Vivian Diller, Ph.D.

Baseball season is well underway and, once again, it's the time of year that my husband accepts that almost nothing comes between his wife and her "Damn Yankees."

Don't get me wrong. My marriage to John has been going strong for over 25 years...

"Why should I be happy about being a grandmother?" Shirley MacLaine howled in the 1983 film, Terms of Endearment.

If you are old enough to recall the scene, you'll probably remember that for her it was mostly about the loss of vanity. Playing the role of the...

Scott and Mary have been married for seven years. Given these tough economic times, they feel fortunate to be employed, have two great kids, a home and still have a little extra money -- and energy -- for some fun with each other.

Spending time or effort to look...

The message baby boomers have been shouting for a while is finally being heard across the generations: Beauty does not -- and for many, cannot -- be equated with flawless perfection.

While this movement toward authentic beauty was first fueled by millions of mid-lifers...

Amazing how the face of one beautiful woman can set off a firestorm, igniting a torrent of emotions far beyond simply "has she or hasn't she?" Welcome to what I call the "Beauty Paradox."

Ashley Judd's recent response to the media frenzy regarding her "puffy face"...

We know that politicians need polls to tell them how they are doing, but now couples may find them useful, too.

A new, not yet published survey conducted by Harris Interactive debunks the belief that "all you need is love" for long-term relationships to succeed. It turns...

The recent New York Times article about the life and death of psychotherapist Bob Bergeron understandably struck many people as tragic.

While any suicide is shocking, Bergeron's was particularly unsettling given the topic of his soon-to-be published book, "The Right Side of Forty: The Complete...

One thing that continues to surprise me is how shocked people seem when I admit my age.

With such frequent public displays of midlife success -- think Streep at 62 on the cover of Vogue or Madonna at 53 performing at the Super Bowl -- you would think that a...

A patient came to me to deal with her anxiety over being phased out of her job. She couldn't tell if her worries were grounded in reality -- provoked by a younger colleague who was biting at her heels -- or imagined, based more on office politics and general paranoia...

Many of us see President Obama's graying hair and think, "it must be all the stress he's under." We view Hillary Clinton's furrowed brow and assume, "the weight of the world is adding years to her face." But do stress and anxiety actually accelerate the aging process? Is there scientific...

Did you get asked to your senior prom? Were you a cheerleader or one of those jocks they cheered for? Or were you home hiding behind books and eyeglasses, hoping one day your time would come?

Ask anyone about their teenage years, and they have a unique story to...

It was a wonderful thing, seeing Meryl Streep at age 62 on the February cover of Vogue magazine. And hearing that she, Glenn Close, Viola Davis and Janet McTeer were among the dozen or so middle aged Oscar nominees this year. These women, along with Susan...

When I think of Demi Moore, I envision her almost naked -- and very pregnant-- body on the cover of Vanity Fair. I recall her feminine, sexy figure in the film "Striptease" and her powerful, muscular one in "GI Jane." Moore was, for many of us,...

Are you having "a good hair day"? Seems like a simple, even silly, question coming from a psychologist whose work is about getting underneath the surface. But in all honesty -- superficial or not -- I have to say I'm familiar with that feeling. And having recently been asked to...

Despite what the advertisers and surgeons may tell us, no one has figured out how to stop the clock. And as our clocks tick longer and longer -- nowadays, 80 or more years -- we all face physical and emotional challenges.

But, are these challenges experienced differently depending on certain...

It's about this time of year, as football winds down and the Super Bowl approaches, that sports fans like me start their countdown to MLB Spring Training. Thirty-eight days, 16 hours and 45 minutes to go -- yes, there's an app for that -- 'til

Among the five 2012 Golden Globe nominations for best series are two of television's most controversial shows, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones. Their story lines this past season dared to go where few have gone before, but where more and more seem to...

Tim Tebow hysteria shows no signs of stopping. The highly-religious Denver quarterback recently adorned the covers of both Sports Illustrated and the inaugural issue of NFL magazine -- no small deal to legends of football.

The blogosphere can't seem to get enough of him. Sports...

Leslie, a 30-year-old lawyer, walked into her first partner meeting and heads turned. She had a tendency to catch people's eyes -- being 5'8", shapely and stylish -- so today was no different. Apprehensive about the case she planned to present, Leslie felt encouraged by the reactions she sensed in...

According to the CDC, most babies in the United States are conceived during December and January. Is it because couples hunker down for the long winter season? Or is it the holiday celebrations and spiked eggnog that lead to mistletoe munchkins nine months later? Whatever the...