DEAR DOCTOR K: I’d like to learn more about cognitive behavioral therapy. How is it used to treat anxiety?
DEAR READER: Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is the leading form of therapy for anxiety. It attempts to correct ingrained patterns of negative thoughts and behaviors. Some studies indicate that it is as effective or more effective than medication.
DEAR DOCTOR K: I’ve heard that scientists have discovered genes that cause autism. Could this lead to a cure?
DEAR READER: Autism is a disorder of child development. Kids with autism have difficulty communicating and forming social relationships. The studies you are referring to identify genes that increase the risk of autism, and could someday lead to a cure. I think of these studies as the first steps down what is going to be a long road. Nevertheless, they are genuinely exciting.
DEAR DOCTOR K: I am a 34-year-old woman married to a man more than 20 years my senior. Our first child, a son born four years ago, is autistic. I have heard that older fathers are more likely to have autistic children. Is this true?
DEAR READER: I am not an expert on autism. I have learned what I know from experts here at Harvard Medical School. No one knows the causes of autism, but today the apparent consensus is that they are biological — something a child is born with. As to your question, I’m told that some research has shown that a child’s risk of developing autism does rise as the age of the child’s biological father rises.
DEAR DOCTOR K: I am recovering from breast cancer surgery. Unfortunately, my healing process is coinciding with several unexpected stressful events in my life. Can stress actually slow my healing?
DEAR READER: Stress does have far-reaching physical effects. There is plenty of research showing that stress — especially long-term stress, and the feeling that you cannot get control of your life — can harm your body.
DEAR DOCTOR K: I like to paint in my free time. Recently I’ve been staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning to work on my paintings. I know I should feel tired, but I don’t. One of my friends said that I might be hypomanic. What is that?
DEAR READER: Hypomania is an elevated mood or energy level — one higher than your normal state. The decreased need for sleep that you describe is one of the hallmarks of hypomania. Some people who are hypomanic sleep only a few hours a day. But despite this, they say they feel rested from such little sleep.
DEAR DOCTOR K: I’ve heard it said that we use only 10 percent of our brains, but I’m skeptical. Could it be true that we use only this small percentage of our brain capacity?
DEAR READER: Many parts of our bodies have some extra capacity built in. You can have an entire lung or kidney removed and get along fine with the one that remains. Your body can spare skin and bone marrow. If your appendix, gallbladder or spleen needs to go, so be it — you can live without these organs if you need to.
DEAR DOCTOR K: My teenage son seems different lately. He’s lost interest in team sports, is more secretive and is hanging with a new crowd. I’m worried he may be abusing drugs or alcohol. I keep trying, but he won’t really talk to me about it. What can I do?
DEAR READER: Few things are more important to teenagers than being part of a group of their peers. It appears to be hard-wired in us: Teenagers in many different cultures tend to band together, and to suffer if they are not part of a group. When the group does drugs, they can be hard to resist.
DEAR DOCTOR K: My wife gets down in the dumps every winter. It begins in the fall and hits its peak sometime in January or February. She thinks it’s just because the cheer of the holidays has passed, but I think it’s more than that. Could it be seasonal depression?
DEAR READER: It’s not impossible that your wife has a case of the “winter blahs,” as she insists. The holiday season can be exhausting. Plus, you eat too much, and if you’re like me, the rich food and the added pounds make you feel tired. But I agree with you that your wife also could be suffering from what is called seasonal affective disorder.
DEAR DOCTOR K: I have an aunt whose house is filled to the ceiling with junk in some places. I worry about her safety navigating around all that stuff. I think she is a hoarder. What causes this, and how can I help her?
DEAR READER: If your aunt’s house has become so filled with “stuff” that she can’t get around easily, I’m inclined to agree with you. She may indeed suffer from compulsive hoarding. Hoarders accumulate objects of questionable value in large and disorganized amounts. Until recently, compulsive hoarding was considered a less-frequent symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But the majority of hoarders don’t have other OCD symptoms, such as compulsions and repetitive behaviors.
DEAR DOCTOR K: I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist—perhaps more than a bit. This trait helps me in many ways, but sometimes it causes me stress. I wonder if it might have a downside. What are your thoughts on the pros and cons?
DEAR READER: There are definitely pros and cons to perfectionism. Also, keep in mind that the world isn’t neatly divided into perfectionists and non-perfectionists: There’s a little perfectionism in a lot of people. There surely is in me. (At least, that’s what some people say.)
Dr. Anthony Komaroff is a practicing physician, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Editor in Chief of Harvard Health Publications. Learn more »
Harvard Health Publications is the publishing division of Harvard Medical School, providing the general public with authoritative, trustworthy, and accessible health information. Learn more »
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