Norman J. Fried, Ph.D., is the Director of Psychosocial Services for The Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Withrop University Hospital on Long Island, New York. A Clinical Psychologist with graduate degrees from Emory University, he has also taught in the Graduate School at St. John's University and the Medical School of New York University, and has been a Fellow in Clinical and Pediatric Psychology at Harvard Medical School. He has a private practice in grief and bereavement and lives in Roslyn, New York, with his wife and three sons. He is the author of The Angel Letters: Lessons That Dying Can Teach Us About Living (Ivan R. Dee).

For the mothers and fathers of cyclone victims in Myanmar and those of earthquake victims in China, grief, and the strength needed to endure human suffering, will not be a linear process. It will more likely resemble a spiral staircase on which are recapitulated themes of shock, disbelief, denial, anger, panic, and the hope for eventual inner solace. And women will grieve differently than men …

» Read more of Life in the Wake of Natural Disasters

Mother’s Day poses challenges for all parents who have lost a child, be it through wartime battle, disease, accident or suicide. The celebration of love and life that grows through honoring our mothers makes us vulnerable to the pain of any loss, and some memories are not easy to forget.

» Read more of Mother’s Day and the Iraq War

When the Associated Press posted an article on April 16 about Tricia Walsh-Smith and her public tirade on YouTube, the world had the chance to see the angry side of a crumbling marriage straight from their PCs. In the video she lashes out against her husband, Broadway theatre executive Philip Smith, in a steady spate of negative and personal details about their failed sex life and marital woes.

» Read more of Cyber-rage: Tricia Walsh-Smith & Dirty Laundry on the Web

Damien Cave’s article in Saturday’s New York Times presents a disturbing sequel to my earlier post on Dan Barry’s Times article last month, which highlighted 16-year-old Billy Wolfe, a frequently bullied Arkansas teen who was the subject of repeated school violence. In Saturday’s article, Cave reports on the story gaining international attention: the violent beating of a classmate and how it was filmed for the Internet.

» Read more of Cyberbullying: The Problem (and Kids) We Ignore, Part 2

The headlines on the front page of the New York Times for Monday, March 31, tell the story of Eric Hall, a 24-year-old American veteran of the war in Iraq, and about the life he led after his return home from his tour of duty. In his article “Tracking a Marine Lost at Home,” Damien Cave writes about how Mr. Hall disappeared and eventually died in the woods of Southwest Florida after experiencing a “flashback” in which he feared Iraqi insurgents were surrounding him…

» Read more of The Often Long Journey Home From War: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

After reading Dan Barry’s New York Times front-page article yesterday entitled “A Boy the Bullies Love To Beat Up, Repeatedly,” I am struck by the realization that the problem of bullying still persists in our schools and with little improvement. Metal detectors and security cameras have indeed attempted to reduce the presence of weapons and crimes in many high schools across the nation, yet the problem of bullying remains viable and insidious nonetheless.

» Read more of Bullying: The Problem (and Kids) We Ignore

As David A. Paterson begins his first true day as New York State’s 55th governor (amid revelations of his own marital indiscretions from 1999 through 2002), and as his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, dismantles what is left of his once stellar career, we are left with the question, “Why?” Why do people who have so much to lose take risks that would bring upon their own downfall?

» Read more of Sex, Power, and Spitzer’s Downfall: Another Case of Narcissism?

Daphne Merkin writes about television’s recent interest in psychotherapy in her New York Times Magazine article on Sunday, January 27. In it, she describes the therapeutic encounter as a “painful drama” in which a professional “trained in the art of paying close attention” listens to someone “trained in the arts of repression and denial.”

Ms. Merkin’s view of the therapeutic journey is highly misguided and sadly myopic.

» Read more of Psychotherapy is Malarky? Malarky!

The shooting incident at SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, Ohio, on Wednesday is the second in a string of violent attacks on young people across the U.S. this week. On Monday six young people were shot to death by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy in Wisconsin. Both incidents are eerily similar to the killings at Virginia Tech, Delaware State University, and Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

» Read more of Guns, Schools, and Mayhem: A Most Cruel Week

In reading a New York Times article about today’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks, I was struck by a reporter’s use of the term “shelf life” in describing the grief responses of the families of the fallen. Is there really a “shelf life” on grief?

» Read more of September 11 and the “Shelf Life” of Grief