Category: Reading

  • “For Better”

    A review and excerpt of Tara Parker-Pope’s For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage, which surveys the research about what makes marriages work. From the book: Is the story of your early courtship filled with nostalgia and optimism? Or is it tinged with negativity and regret? Do you remember getting lost in the rain together…

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  • L.A. Rehab Blog

    What goes on at an L.A. rehab?  One way to get a sense of it, read the rehab’s blog. No such thing?  Not so:  Here’s one from Beit T’Shuvah. (If you find others, please let me know.)

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  • The Pill Turns 50

    A birthday write-up from the Los Angeles Times: It was supposed to make every child a wanted child, give women control over their bodies and grant couples worry-free sex…  

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  • On Placebos

    Olivia Judson looks at the placebo effect.  Regarding the testing of an ulcer drug versus a placebo: Intriguingly, the results varied from country to country, with Brazilians showing no placebo effect and Germans having a strong one. Why? No one knows, but it doesn’t appear to be because of anything inherently German: trials of drugs…

    Read more: On Placebos
  • Parental Estrangement

    Tara Parker-Pope looks at a “silent epidemic“–children who refuse all contact with their parents. “It’s possible for a parent to feel like they were doing something out of love,” he said, “but it didn’t feel like love to that child.”  Friends, other family members and therapists can often help a parent cope with the loss…

    Read more: Parental Estrangement