Irene S. Levine, PhD is an award-winning freelance journalist and author who writes about health, lifestyles, travel and relationships. Trained as a clinical psychologist, she is a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and works part-time at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research. She spent the major portion of her career in senior policymaking roles at the National Institute of Mental Health and the Center for Mental Health Services in Rockville, Maryland.

She now straddles both the worlds of mental heath and writing. Her articles have appeared in major newspapers, such as The Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, New York Times, Newsday, and USA Today, and national publications, such as Better Homes and Gardens, Bottom Line Health, Health, Ladies Home Journal, Prevention, and Reader's Digest. She also writes a bimonthly career column for Science Magazine's ScienceCareers.org.

Irene recently co-authored, Schizophrenia for Dummies (Wiley, November 2008) with her psychiatrist/husband Jerome Levine, MD. The book distills what the two have learned from families, clinicians and researchers during their many years in public mental health. The book is intended to dispel the many myths and misunderstandings commonly associated with schizophrenia, and to help individuals and their families better cope with the disorder. Schizophrenia is an illness of the brain that is now considered highly treatable, and that offers hope for recovery, with appropriate care and supports.

She is currently working on a book about female friendships based on a online survey she conducted with over 1300 women. Best Friends Forever: Getting Over A Break-Up With Your Best Friend will be published by Overlook Press in September, 2009. Irene blogs about female friendships at www.fracturedfriendships.com.

Irene is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Authors Guild, the Association of Healthcare Journalists, the National Association of Science Writers, and the American Medical Writers Association.

Blog Entries by Dr. Irene S. Levine

Raised by Wolves: Is Having No Friends Her Mother's Fault?

1 Comments | Posted December 27, 2009 | 03:23 PM (EST)


QUESTION

Irene,

I wonder if you would ever post anything about the effect that socially withdrawn mothers have on their daughters' later friendship lives. My mother didn't have any close friends at all (just a cousin she hung around with and still does) and, in fact, disdains friendship even...

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Friendship on the Rocks: She's never invited to the parties

Posted December 23, 2009 | 03:33 PM (EST)


QUESTiON

Dear Irene,

I met my best friend at a small restaurant where we both used to work. Even after I quit, Dee and I were very close and talked on the phone two or three times a day. We knew every personal detail of each other's lives. She used...

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Bad News: What would you say to Mrs. Tiger Woods if you were her BFF?

5 Comments | Posted December 20, 2009 | 03:20 PM (EST)


What would you say to Elin Nordegren (Mrs. Tiger Woods) if you were her BFF? Bad news can take many forms but the rules of friendship--how to help a close friend who is dealing with bad stuff--are fairly universal.

What would you say to any friend who was experiencing...

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Watching a Good Friend Make Bad Decisions

Posted December 13, 2009 | 10:52 AM (EST)


QUESTION

Dear Irene,

My friend Michelle, whom I've known over ten years, was a late relationship bloomer. She broke up with her first serious boyfriend about a year ago; they were together for three years. It destroyed her. But less than two weeks later, she was talking to him again....

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Love, loss and friendship: Getting over the death of a child

5 Comments | Posted December 9, 2009 | 12:19 PM (EST)


There is no pain greater than the loss of a child. Parents who have suffered such a tragedy say that they never get over it; at best, they get through it. Lynn Bozof of Atlanta, Georgia, lost her son Evan when he was 20. A junior at Georgia Southwestern University,...

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Poached one too many times by a friend

1 Comments | Posted December 7, 2009 | 02:32 PM (EST)


QUESTION

Dear Dr. Levine,

I'm a mom of two girls, ages five and nine. I met another mom at the playground in May and we hit it off quite well, though my 5-year-old was a little slow to warm up to her 5-year-old. Since she and her family had just...

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The "Bad Friend": Miley Cyrus comes home for dinner

2 Comments | Posted December 5, 2009 | 12:55 PM (EST)


Picture this. Your 14-year-old daughter, Mindy, excitedly tells you she's bringing a new friend home for dinner. "She's so pretty and talented, and goes to church regularly," she says. "I can't wait for you to meet her." When the new BFF walks in the door, the first thing you notice...

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Befriending a "bad egg" in the office

1 Comments | Posted November 30, 2009 | 09:31 AM (EST)


QUESTION

Dear Irene,

I was a close friend with a co-worker for 5 years. At one point, she had a huge fight with a mutual co-worker, someone with emotional problems with whom I remained friends. She wasn't comfortable with the other woman; the stress between the two of them was...

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How to handle a fizzling friendship

1 Comments | Posted November 27, 2009 | 11:01 PM (EST)


QUESTION

Dear Irene,

I've been friends for three years with a guy at my office. We became friends after a really rough period in which I was demoted, isolated, and treated quite shabbily, though I couldn't afford to leave and wasn't in the best psychological state to do so (like,...

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Middle school frenemies: Why are girls so mean?

Posted November 25, 2009 | 09:12 PM (EST)


Every mother knows how tough middle school friendships can be for young women. Dara Chadwick is a freelance journalist and writer who spent a year chronicling her Weight Loss Diary for Shape Magazine. That experience and her interviews and discussions with her readers led her to reflect on...

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Can stepparents be friends?

2 Comments | Posted November 20, 2009 | 08:57 AM (EST)


The role of being a stepparent can be challenging. So I was pleased to interview Erin Munroe, author of The Everything Guide to Stepparenting: Practical, reassuring advice for creating healthy, long-lasting relationships, about some of the boundary issues between the roles of stepparent and friend.

Can a stepparent be...

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A final disappointment by a friend

Posted November 17, 2009 | 11:49 PM (EST)


QUESTION

Dear Irene,

My friend has been going through marriage problems ever since I've known her (13 years now). I have been there for her when she needed someone to talk to. When the problems got too big to deal with, I suggested counseling since I didn't want their marriage...

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Unfriend: Not a simple verb by any means

Posted November 17, 2009 | 11:39 PM (EST)


The New Oxford American Dictionary chose the verb "unfriend" as its 2009 Word of the Year (WOTY) and defined it this way: "to remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook." The word "has both currency and potential longevity," explained Christine Lindberg, Oxford's senior lexicographer...

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Can a Friendship Fall Apart Over a Small Slight?

2 Comments | Posted November 13, 2009 | 10:02 AM (EST)


QUESTION

Hello Irene,

I recently lost a best friend whom I'll call "Y." Another friend, "K," approached me to organize a Halloween party at my house a few weeks ago. I agreed with one condition: She had to help me with food, drinks, etc. I invited my other friends, including...

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Resisting the Urge to Gossip

2 Comments | Posted November 5, 2009 | 10:53 PM (EST)


It's easy to get caught up in gossip. A friend or colleague starts talking about someone you both know. She lays out some juicy information you haven't heard before, almost baiting you to chime in. Whether it's true or not, you reflexively up the ante by spilling a rumor you...

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The Inside Scoop on Your Introvert Friends

93 Comments | Posted November 5, 2009 | 09:28 AM (EST)


I've never met Sophia Dembling in person but consider her a friend of sorts. We met as members of one or another online writer communities that we both frequent because we have so many overlapping interests. She lives in Texas but her roots are pure New York. I love...

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When a friend wants more than friendship

1 Comments | Posted October 28, 2009 | 06:54 AM (EST)


It's not unusual for platonic relationships to turn into something different or something more. Whenever this happens, regardless of gender, it can lead to misunderstandings if both people aren't on the same page. When two female friends are involved, the potential awkwardness is compounded exponentially because the experience is less...

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Why Breaking Up Is So Hard to Do

Posted October 26, 2009 | 10:38 AM (EST)


When I surveyed more than 1500 women for my new book, Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend, I discovered that most of them have an extraordinarily difficult time ending their friendships, even very toxic ones. It's not surprising. Like divorce, the potential losses can be...

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Can I Catch My Friend Before She Jumps Off a Cliff (Again?)

1 Comments | Posted October 16, 2009 | 10:53 AM (EST)


QUESTION

Dear Irene,

I recently spoke with a good friend of almost 20 years with whom I went to high school. Essentially, she wants to get married and have kids. Recently, she met a guy who is twice divorced with two children. That's a lot of baggage--even my friend will...

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How can a misunderstanding kill a longtime friendship?

Posted October 9, 2009 | 12:35 PM (EST)


QUESTION

Dear Irene,

Five years ago, my girlfriend stopped communicating with me. I found out later on from my sister that my friend's husband was diagnosed with stomach cancer and I wasn't there for her.

The only reason I wasn't there was I did...

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