Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
Dear Dr. Norquist: I’m hoping you can help me with my problems. I have a lot of them – especially over the past six months. It started after my 24 year-old son was in a car accident. Luckily, he was OK, but the fear of losing him has filled my life with anxiety. It reminded …
Dear Dr. Norquist: I’m at a turning point in my life, and I’m not sure what to do. I guess fear gets in my way. My business (a small retail store) has been changing for awhile. I guess people don’t have as much cash available for the kind of non-essential things that we sell. I …
Dear Dr. Norquist: I am not sleeping at night. I can fall asleep but I cannot stay asleep for the night. I usually wake up 3-4 times per night and then will finally get up. Not sure if this is stress related or not. I went to my doctor and she just prescribed medication. I …
Dear Dr. Norquist: I am totally overwhelmed with my life right now. I’m working full-time in a job that demands my full attention, and going to school in the evenings for my master’s degree. I feel so much pressure trying to get everything done well that I have trouble sleeping at night. My friends are …
Dear Dr. Norquist: I keep noticing that I act differently depending on who I am with. With my girlfriends I’m silly and girly. With my parents I only show the part of me that they can accept – the goody, goody part. At work I’m quiet (so different then when I’m with my friends). With …
Dear Dr. Norquist: This has been the worst couple of years of my life. My husband lost his job. I work for a bank that is being acquired by another bank, and things have been incredibly stressful at work. My mother suffered a stroke and needs a lot of help from me. I’m also worried …
Dear Dr. Norquist: I am writing to you because I am full of parental sadness and guilt and remorse. I had my daughter when I was young (19 years old), and was struggling in my relationship with her father, who never did marry me. I was always working trying to support both of us. Now …
(Dr. Norquist is on vacation this Holiday weekend. We are re-running a letter published earlier in this column.) Dear Dr. Norquist: I love how good I feel when I’m newly in love with someone, my world feels cheerful and sunny, like nothing could go wrong. Then something goes wrong in the relationship and I feel …
Dear Dr. Norquist: It seems that I always feel like “it’s me against the world.” It’s not that people don’t like me or are plotting against me, but it mostly feels like I’m alone. I have a few friends and caring parents. But, I can’t seem to share enough of myself to not feel alone. …
Dear Dr. Norquist: My sister and I have always been close. We are four years apart (she’s younger) and we have always turned to each other for support, especially growing up in a family with an alcoholic father. Now I’m 42 and married with a beautiful daughter. My sister is single and seems to …