How to get Dr. Irene's Advice: Look here!

Ask The Doc Board Archives

The CatBox Archives

Stories Archives

 

Below is an Interactive Board sampler. A fuller listing is found in the "Stories" menu above.

4/14 Interactive Board: Codependent Partners

3/23 Interactive Board: He's Changing... I'm Not...

3/1 Interactive Board: D/s Lifestyle

1/14 Interactive Board: My Purrrfect Husband

12/12 Interactive Board: What if He Could Have Changed?

10/23 Interactive Board: Quandary Revisited

8/24 Interactive Board: Quandary! What's Going On?

7/20: Dr. Irene on cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness

6/12 Interactive Board: Unintentional Abuse

11/7 Interactive Board: Is This Abusive?

12/29 Interactive Board: There Goes the Wife...

11/4 Interactive Board: A New Me!

10/8 Interactive Board: Seeming Impossibility

9/8 Interactive Board: My Ex MisTreats Our Son

5/1 Interactive Board: I feel Dead - Towards Him

4/26 Interactive Board: Why is This So Hard?

4/19 Interactive Board: I Lost My Love...

4/7 Interactive Board: Too Guilty!

Thank You from Dr. Irene

Thank You From Dr. Irene

July 31,  1999

Dear Readers,

This site was launched five months ago, on the last day of February 1999, and it was called "Dr. Irene's Get-With-The-Program Self-Help and Info Resource." It was designed to touch all the addiction areas I deal with, from codependency to anger addiction to sex addiction to food addiction, etc.

But you, dear readers, emailed en mass letting me know that you were most interested in verbal abuse. You told me you couldn't find enough verbal & emotional abuse material on the web. You told me that while there were places for victims to go, there were few resources for abusers. You told me you liked hearing it straight, and that you did not want your information sugarcoated or otherwise made palatable. (Good, cuz I'm not a hand-holding, enabling-type therapist.) You also liked the site's upbeat style - where wit and humor add levity to a very serious subject.

Because of you "Dr. Irene's Verbal Abuse (Site)!" was born in April...or May? Whatever. By the way, even the title is a parody: since I talk straight, you get my "verbal abuse." (STOP! Before anybody out there thinks I'm abusing them, lighten up. Pull those buttons back in and don't give me so much power!

Creating this site is an act of love. It comes from the heart (tempered by the head - because heart without head will get you into big trouble...). And you've responded:

In March 1800 surfers visited. Five months later, in July, almost 7000 of you stopped by. About half of you are "regulars," checking back regularly for new material, emailing me, making contributions. You have made Ouchhh! an overwhelmingly successful support list. A second abused person's list (Yeouchhh!) was recently introduced since Ouchhh! was so big, people were dropping out complaining of too much email in their boxes!  Grrrr! support for abusers is finally coming along, with no thanks to me, who had  the sign-up process messed up for way too long. And, we've won our first award in July for noteworthy psychology content!

Thank you to each and every one of you. You made this site possible: thanks to people brave enough to ask for email advice, to those who have volunteered their story, to the participants on the lists or the board.  Thank you to those who write me with suggestions. Thank you to those who challenge me (I love controversy!). Thank you to the nameless surfers who appreciate the material and do or do not send their friends... I wish I could answer each and every email I receive. I can't, but I do read everything you send (Promise!) and appreciate and respond to your input. 

With much love & gratitude to all,

Dr. Irene

Go to Thanks Again