Telluride-based Dr. Susannah Smith goes in-depth to parse gender pronouns. Are you a she, he, or they? And how does one know? We as a society and community are beginning to shift our awareness: not everyone fits into the binary, heterosexual stereotypes that we grew up with. Our...
Telluride-based Dr. Susannah Smith goes in-depth to explain domestic violence. Domestic Violence (DV) and Interpartner Violence (IPV) are concepts we hear about and refer to, but often do not fully understand. To begin with, there are many different types and reasons for domestic or interpartner violence....
PTSD is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Susannah Smith speaks out on the subject. In order to be diagnosed with PTSD, a person has to have “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence….” (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V). Exposure can be by...
In the circle of forensic evaluators, and families dealing with parental alienation issues, the fact that alienation exists is quite real. Dr. Susannah Smith speaks out on the subject. There was some concern about “Parental Alienation Syndrome” or PAS, which developed as a result of a...
We all know challenges arise from being strapped financially and trying to raise children. We may not be as familiar, however, with issues that surface around children of affluence. Children brought up in wealthy households sometimes feel isolated and different and are often treated as strange...
The recent spate of accusations of sexual assault has shocked and alerted the people of our country and the members of the Telluride community. In the following blog for Shrink Rap, Dr. Susannah Smith goes deep into that difficult subject. What has become clear to all...
I wrote previously about the codependent and dependent personalities. We find that codependency is created by the family system. Codependency is a set of behaviors and attitudes that form a diagnosable complex: codependent people are overly responsible; they want and try to please everyone; they are...
The terms “codependent” and “dependent” have relatively new meanings in the vocabulary of personality and mental health issues. While the “dependent personality disorder” is an actual diagnosis for mental illness from the diagnostic and statistical manuals we use today, in the jargon of dependency and...
Most of us were raised to believe that giving to others is the generous and ethical thing to do. However, there are times when giving is not only inappropriate, it could be destructive for the recipient. Coming to someone’s aid is not always the best way...
Accessibility to mental health care is more and more in the news, especially in light of all the mass shootings and bombings that now seem to be daily affairs. When I listen to journalists and newscasters discuss accessibility to care, they focus on the stigma associated...
