The cycle of dysfunction - you grow up in a significantly dysfunctional family and it has an impact on you. Now you have kids and the cycle of family dysfunction continues. Without recognition and positive change, the family dysfunction is passed from generation to generation.

I don't know anyone who has set out to become an alcoholic. For most, alcoholism creeps up on you. Take Kendra for instance. She's our guest on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. Kendra started binge drinking in college. It was part of the social scene, so it never struck her that binge drinking might be an indication of a drinking problem. After all, she was only drinking one day a week. Of course, that was the early years.

Like millions of other Americans, I don't get enough exercise. I’m more keenly aware of that fact in the month of January, when every gym and athletic goods store ramps up their advertising efforts to take advantage of the New Year fitness fever. But that doesn’t mean I’ll do anything about it. Ultimately, it’s just not that important to me. For some people, the opposite is true – exercise is one of the most important things to them. Does that mean they have an exercise addiction? How do you know if you're over-exercising?

It's with humility and a little embarrassment that I admit to having come to erroneous conclusions about sexual addiction and sex addicts without the data to back me up. Sexual addiction facts should come from educated, experienced experts - not  entertainment media and anecdote. We were very fortunate to have Robert Weiss join us last week on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show.

The holiday season is fraught with stress, depression, and money problems for so many people that I'd imagine dreading this time of year is more the rule than the exception. It's no wonder then, that staying sober during the holidays is difficult at best. Managing alcohol addiction is no easy task regardless of the date on the calendar. But holiday sobriety presents its own unique challenges.

Like most parents, Laurie Oulette wants her son to be healthy and happy. When he's sick, struggling, or in trouble she wants to help him get well. But since his father's suicide last December, Laurie's 14-year-old son has become immersed in a video game addiction.

I thought addictions were essentially poor coping skills. "It's a disease," I've heard people say. But when I listened further the disease described to me was one of the mind, of emotion mismanagement, and of a physical dependence created by an inability to manage life. As such, I thought addiction recovery was a job for therapy and support groups.

If you're wondering what it's like living with bipolar disorder, or a serious mental illness,  here is one of the most illuminating lines on the subject that I've come across: "It explores the difference between a sick brain and a mind left trying to cope with it." It was written by Natasha Tracy, describing the focus of her new Breaking Bipolar blog on HealthyPlace.com.

Raising a child is hard enough. Having a child with an addiction can be a living hell; a nightmare of constant heartache and worry. This week, on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show, we're focusing on parents of addicts - what they do right, wrong, and how to draw the line in helping an addicted child (teen or adult).