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ENLARGE
ONLY ONE MORE COLUMN: Contact me with the questions and concerns you always wanted me to comment on, but never quite got to asking me. You better get them in for my next column, because it’s my last one. No, Madeleine hasn’t fired me. She’s been a wonderful editor for eight years and I love her dearly. I’m moving to the Denver area, Highlands Ranch, so I will be out of touch with our Roaring Fork Valley behavior. But here’s a plug for me. I will be establishing a psychotherapy practice in Highlands Ranch so I would be happy to work with my Snowmass Village friends by phone and occasional visits and would welcome referrals of your friends that live in the south Denver area. I can be reached by the same e-mail address or my cell, (970) 948-5311.
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE EDITOR: Snowmass Village is so fortunate that Madeleine Osberger has edited our local paper for all these years. Maybe 12 years, I’m not sure. Grammar is not my forte –I try, but I know she makes lots of corrections in tense and spelling for me. Never in content! Whatever I want to say, I am free to do so. She has never censored me. She does the headlines, I don’t, and I always like the topic she chooses to emphasize. Madeleine, I will really miss you.
ABOUT ME: I wasn’t a writer, I was a clinician. Then I started having grandchildren and there were no books available for grandparents to refresh themselves on contemporary baby and young child issues. So I worked on becoming a writer and wrote “Grandparenting: A Survival Guide.” Around the same time, 1995–2000, I was on the staff of Aspen Country Day School as their psychological consultant and was asked to write advice for parents in their weekly take-home, one- page newsletter. “Let’s Talk Behavior” was born.
When I left Country Day, I talked to Andy Stone, then-editor of The Aspen Times. We decided a weekly question and answer column (à la Ann Landers) might work and so “Let’s Talk Behavior” began in The Aspen Times. I thought the column was quite successful, but a year and a half later, they decided they didn’t like my type of a column, family focused, and I was out. Madeleine to the rescue –she liked what I was doing and hired me for every other week. In fact in the early days sometimes my column only appeared monthly during the off-season, because there wasn’t enough advertising to have space for me. That isn’t true anymore – the Sun is in full swing 12 months a year.
Many people have said, “Why don’t you continue?” My answer is that I strongly believe that people who live in the community should write for the community paper. I’ll be interested in reading who takes my place and what they have to say. Not Alison Berkley, please.
NOW, ON TO QUESTIONS: I’m depressed and my doctor prescribed Lexapro. I have been taking it for almost two months and I don’t feel one bit better. Why don’t I feel better?
ANSWER: You must realize that I can’t give you a diagnosis or a suggestion with that little information and in this column. However, I will use your question to make some general statements about treating depression. First, there are many anti-depressant meds and it can take a long time to find the medication and dosage that is right for you. When an initial prescription from your primary care doctor doesn’t work, you need to see a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist has specialized training in emotional disorders and the use of psychiatric medication. Second, you need to know that studies show that only about half of depressed patients respond to an anti-depressant drugs (only slightly more than will respond to a placebo). Third, consider counseling. Often the combination of counseling and medication is the best treatment approach.
QUESTION: Our son Jake is overburdened with homework this year. To get his homework done I have to act like a policewoman and to be honest, I end up doing most of the work. I will do anything to get it done so he can just go to sleep. I want him to do well in school and I just don’t know what to do.
ANSWER: Something isn’t right at your house. Reasonable amounts of useful homework are important, but so are family and individual time, play and fun. And your role is not to do the homework. Yes, you need to support his efforts, help him get organized and answer questions. Have you talked to his teacher? If that is not satisfactory, go to the principal. Don’t be hesitant to ask the school to help you work this out. They will help you develop a plan that is right for your child.
Margery Fridstein, MA, LPC, is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Snowmass Village. While she knows the time is right to move on, she is very sad. She also knows how fortunate she has been to have spent the last 20 years in this beautiful never-never land and to have made such wonderful friends and acquaintances. Now is the last chance for questions and comments: mfridstein@comcast.net, call 923-5512, or fax those letters to 923-6153.
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE EDITOR: Snowmass Village is so fortunate that Madeleine Osberger has edited our local paper for all these years. Maybe 12 years, I’m not sure. Grammar is not my forte –I try, but I know she makes lots of corrections in tense and spelling for me. Never in content! Whatever I want to say, I am free to do so. She has never censored me. She does the headlines, I don’t, and I always like the topic she chooses to emphasize. Madeleine, I will really miss you.
ABOUT ME: I wasn’t a writer, I was a clinician. Then I started having grandchildren and there were no books available for grandparents to refresh themselves on contemporary baby and young child issues. So I worked on becoming a writer and wrote “Grandparenting: A Survival Guide.” Around the same time, 1995–2000, I was on the staff of Aspen Country Day School as their psychological consultant and was asked to write advice for parents in their weekly take-home, one- page newsletter. “Let’s Talk Behavior” was born.
When I left Country Day, I talked to Andy Stone, then-editor of The Aspen Times. We decided a weekly question and answer column (à la Ann Landers) might work and so “Let’s Talk Behavior” began in The Aspen Times. I thought the column was quite successful, but a year and a half later, they decided they didn’t like my type of a column, family focused, and I was out. Madeleine to the rescue –she liked what I was doing and hired me for every other week. In fact in the early days sometimes my column only appeared monthly during the off-season, because there wasn’t enough advertising to have space for me. That isn’t true anymore – the Sun is in full swing 12 months a year.
Many people have said, “Why don’t you continue?” My answer is that I strongly believe that people who live in the community should write for the community paper. I’ll be interested in reading who takes my place and what they have to say. Not Alison Berkley, please.
NOW, ON TO QUESTIONS: I’m depressed and my doctor prescribed Lexapro. I have been taking it for almost two months and I don’t feel one bit better. Why don’t I feel better?
ANSWER: You must realize that I can’t give you a diagnosis or a suggestion with that little information and in this column. However, I will use your question to make some general statements about treating depression. First, there are many anti-depressant meds and it can take a long time to find the medication and dosage that is right for you. When an initial prescription from your primary care doctor doesn’t work, you need to see a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist has specialized training in emotional disorders and the use of psychiatric medication. Second, you need to know that studies show that only about half of depressed patients respond to an anti-depressant drugs (only slightly more than will respond to a placebo). Third, consider counseling. Often the combination of counseling and medication is the best treatment approach.
QUESTION: Our son Jake is overburdened with homework this year. To get his homework done I have to act like a policewoman and to be honest, I end up doing most of the work. I will do anything to get it done so he can just go to sleep. I want him to do well in school and I just don’t know what to do.
ANSWER: Something isn’t right at your house. Reasonable amounts of useful homework are important, but so are family and individual time, play and fun. And your role is not to do the homework. Yes, you need to support his efforts, help him get organized and answer questions. Have you talked to his teacher? If that is not satisfactory, go to the principal. Don’t be hesitant to ask the school to help you work this out. They will help you develop a plan that is right for your child.
Margery Fridstein, MA, LPC, is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Snowmass Village. While she knows the time is right to move on, she is very sad. She also knows how fortunate she has been to have spent the last 20 years in this beautiful never-never land and to have made such wonderful friends and acquaintances. Now is the last chance for questions and comments: mfridstein@comcast.net, call 923-5512, or fax those letters to 923-6153.
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