With Father's Day just around the corner, it's a good moment to reflect on the role fathers play in their children's lives. While children benefit from the love and support of many important adults in their lives in different family structures, we here take a moment to recognize the unique contribution fathers and father figures make to their children's emotional development and well-being. Fatherhood is not about perfection. It is about connection. And for a child, that connection can become...

Social media can be a place for fun, connection, and creativity, but it can also amplify dangerous behaviors. A worrying trend has emerged on social media where teenagers are encouraged, or feel pressured, to self harm and share it online. Teens are in developmental vulnerability, emotional struggles, and the power of social influence, and it can have serious consequences on them. While self-injury among adolescents is not new, social media amplifies the risk by turning harm into a public,...

In my practice, the psychological process might includes the formulation of a diagnosis, which can evoke strong emotions as parents move between partial acknowledgment and denial. This article examines the clinical tension between the child as held in parental fantasy and the child as encountered in reality following a psychological or developmental diagnosis. From a psychoanalytic and psychodynamic perspective, parental denial is understood not simply as resistance, but as a defensive...