November 27, 2015 Dr. Keith: Can an 8-Year-Old Be a Murderer? Police in St. Johns, Ariz., allege that an 8-year-old boy gunned down his father, Vincent Romero, and his father's co-worker, Timothy Romans, using a .22-calibre rifle. They say the crime was planned and methodically carried out. Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek to try the 8-year-old as an adult.
November 27, 2015 Dr. Keith: The High Drama of a Presidential Election Barack Obama's historic election as president caps an unprecedented campaign that broke through racial and socioeconomic barriers and has changed America forever. His victory will fuel the self-esteem and hopes of many millions - not only minorities, but all those who yearn for the kind of interconnectedness that can only be achieved when each of us is judged for his or her inherent potential, not prejudged by prejudice of any kind. Obama's victory also comes at a time when truth and reality are under assault on many fronts. Americans are suffering the fallout of economic fictions that took hold of the mortgage and banking and financial management industries, much as they once distorted the valuations of Internet companies. The Internet itself and other technologies-like instant messaging-are cleaving us from the human nuances of face-to-face and even voice-to-voice communication. We are using prescribed medications at ever-increasing rates to quiet our unwieldy anxiety and mood swings and insomnia and distractibility. Illicit drug use is up, transporting increasing numbers of young people away from the facts of their lives, toward illusion. We are trading off insight for more and more potent doses of entertainment-obsessively tracking the chaotic (and often staged) lives of celebrities-rather than dealing with the real complications of our own lives. And we are editing our life stories into made-for-the-Web "profiles" that require that we become editors and broadcasters of who we are.
November 27, 2015 Dr. Keith: Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony Now that murder charges have been filed against Casey Anthony, the question of her underlying character is more important to answer than ever. Her 3-year-old daughter Caylee is allegedly dead, by her hands. This, after months of Casey lying to family, police and even the famed bail bondsman who sprung her from jail, convinced he could get her to tell the truth about her daughter's whereabouts.
November 27, 2015 Dr. Keith: How to Overcome Fear Whether it is a fear of intimacy, a fear of heights or fear of financial collapse, the roots of fear are the same, and so is the way to overcome it.
November 27, 2015 Dr. Keith: How to Deal With Seasonal Affective Disorder With the days getting shorter, and sunlight becoming more precious, millions of Americans will experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is actual depression that afflicts sufferers again and again during the fall and winter months (although others experience recurrent depression during the warmer seasons, instead). Symptoms typically include a decrease in mood, anxiety, low energy, trouble concentrating, an increased need for sleep, appetite changes (usually increased, including craving carbohydrates), decreased sexual feelings, hopelessness and a lack of interest in activities that the person used to enjoy. Like other forms of major depression, SAD can also trigger thoughts of suicide.
November 27, 2015 Dr. Keith: When the Economic Depression Turns Medically Depressing As Congress wrestles with the $700 billion bailout package, many proclaim the country is already suffering a depression. It is no accident that the word "depression" can be applied in an economic context, as well as a psychological one. The pathology and prognosis of an economy on the ropes and of a mind under siege have similarities that can learn from.
November 27, 2015 Dr. Keith: Change Your Life, Step 8 Take positive action.Change does not come without action.
November 27, 2015 The Psychology of Hurricane Gustav Hurricane Gustav's 110-mile-an-hour winds, punishing sheets of rain and funnel clouds would test the psyche of any city, but the fact that this hurricane is assaulting New Orleans means it carries the potential for deep and long-lasting psychological trauma to residents there.