![](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/elaine.jpg)
A book by its cover
I often have to refer a patient to another therapist. It’s hard enough to turn someone away because I know [...]
![](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/ELAINE.jpg)
Peace through Taiko
I recently heard a performance of Japanese "Taiko" drumming that had a very strange and unexpected effect on me. While [...]
![](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/elaine.jpg)
Antidepressant temperance
A patient is having great difficulty in finishing university. She is deeply depressed, can't get out of bed, is failing [...]
![](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bread.jpg)
Learning from bread
Making good bread demands painstaking attention, and some of its principles apply to the concept of growth itself.
![](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/article_5753_dlsIftXyiF.jpg)
Condominium blues
In Rome, every building has its own patron saint of troublemaking, and he's always right.
![Airports tax adults to the limit, and sometimes beyond.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/article_5723_GPZcfdFj6O.jpg)
Annoying at any age
Some parents unfairly bash their kids for misbehaving in endless airport lines. But who wouldn’t be bored, if not exasperated?
![Non-verbal work carries its own satisfactions.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/article_5696_Nbdcv7GBjD.jpg)
The mind and the matter
Making holiday cookies and decorations, very much manual labor, can have significance deeper than the simple joy of their making.
![Busy times make for surrogate "parents."](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/article_5681_y5VjsoYgbr.jpg)
Home economics
Despite feminism and greater movement toward gender equality, a mother's role still lacks vital social (and financial) prestige.
![The eye, and voice, of the beholder.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5658_oGyCQwDnlm.jpg)
Vantage point
Too many stories that play a critical role in therapy are based entirely on adult perspectives.
![Making up games can help with school subjects.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5636_nLwCS9r.jpg)
Playtime lessons
Playtime is vital to a child, since those deprived of it are likely to rush into adulthood thinking of relaxation as a bad thing.
![Young athletes are pushed beyond most known limits.](https://theamericanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/article_5612_oO9UQHBnGF.jpg)
Child slavery
The relationship between sports and kids gets dicey when the competition calls for relentless practice and ignoring pain.