Today’s second Ask Carolyn addresses separation as a potential tipping point for suicide and discusses the recent suicides of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade, both of whom were separated from their spouses.
I am a concerned mother of a 19-year-old boy, who has a drug issue and is prone to suicidal threats. He did try to kill himself once when he was age sixteen, and he was placed in the behavioral health section of a local hospital for treatment. He has recently moved out of my home and into the home of some of his friends. What kind of legal options do I have?
– Need to Know
I am a new Father, and I think the mother of our new baby is depressed. I am concerned. She seems exhausted and stressed. I am helping and her mother is helping, but there seems to be a problem. What should I do?
– Stressed with New Baby
Today’s Ask Carolyn addresses Borderline Personality Disorder and how it can affect the divorce process. Borderline Personality is a Cluster B personality disorder characterized by unstable behavior, moods, and relationships. BPD is challenging to deal with in relationships, and can become even more difficult during divorce.
My custody file is at least a foot thick at the courthouse. I thought this would be the year that we were done with custody, but custody is an ongoing saga. My children are 8 and 10 year old boys. Every time I think we are finished, my ex (the mother) files a new motion. She has fired every counselor and psychologist that she has had. She is always right about everything, in her opinion. She is intensely angry. She has even been married again and divorced again in the five years that this custody battle has been going on. The court gave me fifty percent of the time with my sons at the initial hearing and this has been confirmed by the court at every subsequent hearing. She just filed another motion for primary custody this week. What do I do?
World Mental Health Day (Oct 10th) comes on the heels of a violent attack in Las Vegas which left 59 dead and over 500 injured. As with other shootings, the public’s response is to point at guns and mental illness – and while it remains divided on the issue of guns, the relative agreement on the threat of mental illness is worrying.
The American public has always seemed to lack an understanding of mental illness. Most people know the common names and defining symptoms of a few illnesses (usually bipolar, schizophrenia, and depression), but have no real understanding of what these illnesses entail. Continue reading
Dear Carolyn,
I have a strange question for you Carolyn. In fact, it is almost unbelievable. My ex-wife and the mother of my precious child constantly fabricates that the child is ill. The child is constantly taken to the doctor with the Mother saying that the child had a fever “last night.” The doctor cannot find a fever. Once the Mother said the child had blood in her urine, and the child had to undergo all these tests and nothing was found. The Mother tried to have the tonsils taken out indicating medical problems that did not exist. The list could go on for the whole page, but I’ll spare further details. The Mother is a nurse, and I don’t understand why she is getting all the medical items regarding my child wrong all the time. I was in a divorce therapy class and someone piped up when I mentioned this: “does she have Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy?” This Mother thrives on the attention she (the Mother) gets when our child is sick.
Signed: Crazy, isn’t it?
Ask Carolyn