Dr. Gore Answers
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Showing all 22 answers
Family Dynamics
Why Won't My 28-Year-Old Move Out? The Launch Failure Crisis
Your adult child isn't launching because you've accidentally made staying home more comfortable than growing up. This isn't about love—it's about boundaries, expectations, and the courage to let them struggle.
Read Full Answer→Relationships
What's the Difference Between Enabling and Caring?
Caring helps someone grow stronger. Enabling helps someone stay weak. The difference is whether your 'help' requires them to take responsibility or removes it from them entirely.
Read Full Answer→Child Psychology
Does My Child Have Bipolar Disorder or Just Behavior Issues?
True bipolar disorder in children is rare and has specific clinical markers. Most childhood 'mood swings' are normal development, poor boundaries, or reactions to family stress—not mental illness.
Read Full Answer→Addiction Recovery
What Actually Works in an Intervention?
Successful interventions aren't about surprise confrontations or emotional manipulation. They're carefully planned conversations with clear consequences, professional guidance, and immediate treatment options ready to go.
Read Full Answer→Addiction Recovery
How Do I Support Someone with Addiction?
Support the person, not the addiction. This means maintaining your relationship and hope while refusing to enable destructive behavior. It's the hardest love you'll ever practice.
Read Full Answer→Family Dynamics
How to Set Healthy Boundaries with Adult Children
Setting boundaries with adult children isn't about cutting them off—it's about loving them enough to let them grow up. Clear expectations, consistent consequences, and refusing to enable their dysfunction teaches them to be responsible adults.
Read Full Answer→Child Psychology
Is ADHD Overdiagnosed? The Uncomfortable Truth About Quick Fixes
ADHD is both overdiagnosed and underdiagnosed simultaneously. Many kids get labeled ADHD when the real issues are trauma, anxiety, poor parenting, or just being a normal kid. Meanwhile, actual ADHD cases often go unrecognized. The problem isn't the disorder—it's our rush to medicate instead of investigate.
Read Full Answer→Addiction
What's the Real Definition of Addiction? Beyond the Disease Model
Addiction isn't just a disease—it's a complex response to pain, trauma, and disconnection. While the disease model helps reduce stigma, it oversimplifies a condition that requires understanding the person's full story, not just their substance use.
Read Full Answer→Addiction
What Does Hitting Bottom Really Mean? The Truth About Rock Bottom
Bottom isn't a place—it's when someone stops digging. Many people wait for their loved one to 'hit bottom,' but bottom happens when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of changing. You don't have to wait for someone to lose everything before they can get help.
Read Full Answer→Emotional Health
How Do I Stop Hiding My Anger? The Hidden Anger Checklist
Hidden anger destroys relationships and eats you alive from the inside. Most people were taught that anger is 'bad,' so they suppress it until it leaks out as passive-aggression, depression, or explosive rage. This checklist helps you identify hidden anger and learn to express it healthily.
Read Full Answer→Relationships
What's the Difference Between Intimacy and Dysfunction? Know the Signs
Many people confuse intensity for intimacy and drama for depth. Real intimacy feels safe, respectful, and empowering. Dysfunction feels chaotic, draining, and unpredictable. Learn to tell the difference before you mistake a toxic relationship for a soulmate connection.
Read Full Answer→Child Psychology
How to Set Boundaries with Difficult Children Without Breaking Your Relationship
Difficult children need more boundaries, not fewer. The key is setting limits with love, consistency, and understanding that their challenging behavior is often communication about unmet needs. Structure plus warmth equals security.
Read Full Answer→Parenting
How to Raise a Juvenile Delinquent: The 1959 Police Guide That's Still Relevant
In 1959, police departments distributed a satirical guide on 'How to Raise a Juvenile Delinquent.' The ironic advice is painfully relevant today: spoil them, never say no, give them money without responsibility, and always take their side. Modern helicopter parenting is creating the exact problems this guide warned about.
Read Full Answer→Personal Growth
Eleven Words to Teach Your Child (or Yourself): Life's Essential Vocabulary
There are eleven words that, if truly understood and practiced, can transform a life: No, Yes, Please, Thank You, I'm Sorry, Help, Stop, More, Enough, Love, and Goodbye. Most adults struggle with these basic concepts. Master them and you master life.
Read Full Answer→Personal Growth
What is Perfection? What is Excellence? Know the Life-Changing Difference
Perfection is paralysis disguised as high standards. Excellence is growth disguised as achievement. Perfectionism kills creativity, relationships, and joy. Excellence builds skills, resilience, and satisfaction. One comes from fear, the other from love.
Read Full Answer→Communication
What is Assertiveness, Really? The Art of Speaking Your Truth Without Aggression
Assertiveness is the sweet spot between passive and aggressive—it's standing up for yourself while respecting others. Most people either bulldoze or doormat their way through life. Assertiveness is saying what you mean, meaning what you say, and not saying it mean.
Read Full Answer→Emotional Health
How to Actually Let Go (Without Losing Yourself): The Real Guide to Moving On
Letting go doesn't mean forgetting, forgiving, or pretending it didn't matter. It means releasing your need to control the outcome and carrying the wisdom without the pain. It's not about losing yourself—it's about finding yourself again.
Read Full Answer→Relationships
What Should We Expect from Premarital Counseling? The Real Guide
Good premarital counseling isn't about preventing your wedding—it's about preventing your divorce. Expect four sessions minimum: one for today's issues, two for family histories, and one for honest feedback about your potential sticking points. It's cheaper than flowers and lasts longer.
Read Full Answer→Child Psychology
Should My Child See a Therapist Alone or Should We Do Family Therapy?
Individual therapy for children is often a 'parentectomy'—artificially treating kids as if they exist independently of their families. For most childhood issues, family therapy is more effective because children are like gas: they take the shape of their container.
Read Full Answer→Child Psychology
Is Play Therapy Actually Helping My Child? The Uncomfortable Truth
Play therapy is useful for orphans and can be a good supplement to family therapy, but as a standalone treatment for children with families, it's often ineffective. Playing Candyland with a therapist won't fix problems that exist in the child's daily environment.
Read Full Answer→Personal Growth
Why Do Some People Choose to Stay Miserable? The Psychology of Chosen Suffering
Misery is often a choice disguised as circumstance. People stay unhappy because familiar pain feels safer than unfamiliar change. The techniques for maintaining misery are surprisingly predictable—and so are the ways to escape them.
Read Full Answer→Mental Health
Are Mental Health Diagnoses Getting Out of Hand? The Diagnosis Inflation Crisis
The number of mental health disorders has exploded from 106 in 1918 to over 500 today. Are there really that many new ways to be mentally ill, or are pharmaceutical companies and professionals really that good at creating new markets? Many people wear designer diagnoses like fashion accessories.
Read Full Answer→Need Personal Guidance?
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