Dear Therapist: We Set a Deadline to Decide About Marriage, and We Still Don’t Know
It’s been almost two years; am I wasting my time?
Dear Therapist: My Daughter’s ‘Brother’ Is Actually Her Father
After 30 years, I want to tell her the truth, but I don’t know how.
Dear Therapist: Can I Cut My Mom Off From My Children If She Won’t Seek Therapy?
She hasn’t been a great parent to me, and I don’t want her repeating those patterns with my future kids.
Dear Therapist: How Do I Hold Boundaries With My Sister at Christmas?
I don’t want a relationship with her, but my parents want us to make up.
Dear Therapist: My Brother-in-Law Is a Thanksgiving Freeloader
Do I have to invite him this year?
Dear Therapist: I Don’t Think I Can Accept My Boyfriend’s Past
Seeing photos with his ex-wife and kids pushed me over the edge.
Dear Therapist: We’re Cutting My Husband’s Parents Out of Our Lives
How do we explain the estrangement to our kids?
Dear Therapist: I Don’t Know How to Help My Best Friend Through Her Divorce
She’s making some unhealthy choices, and it’s hard to watch.
Dear Therapist: My Daughter-in-Law Is Posting Nasty Things About Me Online
She seems to find fault with everything I do.
Dear Therapist: My Daughter’s Boundaries Are Preventing Us From Having a Relationship
I have felt for many years that she has kept me at arm’s length, and it seems to have worsened recently.
Dear Therapist: My Dad Is Trying to Force His Way Into My Life
I’ve told him that I don’t want to talk to him, but he won’t leave me alone.
Dear Therapist: Why Can’t My Wife Pretend to Like My Family?
I feel like I am stuck in a fight I don’t want to have.
Dear Therapist: My Husband Secretly Donated Sperm. Now There’s a Kid.
I feel betrayed and angry that he kept this from me for so many years.
Dear Therapist: I Can’t Turn to My Mom for Support After My Dad’s Death
I don’t want to burden her when she’s going through such a difficult time, but I need to talk to her about my grief.
How to Show ‘Wise Compassion’ to Struggling Loved Ones
Being truly supportive of someone who is in pain requires strength, patience, self-knowledge, and discipline, “Dear Therapist” writes.
Why In-Law Relationships Can Be So Challenging
Tough conversations provide opportunities for pain and conflict, but also for growth and healing, “Dear Therapist” writes.
The Paradox of Grief
Loss often feels utterly isolating, but seeking out connection and support can help you find a way forward, “Dear Therapist” writes.
12 Pieces of Advice for Better Parenting
Parent-child relationships are constantly evolving, and as children grow, “Dear Therapist” writes, parents have to recalibrate what their role is.
9 Pieces of Advice to Help You See Relationships More Clearly
In some cases, “Dear Therapist” columns help us understand a situation from another person’s point of view; in others, they give us the language we need to name a situation.
Dear Therapist’s Guide to Dealing With Regret
Moving forward doesn’t mean leaving the past behind—it means figuring out how to make sense of it in the present.
Dear Therapist’s Guide to Love and Relationships
Talking honestly and openly won’t necessarily save a troubled relationship, but doing so can clarify whether one can and should be saved.
Dear Therapist’s Guide to Starting Over
Change can bring on a mixture of feelings; compassion is how you navigate them.
Dear Therapist: I Can’t Accept My Father’s Death From COVID-19
I was not there for his last breaths. I was not there for his last words. I’m trying to combat my guilt.
Dear Therapist: Christmas With My Divorced Parents Is Getting Harder
Every holiday season, my siblings and I divide our time between them.
Dear Therapist: I Was the Other Woman
I know I sound naive, but this wasn’t like a “normal” affair.
Dear Therapist: Should I Give My Adult Children More Money?
They’re both angry at me, and I want to mend our relationship.
Dear Therapist: My Parents Won’t Let Me Tell My Brother I’m Gay
How can I be open and honest with him when he doesn’t know who I am?
Dear Therapist: I’m Shattered by My Husband’s Sexts
They’re many years old, but they’ve totally upended my world.
Dear Therapist: I Had a Great Relationship With My In-Laws. Then Everything Changed.
They are judging me for not being a good mom, for not having a job, and for not losing my pregnancy weight fast enough.
Dear Therapist: Should I Just Accept That My Relationship With My Mom Is Beyond Repair?
I’m getting married, and I want her to be a part of my life.
Dear Therapist: My Boyfriend Is Sending Me Mixed Signals
I am incredibly worried that he’s not on the same page as me about moving our relationship forward.
Dear Therapist: My Sister-in-Law Said the Most Painful Thing to Me, and I Can’t Let It Go
She told me she would never want a child like my daughter.
Dear Therapist: My Daughter’s Family Asks So Much of Us Without Giving Anything in Return
Any time I want to talk with my daughter about an issue between us, she tells me she doesn’t have time and it’s not a priority for her.
Dear Therapist: My Boyfriend Wants Me to Destroy My Precious Scrapbook From My First Marriage
He seems to think that because I don’t completely hate my ex, I must still love him.
Dear Therapist: I Am a Single Man. My Daughter’s Friends Aren’t Allowed to Visit My House.
I have extended a standing invitation to her friends to visit for playdates or sleepovers, but none has ever come.
Dear Therapist: I’m Having an Affair and I’ve Never Been Happier. Should I Confess?
I feel incredibly guilty and am worried that if we come clean, we will lose the respect of our children and become pariahs in our community.
Dear Therapist: My Mom Won’t Stop Pressuring Me to Get Better Grades
I’ve wanted to address this with her for a while now, but I’m afraid she’ll scold me.
Dear Therapist: I Blame Myself for My Son’s Death
I can’t stop thinking about how much he suffered—and my own inability to save him.
Dear Therapist: Should My Parents Get Divorced?
I’ve known that my parents haven’t gotten along. They are polar opposites.
Dear Therapist: My Family Takes Offense at Everything My Husband Does
I can’t help but think he’s the cause of the growing rift with my relatives.
Dear Therapist: I Love My Girlfriend, but I Asked Her to Move Out
I do not want to lose her and I miss her terribly, but I believe I had no other choice.
Dear Therapist: I Don’t Want My Sister in My Bridal Party
My entire nuclear family is incredibly angry with me.
Dear Therapist: Is My Middle Child a Monster?
I’m so tired of people seeing only her bad traits.
Dear Therapist: My Husband Doesn’t Want Another Kid, so I’m Considering Divorce
I don’t know that I would ever be able to forgive him for taking this away from me.
Dear Therapist: My Best Friend Can’t Find a Job Because of COVID-19
She’s been having anxiety ever since the pandemic began.
Dear Therapist: My Husband and I Never Have Sex, so I’m Having an Affair
And now my husband wants to move halfway across the country for his job.
Dear Therapist: I Love My Trans Daughter, but I’m Still Struggling
I don’t know how to process what I’m going through.
Dear Therapist: I Can’t Stand My Dad’s New Wife
I have no interest in becoming one big happy family.
Dear Therapist: My Mom Needs Help
I don’t think a day has gone by that she hasn’t cried.
Dear Therapist: My Boyfriend Won’t Let Me Have Male Friends
He’s been cheated on before, and he gets very anxious that I will want to be with someone else.
Dear Therapist: My Daughter Doesn’t Care That I Want Her to Live Closer to Home
I don’t think she truly understands the impact that seeing her only once or twice a year is having on us.
Dear Therapist: My Father and Grandmother Haven’t Spoken in 30 Years
I’d like to meet her before she dies, but I’m worried he would see my fraternizing with her as a betrayal.
Dear Therapist: My Boyfriend Had an Affair and Now We’re Stuck at Home Together
He told me he was going out for errands, but he was really meeting with her in a parking lot.
Dear Therapist: I Staked My Identity on Attending an Ivy League School
I’m trying to accept that the school I’m going to is where I am meant to be, but I feel like my accomplishments mean nothing now.
Dear Therapist: The Pandemic Has Changed My Relationship With My Therapist
I don’t want to burden him with my feelings when he’s going through the exact same thing.
Dear Therapist: My Husband Thinks Social-Distancing Measures Are Too Extreme
He’s being way too lax about things, and whenever we try to talk about it, we have a fight.
Dear Therapist: I’m Growing Exhausted Dealing With My Sister’s Anxiety
How can I balance her need for support with my own need for boundaries?
Dear Therapist: I’m Losing Patience With My Boyfriend in Quarantine
I used to daydream about spending more time with him, but now his habits are starting to get on my nerves.
Dear Therapist: What’s Your Advice to Parents Whose Kids Are Stuck at Home During the Coronavirus Lockdowns?
I’m making sure that our kids exercise, have a schedule, spend time outside each day, and try to maintain as normal a life as possible. What more can I do?
Dear Therapist Writes to Herself in Her Grief
My father died, there’s a pandemic, and I’m overcome by my feeling of loss.