Koy Roberts, Ph.D.

A recent Time magazine article discusses the debate.  My take is that there are wide variations in effectiveness depending upon which study you read.  Depression and its treatment is a difficult illness to measure and analyze.  Working closely with a therapist and doctor is someone’s best bet.  I really cannot understand how one could expect to beat depression without counseling.   To expect to cure it without counseling as these studies attempt to do is naive and foolish.  No wonder the success rates of these medications are so low.  We’ve known for some time that counseling is critical and for serious depression the combination of meds and counseling is your best bet to beat it and prevent it from coming back.

Teenagers are not the only ones with social networking obsessions.

If you’ve never discussed the issue of ‘sexting’ with your teen – please do so.  20% of adolescents admit to doing it.

Wouldn’t it be something if a doctor could give you a pill to erase painful or traumatic memories, bad habits or addictions?

Today is “World Autism Awareness Day”.  These parents deserve our utmost support and praise. These pervasive developmental disorders are not all severe and debilitating.  Many kids have what is called Asperger’s Syndrome characterized by social difficulties, a narrow range of interests, and a lack of emotional and social reciprocity.  Social skill and emotional coping therapies have helped these children significantly so they lead successful lives.

Just in case we ever wonder how really important a Daddy is to his children.

One of my best friends, Nathan Berry, an ophthalmologist in Burleson, passed along this email to me….
YOU AND YOUR CHILD
BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION
President Ronald Reagan accurately stated, “The home is the bricks and mortar of America.” The ultimate thermostat of a home is the parent. The way you and I talk to our spouses, our kids and our friends sets the tone of our home. If I criticize, complain, condemn, and “worry out loud” I can be sure my kids will be troubled and unstable emotionally. My world, like yours, is a RODEO these days! What can a parent do to keep the atmosphere at home calm and respectful?
THE WORRY TREE
When my kids were small, I heard a dear mentor of mine named Dr. Howard Hendricks say that every parent needs a “worry tree” just outside the front door. When we come into the house for the evening we hang all our fears and worries from the office, newspapers, etc. on the tree. When we leave the home in the morning they’ll be out there patiently waiting for us! (Better still, burn the tree!) The worry tree outside my front door happens to be a “red bud” tree. That tree must have strong branches. I’ve hung a world of worry and stress on that tree through the years. Thank you Howard Hendricks!
While speaking in Atlanta the other day, I encountered one of my favorite Kamp dads who is a banker and father of three young campers. His entire system is riding on the precipice of uncertainty. Many of his colleagues across the country are out of work and their companies are in “Chapter 11.” His home is calm, his heart is calm, and his kids are cheerful and resolute. I asked him what it was like and how he did it. His answer was insightful, “My kids have to see in me that I’m not afraid. My kids and I talk openly about what I’m feeling. I remind them of all God has done for us and that God is in control. God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. What’s real is not how much we have or don’t have. What’s real is God. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not passive. I’m in a battle and I’ll work hard to be the best in my field I can possibly be. I’ll bring my best to the game everyday, but ultimately God’s in control, not me.” Then my friend said something that gave me even greater peace, “History is full of men and women who’ve gone through failure and come out stronger on the other side.”

-Author Unknown

Austin writer Maya Perez, mother of a three year old, recently shared some feelings and thoughts that most all of us have experienced at one time or another.  This weekend I was tested personally when spending the day with my two year old son, Kash.  As I became engrossed in SportsCenter he managed to toddle into my office and into my desk drawers.  Never mind the erasable markers and crayons his Mom provides for him.  He knew my office contained the good stuff.  The Sharpies!!  Not more than 10 minutes must have passed before he dug through my desk drawers, found the Sharpies and proceeded to use our family room ottoman as his canvas.  “Da Da I color.”  After all the blood rushed out of my face I quickly had to regroup and figure out how to react, respond, and discipline my two year old Picaso.  Not to mention cover, clean or come up with an alibi before his mother came home!

Mrs. Perez reminds us all that the true meaning of discipline is “to teach or train” not scold, admonish, punish, or yell.  We are their most important models.  The most powerful source of teaching we provide our children is our own behavior.  We constantly teach by the way we live our lives, treat our children, work, play, and relate to others. They are watching and will emulate us.  No matter if they’re a two year old, a tween, or a teenager.

A great reminder by the group 33Miles that we only get just one time around.



Love

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

This disturbing news article could have easily been written about Coppell, Flower Mound, Southlake, Lewisville, etc.  I regularly and routinely hear about such events from adolescents.  Teens move from house to house on the weekends depending upon which parents are out of town or which parents will allow parties.  A 2005 research study by the American Medical Association reported that about one-third of teens said it was “easy to obtain alcohol” from their parents. That figure climbs to 40 percent when it comes to getting alcohol from a friend’s parent. Twenty five percent of adolescents said they had attended a party where teens were drinking in front of parents.  Too many parents are trying to be cool with their kids.  If your kid thinks you’re mean it probably indicates you’re doing something right.  Parenting is a serious 24/7 job not a hobby to dabble in occasionally.