Baby Got Back

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 2:04 pm By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

A controversial new Mexican campaign to promote breastfeeding uses topless celebrities and the slogan, “Don’t turn your back on your baby. Give him your breast.” City officials were seeking to address the fact that only one in seven mothers in Mexico breast feeds exclusively in the first six months, the standard recommended by the World Health Organization. That is among the lowest levels in Latin America, and health experts say it’s a serious problem for a country where millions live... Read more

The Well-Fathered Daughter

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 8:19 am By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

I just read a fascinating post at FamilyStudies.org about the effect of fathers on daughters’ development. In addition to what you might expect (better academic, social, relationship outcomes) there was this nugget about how fathering affects their daughters biological ability to process stress and the consequences that has on mental and relational health. An emerging body of research suggests one more way that dads may shape their daughters’ mental health and relationships in adulthood: scholars have found an intriguing link... Read more

Dr. Greg & Lisa Talk Breastfeeding in the NCReproter

Last updated on: June 4, 2014 at 9:29 am By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

We had an interview with the National Catholic Reporter last week for their special parenting and family issue. Although the whole special issue isn’t available online, they very kindly made our article available for Faith on the Couch readers. It’s titled, Breastfeeding in Church? Why Naturally! It’s a great piece. In addition to Lisa and I, the piece features comments by Couple to Couple League founder, Sheila Kippley. Good stuff! Check it out! Read more

A Healthy Romantic Relationship Can Stabilize Neurotic People

Last updated on: May 14, 2014 at 9:31 am By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

(H/T PsychCentral News) A loving, romantic relationship can have a positive, stabilizing effect on a neurotic personality, according to a new study, published in the online edition of the Journal of Personality.“Neurotic people are rather anxious, insecure, and easily annoyed. They have a tendency towards depression, often show low self-esteem and tend to be generally dissatisfied with their lives,” said psychologist Dr. Christine Finn of the University of Jena in Germany. “However, we were able to show that they become more stable in a... Read more

The Difference Between Reasons and Accountability

Last updated on: May 14, 2014 at 8:40 am By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

A friend of mine posted this reflection to her Facebook page. I thought it offered some valuable insights and I wanted to share it with you. She writes… I think I finally understand the relationship between reasons and accountability. There may be a very good and legitimate reason for something, but that doesn’t erase my accountability. For example, I told someone I would complete a project by tomorrow. I’m not going to finish by then. The reason is that my... Read more

Frequent Arguing Doubles Risk of Death by Mid-Life

Last updated on: May 13, 2014 at 9:44 am By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

Frequent arguments with partners, relatives, or neighbors may boost the risk of death from any cause in middle age, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. (See Science Daily for full article) Researchers quizzed almost 10,000 men and women aged 36 to 52 about their everyday social relationships. The researchers focused particularly on who, among partners, children, other relatives, friends and neighbors, made excess demands, prompted worries, or was a source of conflict, and how often these... Read more

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the Crisis of Fatherhood

Last updated on: May 12, 2014 at 7:23 pm By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

“Something in the basic structure of human existence has been damaged!” A Guest Blog by Dave McClow, M.Div., LCSW, LMFT, a clinical pastoral counseling associate of the Pastoral Solutions Institute. I am a collector of quotes (well…books, too), and I am thinking through a theology of masculinity. I think a theology of what it means be to a man culminates in spiritual fatherhood always, and at times in biological fatherhood that is lived out in chivalry as priest, prophet, and... Read more

Good News for Families: Parents are Happier than Non-Parents After All.

Last updated on: May 12, 2014 at 10:48 am By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

FROM THE ATLANIC. Since the 1980s, economists and psychologists have been aware of a “parental happiness gap.” Basically, the running theory has been that p But Chris Herbst of Arizona State University and John Ifcher of Santa Clara University noticed some weaknesses in earlier studies on the phenomenon. Why did the studies always treat the happiness gap as a constant? Also, why was the word parents always defined as people whose egg and sperm had met and created a child? This excluded a segment of society who chose to... Read more

The Devil Went Down to Harvard (w/Apologies to Charlie Daniels)

Last updated on: May 8, 2014 at 9:05 am By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

By now, you’ve probably heard about the organization hosting a Black Mass at Harvard. My first reaction, of course, was horror. I’m still horrified, but as I became more familiar with the story, the absurdity of the situation began to take center stage. Here you have Lucien Greaves, a “Satanist” who doesn’t actually believe in Satan (or the supernatural in general)hosting some sort of self-styled “Black Mass” which he has never done before and, apparently, has no appreciation for... Read more

What Stage is Your Faith?

Last updated on: May 6, 2014 at 9:21 pm By Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak

We have a tendency to think that faith is faith. But we all recognize that faith grows and changes with time. What if faith evolved over specifically definable stages? What stage of faith would you be in? What stage of faith are you called to be moving toward? Universal Stages of Faith In his classic book, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, Dr. James Fowler looks at how faith evolves over time. He... Read more