Life Advice

On top, seek out help from our services; asking for CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE from our counselors on, addiction, anorexia, dating, depression, coming out, etc. Or, go down below and cruise through our MENTAL HEALTH WEBLOG. The Blog includes up to date mental health news and information.

What We Do / Are We Right for You?

We are the B.E.S.T. Prevention Services staff of counselors, life skill educators and prevention specialists. We are headed by a Harvard educated Developmental Psychologist.

We are of the psychological school of thought that direct and candid guidance is what a person needs when advice is sought.

If you are in a severe emotional or medical crisis, thinking of hurting yourself or someone else, STOP reading right now. Call your doctor or proceed to the local emergency room.

But if you are thinking about asking questions about therapy, or you are lonely, unhappy, mildly to moderately depressed or anxious, seeking personal growth, wanting help with life choices, relationships, family issues, addictions, or in need of support and understanding, then proceed with our service.

Our Mission

Life Advice-Boston Educational Prevention Online hopes to bring informed, quality, constructive, and direct advice to many more people than we are able to do on a one to one basis. We are taking what have always done, advise, to a larger group of people, via the internet. We know that our expertise can provide solid, helpful, objective advice and information to those who need guidance.

Our counselors advise or give advice on subjects such as, addiction, anorexia, antidepressants, dating and about e-therapy. We also address such topics as: understanding depression and helping you if you are depressed; about relationships, dating , divorce and separation. We explain what a phobia is and how to deal with stress, alcoholism, addiction, and the alcoholic. In addition, B.E.S.T. specializes in clarifying information on anorexia, bulimia, STDs, obesity, teen pregnancy, date rape and the use of antidepressants. We are also versed on issues involving homosexuality, gay, bisexual, transgender, lesbian and coming out topics. If you wish we can explain the many types of e-therapy, e counseling, counseling and therapy modalities for you.

What it Costs / What You Get

We will respond to your email within 24 to 48 hours with a personal, confidential, well thought out response.

The $25 fee is to cover the expense of having a personal counselor devote time, attention and expertise appropriately to your each individual query. Conversely, e-therapy professionals at sites that you may find, often charge by blocks of time, charging $50 to $100 and up for fifty minutes of their time. We here at B.E.S.T. Prevention Services, regardless of the time spent formulating your answer within 24 to 48 hours, will always charge $25 per question; flat rate. We spend time to give a well thought out, honest, objective answer to your question. WE have a staff on hand 24 hours day devoted to giving direct advice to life problems. We get many questions each day so your personal answer will come back to you via email 24-48 hours after receipt. We wish we could do it even faster but our counselors need this time in order to give their best attention to each individual question. We take great pride in our work and hope we can help you if you need a confidential, informed, sincere opinion.

Compose your question on the provided form that follows. Pay securely through the Paypal banking server. For security, we do not maintain or process billing information or credit card information on this website. Sit back and wait for your personal answer within 24 to48 hours.

Note, we shall never post a clients question or our responses on this or any site. This is a confidential service!

Life Advice

Monday, June 09, 2003

Aging, depression put some on path to murder-suicide
What's known now about homicide-suicides among older people dispels some myths.

These are not expressions of selflessness or love. Suicide pacts rarely occur. The perpetrator is almost always a man who kills his younger wife or intimate partner with a gun, then very quickly commits suicide. The man appears to make the decision alone and doesn't tell the woman what to expect. She is usually killed in her sleep.

Such cases stem from "desperation and despair and a sense of hopelessness," says Donna Cohen, a professor in the University of South Florida's department of aging and mental health and a national expert on murder-suicides
¶ 6/9/2003 01:01:02 PM

Dying to eat right

At 28, the Jackson Township resident has struggled with various eating disorders since she was 8 years old.
She started her battle with anorexia nervosa. Danger signs include losing a significant amount of weight, continuing to diet (although thin), feeling fat even after losing weight, fearing weight gain and exercising compulsively.
"I don't like my body. I just don't like myself," Heather said.
When Heather was in the seventh grade, she had to be switched from Lake-Lehman to the Dallas School District. She could not handle the change and continued to struggle with anorexia. She was in and out of the hospital three times that year, for a month at a time. ¶ 6/9/2003 12:56:32 PM

Study indicates maternal care influences mental health
6/8/2003 6:59 PM
By: Associated Press

BRIGHTON, England -- More nurturing mothers could lead to fewer stressed-out adults, or so suggests new studies on rats.

Scientists said they found that baby rats who were licked by their mothers a lot were less anxious and fearful as adults.

They also produced lower levels of stress hormones than those who were groomed less.

The researchers found that the mothers' licking caused the baby's brain to crank up a gene involved in soothing the body in stressful situations.

¶ 6/9/2003 12:48:57 PM

Thursday, June 05, 2003

Finding Anorexia in the GenesThe researchers examined the sequences of these genes in the patients, patients' family members who also had eating disorders and a control group of family members who did not have eating disorders, looking for small differences between the genes in each group. The researchers looked at 192 patients who had at least one other member of their family who also had an eating disorder.

Differences in two out of the three genes among the groups indicated a significant familial link to anorexia.

"The important thing about anorexia nervosa is that it is highly unlikely that we are going to find one gene that causes anorexia nervosa (i.e. the anorexia gene)," Bulik said.
¶ 6/5/2003 10:10:26 PM

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

Antidepressant prescribing associated with reduced suicide rates
They found an increased suicide rate in younger adults, particularly young men. This was, however, offset by a marked decrease in the suicide rate among older men and women, the age group in which antidepressant use was highest. This association between high antidepressant prescribing and fewer suicides was strong and statistically significant.

The researchers argue that the results did not suggest that changes in alcohol consumption, employment and quality of life accounted for the decline in suicide ¶ 6/4/2003 08:00:52 PM

Study Suggests Teen Sex Linked To Depression, Suicide TriesA controversial new study links teen sexual intercourse with depression and suicide attempts.

The findings are particularly true for young girls, says the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that sponsored the research. About 25% of sexually active girls say they are depressed all, most or a lot of the time; 8% of girls who are not sexually active say they feel the same.

The study comes amid a flurry of new reports on the sexual activity of teenagers. Such research is fodder for the growing debate on sex education in schools. The Bush administration supports abstinence programs.
¶ 6/4/2003 07:45:45 PM