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Does antidepressant use during pregnancy cause autism, as a recently published study suggests? Using Family Systems Theory to answer this question will lead to a more nuanced answer than a traditional cause and effect conceptualization. [More]

Pet owners take note! How you parent your pet may mirror how you parent your children. (Or how you were parented). [More]

The Kennedy family has been in the news lately. Patrick Kennedy, son of former U.S. Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has released a memoir that has become controversial, at least within the Kennedy family itself. In the memoir, Patrick, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, details a family history of alcohol abuse and mental illness. [More]

Monday September 14, 14 year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested when school administrators and local police suspected him of having brought a bomb to school. Family Systems Theory provides a unique conceptual framework with which to view Mohamed’s story in an attempt to move toward an objective explanation of events. [More]

Ashleymadison.com, a well-known website for spouses wanting to have affairs, has been in the news lately. A group of hackers has threatened to post the personal information of its 37 million users if the Canadian site isn’t closed down. As of July 22 the first names of its customers have been released. This news story once again ignites the age-old question: Why do folks cheat on their spouses? [More]

The amount and intensity of the public response to photos of a young not-very famous woman and her decision to post photos of herself with and without make-up is very interesting. It highlights a well-known fact; people write things on social media they would be unlikely to say directly to someone they know. Family Systems Theory provides a particular framework for understanding such harsh rhetoric directed at strangers and/or posted anonymously. [More]

Angel Soft toilet tissue has posted an interesting and provocative ad for this Father’s Day. The short video features adult men and women thanking their single mothers for fulfilling the role of mother and father. The ad ends by wishing all the mothers a Happy Father’s Day. The sentiment is sweet; grown children acknowledging the difficulty of solo parenting by mothers, and is clearly designed to bring a tear to the eye of the viewer. However, and perhaps predictably, the ad has turned out to be something of a lightning rod for controversy. [More]

On April 12, 2015, Hillary Clinton made the long-awaited announcement that she’s entering the 2016 U.S. presidential race. Part of the public discourse around her candidacy is the issue of sexism; is Hillary being treated differently (worse) because she’s a woman. Or maybe there’s something more basic at work here. Something fundamental to all living things. It could be that homeostasis is the common denominator driving what can otherwise be viewed simplistically as bigoted behavior in politics. [More]