Is Alcoholism Genetic?

I am engaged to marry a man whose father bother are problem drinkers. My fiance does not drink at all, but I’m worries about out children. Is alcoholism genetic? A. There is no question that alcoholism is often clustered in families, both social and genetic factors figure the cause of this devastating disease. I  to
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Is There Anything Wrong With An Occasional Binge?

Q. I work hard during the week and party hard on the weekends. I often have several glasses of beer and wine on a weekend night and have at times drunk so much that I pass out. I don’t drink at  all during the week. Is there anything wring with an occasional binge? A. Whether
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A Drink or Two Makes Me Feel Sexy, Is This Normal?

A. Reactions to alcohol are as varied as the people who use it! Some women feel sexier and less inhibited after a few drinks, while others may feel shier and more withdrawn. Alcohol is a strong drug , and like any other drug, it will affect different people in different ways. There is, however, some
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Abortion Options for Women

Q. I heard there is a new pill that can induce abortion so that a surgical abortion is no longer necessary. Is this true? Is it safe to use? Can I take it home? A. There are two different types of drug therapies that can terminate pregnancy; one is available in the United States and
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Memory Loss, Alzheimer’s, and Dementia

Any discussion of aging naturally brings us to one of the biggest paradoxes in modern science. We have essentially doubled life expectancy since 1900, when the mean duration of life was only 48 years, but we don’t know how to preserve brain function in our oldest patients, even if they are in optimal physical health.
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Men, Women, And Aging

Men, Women, And Aging. Where Did I Leave My Keys? “He’s making me nuts” Julia runs her hands through her short gray hair. “He follows me around the house like one of those terrible little dogs. I can’t get anything done! Was he always this dense? It seems like I have to explain everything 40

How We Treat Depression In Men And Women

Men and women have different strategies to cope with depression, and their doctors should too. Contrary to what the drug companies would have you believe, there’s no magic “happy pill”. It’s not as easy for us to treat depression with medications as you might think. Many patients need trials on several different kinds of medicine
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Making the Best of a Tragedy

There is probably no more profound suffering in the spectrum of human experience than that occasioned by loss. In its aftermath, the very word can produce a feeling of anguish that is almost physically painful. Which of us on hearing it, does not recall a once present, now vanished person or thing – or even

Why Men and Women Respond Differently to Stress – And Why It Matters

I congratulated my patient Diane on being selected for a very prestigious Woman of Achievement award. Imagine my surprise when this very powerful, self-possessed executive dissolved into tears in my consulting room! Her accomplishments had come at some personal cost. The constant stress and competition had taken its toll on her sleeping habits and relationships.
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My brain is full of plaques and tangles: Do I have Alzheimer’s disease?

A high-powered 64-year-old attorney came to my office because he felt his memory was failing. He forgot clients’ names in mid-conversation and was losing track of important details at work. Although he seemed completely fine on my initial neurological examination, he underwent a several hours-long neurocognitive evaluation, the best way to evaluate cognition in high