The National Institutes of Health estimate that as many as 22 million individuals in the United States have an autoimmune disease; over two-thirds of them are women. Autoimmune diseases are a diverse group of illnesses that share one key feature–the body views part of itself as a foreign substance and launches an attack on this tissue or organ.

Eating disorders are extreme disturbances in an individual’s behavior and feelings related to food, weight, and body image. They are most likely to develop in young women, during adolescence and young adulthood. But children, preteens, adult women, and men also may develop these problems. They are serious problems with life-threatening consequences.

Childhood obesity has become the most common health problem in children today, and for the first time ever, policy makers are concerned that this generation of children may not outlive their own parents.

Dissociation is a common, naturally occurring defense against childhood trauma. When faced with overwhelming abuse, children can dissociate from full awareness of a traumatic experience. Dissociation may become a defensive pattern that persists into adulthood and can result in a full-fledged dissociative disorder.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious and complex mental illness that affects 2 – 3% of the population. Once thought to be on the “border” of schizophrenia, BPD is now believed to be more closely related to mood disorders such as depression, or possibly to impulse control disorders like Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. People with BPD have difficulty regulating their emotions and controlling their impulses.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) no longer has a “poster child”–not even a “poster person,” for that matter. The image of AD/HD in past decades has been the frenzied, elementary-aged boy dangling from the monkey bars, disrupting his class and disobeying all authority. This behavior drove his desperate parents and teachers to seek an understanding of his symptoms. As more has been learned, what was thought to be a disorder of childhood, of males, and of hyperactivity alone, has undergone significant revision.

Being a teenager and raising a teenager are individually, and collectively, enormous challenges. For many teens, illicit substance use and abuse become part of the landscape of their teenage years. Although most adolescents who use drugs do not progress to become drug abusers, or drug addicts in adulthood, drug use in adolescence is a very risky proposition. Even small degrees of substance abuse (for example, alcohol, marijuana, and inhalants) can have negative consequences. Typically, school and relationships, notably family relationships, are among the life areas that are most influenced by drug use and abuse.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common anxiety disorder that affects about 1 to 2% of the population. As its name implies, the symptoms of OCD involve obsessions that lead to compulsions. Obsessions are recurrent and persistent ideas, thoughts, images, or impulses that may cause a great deal of anxiety or distress.

Bipolar disorder is a major mental illness that involves extreme swings in mood, ranging from the low of depression to the high of mania. When depressed, a person may feel sad, have problems with sleeping, eating, and loosing weight, have many negative thoughts about oneself (including thoughts about death and hurting oneself), and experience difficulties with attention and concentration. During periods of mania, the individual may experience euphoric or irritable mood, inflated self-esteem and over-confidence, increased talkativeness, distractibility, and boundless energy, including a decreased need for sleep.

The loss of a child is the most devastating experience a parent can face-and missing the child never goes away. A piece of yourself is lost and your future is forever changed.