a challenge to an anger management professional when your website gets hacked.  That’s exactly what happened to us two weeks ago.  Some lonely soul with too much time on his hacker hands sent visitors to our site on a joy ride through Chinese websites.  The hack sidelined our [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. Most baby boomers will switch jobs 10 times in their life, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ideas about corporate loyalty and job security seem quaint and antiquated now. Today everyone is a free agent. When job competition appears steep and jobs are scarce, a bad boss can mess [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. The 2009 Road Rage Award goes to Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson, 59. The doctor wins for speeding past two cyclists, slamming on his brakes, causing one to hit the rear window of his red Infiniti, and the other to suffer a separated shoulder. Dr. Thompson, unable to bear the (one-second, two-seconds, [...]

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By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. At the start of a new year, news outlets, psychics and financial analysts give their predictions for the new year. Psychic Sylvia Browne predicts 2010 will bring an increase in childhood skin cancer and a cure for the common cold. CNN predicts web trends like more television starts coming to us [...]

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