Dear Ask Alina, I have been dating my girlfriend for 14 years and living together for five years. For the past year she has been on my case about us getting married. I have reservations about marrying her, although I know that I love her and do not want to break up. For many [...]
Dear Ask Alina, My girlfriend hasn’t been herself lately. These days she is either angry or sad. She goes to work, comes home and turns on the television, does not engage in conversations, and complains she is tired and can’t fall asleep. At first, I chalked it up to the fact that her work [...]
Dear Ask Alina, I have been married for 15 years, we have two kids, and I think we have a good marriage. The other day I discovered that my husband has been texting with another woman. What I think started off online is now happening through text messages. I accidentally read his texts, which [...]
Dear Ask Alina, My wife announced this weekend that she wants a trial separation. I was shocked at her announcement, as I thought we had a good marriage. I am honestly so confused. This is so sudden. We have two beautiful children, she is a stay-at-home mom, I always encourage her to spend time [...]
Dear Ask Alina, I need help navigating this year’s holidays. I am recently divorced with a 10-year-old daughter. For many years I had a close community of friendships created through our daughter’s school and neighbors. Holidays have always been joyous with lots of parties, neighborhood gatherings, and our festive house. Although our daughter continues [...]
Grief is not a word people often think of when discussing baby making. But according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 1 in 8 couples of childbearing age are infertile. So you see, grief is the word that is often used in my psychotherapy practice. Historically girls grow up with a tendency of [...]
Our society has an expected story of us: find love, get married, have children. Many women get in the frenzy of this expectation and lose sight of what is important: self-love. As a therapist, I meet women every week who suffer from a loneliness syndrome; each one of them is married. These women take care [...]
As I flip through the channels on TV, laying in bed, and thinking, I decide to take out my laptop and start writing. I hate how all the movies and sitcoms are about the holidays. You may be reading this and saying, well du-uh Alina, that’s nothing new. Or you maybe reading this and saying, [...]
