My current girlfriend has some serious insecurity and jealousy issues. This causes anger and leads to physical and emotional abuse and my children are suffering from the fighting.
My girlfriend finally realized she had a problem and is going to examine whether it is hormonal, emotional, or chemical. I want to leave, but she wants me to solve this problem with her.
How effective are hormonal or drug therapy in such situations and how long does it take?Answered by:David Kahn
Your girlfriend's problems would benefit from an overall evaluation to see what is causing them. Insecurity and jealousy may be personality traits that have evolved over a longer period of time related to life experiences, or they could be resulting from depression, anxiety, or another mood condition that makes her feel overly sensitive. If she's only irritable in the week or two before her menstrual period, that could be a hormonal problem. It's complicated enough that I could not say at a distance whether medications would help; an evaluation by a capable mental health professional would be a first step.
David Kahn, M.D.
Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Psychiatry
David A. Kahn, M.D.
Dr. Kahn is Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University, and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs at Columbia University Medical Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital.
He received his B.A. from Haverford College in 1975, completed medical school and internship in medicine at Columbia, and was resident and chief resident in psychiatry at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He then received an NIMH extramural research fellowship at the Psychiatric Institute, where he worked in the area o...
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