Cherry Creek Psychology, Dr. Maximillian Wachtel

A provocative title, I know.

A recent study published in the journal Health Psychology found that, in households where both spouses work and have school-aged children, women in happy marriages rebounded more quickly from daily stress than women in unhappy marriages.

Although the study doesn’t make this claim, it would seem that, if you are a woman in an unhappy marriage, working on improving you married life could potentially help you recover from stress more quickly. This could have a significantly positive impact on your physical and emotional well-being.

Another interesting article, this one in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, found that women who engage in religious activity are less prone to feel depressed than women who do not engage in religious activity. Interestingly, men are less likely to be depressed if they are not religious. I’m not sure why this is. Any thoughts?

Thanks for reading– Max Wachtel, Ph.D. (www.CherryCreekPsychology; maxwachtel@cherrycreekpsychology.com)

I was at Starbucks on Monday night, enjoying a short decaf cappuccino (that’s right, they have “short” drinks…”tall” is not their smallest option. It is only the smallest option they list on their menu–you should try ordering a short sometime. All the employees will know what you are talking about, but the customers will freak out), when a man came in and ordered a ten-shot, caramel, upside down, iced, something, blah blah blah… I stopped listening after the first few words. Ten shots. Let me repeat: ten shots.

When I was in graduate school at the University of Denver, I worked at a deli that also served espresso drinks. They had one called “The Madman,” which was nothing more than five shots of espresso. No one ever ordered it. Why would anyone want to do that to him/herself?

It is important for me to say, as a public service announcement, that ten shots of espresso at one time is not good for your health. And, it is really, really bad for your mental health. That much caffeine can cause a tremendous amount of anxiety (even after the immediate effects of the caffeine have worn off). Don’t even get me started on how it can disrupt your sleep.

I was curious as to what would happen to the man who ordered “The Double Madman” on Monday night. Would his heart explode? Would he run out of Starbucks, screaming, chased by hallucinations of demons? Would he give a spectacular one-man performance of the Pirates of Penzance? I was dying to see what would happen to him, but alas, I was too tired. I just went home and quickly fell asleep.

Thanks for reading– Max Wachtel, Ph.D. (maxwachtel@cherrycreekpsychology.com; www.cherrycreekpsychology.com