My specialties include general lifestyle, arts and culture, profiles, beauty, shelter/design, business and wellness. Note that some articles were written under my pseudonym, Pauline Estrem.
Why Celebrities Are Turning to EMDR Therapy for Their Mental Health
This season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills began with cast member Dorit Kemsley's shocking home invasion robbery, where she was held at gunpoint. Her subsequent journey with PTSD has been a key part of her storyline and, as she shared in one recent episode, one way she's coping with the trauma is with a form of therapy called EMDR, which stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.
Saying No Is Hard but Oh So Satisfying, Says Author Natalie Lue
For her entire life, Natalie Lue was used to pleasing other people and putting their interests before hers. No was a dirty word that she wouldn’t use — even while she spent three years silently suffering from sarcoidosis, an immune disease that caused blindness in her eye and severe joint pain. It can also lead to pulmonary heart failure.
What Happens When Being Home So Much Makes Your Agoraphobia Worse?
In our series What It’s Like, we talk with people from a wide range of backgrounds to learn how their lives have changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For our latest installment, we spoke with Megan Lane, a freelance writer in Wading River, New York. In addition to depression, generalized anxiety disorder, anorexia nervosa, and ADHD, the 30-year-old has been diagnosed with agoraphobia.
Agoraphobia is often simply defined as a fear of leaving home. In reality, it’s an anxiety disorder that...
The Facebook Page That Led to 30 Drug-Rehab Arrests
While Facebook may no longer be the most relevant social media platform, with young users quitting it in droves, it has become more and more important in the work of law enforcement. For one detective in Delray Beach, Florida—part of the “rehab capital of America” and a major hub of the opioid epidemic—Facebook has been essential in the fight against corrupt operators in the area’s drug rehabilitation industry.
"MDMA Treatment Helped Save My Life"
Sarah* first noticed that something was wrong five years ago. She would suddenly start crying for no reason, felt unable to manage her workload at her six-figure office job, and even had a panic attack while on a date.
Actress Marcia Gay Harden’s memoir takes on her mother’s Alzheimer’s: 'I do for my mother what she can no longer do. I remember.'
Marcia Gay Harden is known for being an Oscar and Tony winning actress and a mainstay on primetime TV. But before she was celebrated for her craft, before she became a mother, before she got her MFA or her first role, she was Beverly’s daughter.
Why Are Celebrities Smoking Toad Venom?
The trendy and potent psychedelic drug actually has some pretty impressive mental health benefits.
9 subtle ways technology is making humanity worse
For many of us fully immersed in the digital age, it's hard to imagine a world before the advent of the internet, cloud storage, and smartphones.
Experts have found that in addition to making our lives more convenient, but there's a negative side to technology — it can be addicting and it can hurt our communication skills.
Extended screen time can result in health ramifications like insomnia, eyestrain, and increased anxiety and depression.
Halle Berry on Her New Wellness App and Continuing to Open Doors for Actresses of Color
For Halle Berry, 1989 was a major turning point both personally and professionally — specifically, her role as Emily Franklin on the ABC series Living Dolls. Not only does the Oscar and Emmy winner consider it her breakthrough role, but it was also a pivotal moment for her health. One day, while taping the show, Berry, then 32, suddenly fell into a coma. Soon after, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Body Neutrality Is the New Body Positivity — Here's Why It Matters for Your Kid
If you search the hashtag #BoPo — short for body positivity — on Instagram, you’ll find nearly 670,000 posts by individuals of all shapes and sizes celebrating their bodies.
Chef Michael Symon Is Cooking Up a Cure
During the early days of the pandemic when the country was under lockdown, Michael Symon — like most of us — found he had extra time on his hands. So the chef, restaurateur, and Food Network star began filming videos of his at-home meal prep, which he called “Symon Dinners,” and posted them on Instagram daily. Fans loved the simple yet satisfying ideas that relied on pantry staples.
After My Mother Died, I Found an Unexpected Best Friend: Her Identical Twin
In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re sharing stories from the Brit + Co community about mother figures who shape our lives.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Plant-Based Milk
If you’re getting in line for a latte each time your favorite coffee chain adds a new plant-based milk to its menu, you’re not alone. These dairy alternatives are more popular than ever, and the global market for non-dairy milk is expected to reach more than $38 billion by 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate of more than 14 percent from 2018 to 2024, according to a March 2019 report by Arizton Advisory and Intelligence.
Olympian Alexi Pappas Defines Bravery on Her Own Terms
The New York Times called her a “renaissance runner.” The Hollywood Reporter described her as a “blend of Audrey Hepburn and Joan Cusack.” As an Olympic runner, actress, filmmaker, and writer, Alexi Pappas can be hard to define — and that’s just the way she likes it.
Emma Donoghue’s ‘The Pull of the Stars’ Is Eerily Perfect for These Times
No, Emma Donoghue doesn’t have a crystal ball. The best-selling author didn’t see COVID-19 coming when she decided to write her new novel, The Pull of the Stars, which is set amid the 1918 flu pandemic. But after reading an article two years about the devastating disease, which killed over 50 million worldwide, Donoghue’s interest was piqued. Given her penchant for historical fiction (The Wonder, Frog Music, Slammerkin), it seemed like an intriguing backdrop for a story.