Therapists who work in the frum community often report a dramatic increase in patients’ anxiety symptoms during the month of Elul. Patients who are, in general, prone to anxiety will often experience a sense of impending doom especially after failed attempts at...
Articles
The Role of Parents in the Current Crisis of “Off the Derech” Adolescents: Dare We Discuss It? Can We Afford Not To?
The frum community has been struggling with the problem of rebellious adolescents. Many factors have been cited as possible causes for this problem. A prominent therapist recently stated at a professional conference that we currently do not know what causes this...
Why Can’t He Just Move On?
“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” – William Faulkner, 1951 When explaining why some people require therapy in order to overcome past traumas, I am often challenged with the following: "Many people have had difficulties in their upbringings. What they do is...
Rebellious or Individualist: When the Apple Falls Far From the Tree
[An Interview] [Excerpts from the article:] In “My Son’s Different Path,” a fascinating article published recently by Aish Hatorah, Heather Desilva tells of her experience as a secular mother whose son has chosen to become frum. Describing the dilemma she grappled...
Beginning the Healing Process
“It can happen in the best of families” is an expression often heard in regard to rebellious teenagers. Indeed, when a teenager goes “off the derech,” we tend to blame the teenager himself, bad friends or negative influences. We tell ourselves that even a youngster...
Admonishing Without Destroying
A young couple become parents. They begin to imagine all the positive and uplifting interactions they will have with their children. Admonishing and criticizing children is most likely not part of this blissful scene. Unfortunately, the reality of life and the chinuch...
Is Self-esteem Synonymous with Gaavah?
In a March 2011 issue of Hamodia Magazine, a writer who described himself as a “Yeshiva high school teacher and life coach” wrote an article titled “The Self-Esteem Mirage.” In this article, the author states: “The self-esteem movement is exactly the opposite of...
Corporal Punishment: Have the Times Changed?
Some people have questioned the contemporary, positive, and more gentle approach in chinuch advocated by most gedolim and mechanchim from the gemara in Kesuvos 50a which recommends using a harsh approach when learning with children over the age of 12, including...
The Impact of Marital Disharmony on Children
Through the Eyes of a Frightened Child Mishpacha Magazine, 08/29/2007 p. 64 By: Rabbi Yakov Horowitz [Introductory comment by Rabbi Yakov Horowitz: Recently, I posted a comment on my website inviting teens-at-risk to submit essays to my private email address sharing...
Over-Involvement by In-Laws: Recipe for Disaster
Rabbonim and marriage counselors who deal with matrimonial issues report that the over-involvement of parents and in-laws in the lives of their married children is a frequent cause of marital conflict. Even when this over-involvement is not the actual cause of the...