Dawn Kozarian, LMHC

Confronting Depression in Men

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:22:33 +0000

Depression is more of a problem amongst men than we realize. Depression in men is generally under diagnosed because most men are compelled to escape the vulnerable feelings that come with this sad and hopeless emotional state. This leads them to act out through substance abuse, withdrawing, having affairs, overworking, and/or aggressively acting out against others or themselves. Unfortunately, many boys in our culture are still being raised with emotionally unavailable fathers while being encouraged to pull away from their mothers. This environment severely thwarts their ability to be connected to their vulnerabilities and emotions, which leaves them surely to suffer from depression in their adult years. It is the reconnecting to their emotional life that gives them back their life. With a desire to want something better, a willingness to look at the barriers like false belief systems, raising their awareness, and practicing a different way of being, many men successfully come out of their depression to go on and live a richer and fuller life.

Why I Wrote Married to the Enemy

admin — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 06:29:45 +0000

Married To The Enemy is about the reality of how our culture divides the two sexes by arbitrarily assigning extraneous gender traits that ends up leaving many men and women not knowing their authentic selves and not knowing how to relate to the other. This gender filter can create a human disconnect that is so detrimental to the friendship we all desire in our mate. In the book we try to first demonstrate the reality of this chasm, then we discuss ways to release the extra gender baggage and open the door to value our partner first as a human being who also struggles and desires to find happiness in his or her life. Ultimately, realizing the intention to lead a richer and authentic love relationship.

Married to the Enemy

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:47:45 +0000

My book Married To The Enemy: A Guide to Overcoming the Obstacles to Intimacy When We Are Raised in a Culture that Uses Sexism and Stereotyping to Divide Us by Dawn K Kozarian and Mark James, is now available. This book has been years in the making. In some ways I believe I started writing it as a small girl who saw the inequities and power imbalance between the sexes and wanted to understand it even back then. This book was very emotionally difficult to write, but it all needed to be said. Mark is remarkably honest about the divide he saw growing up and I think everyone can gain something from it. It is the first layer we need to peel off before we can begin to know true intimacy with our partner. How is it that we are a country that criticizes other countries, such as India, for being oppressive yet they had a woman, Indira Gandhi, as their Prime Minister for a total of fifteen years? Perhaps, we should look at what happens here before we reprove other societies for their gender issues.

My experience counseling in Indianpolis

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:42:20 +0000

Welcome to my Indianapolis blog. In this blog I will be writing about various mental health topics and would enjoy hearing your comments on expressed topics. I moved to Indianapolis in 1988 and at that time I would say it met its’ reputation of being a very large small town. However, over the years I have had the joy of seeing the downtown shopping area developed, neighborhoods revived, the beautiful canal walk that makes me feel like I must be in Venice and various other completed projects… Who hasn’t enjoyed the Monon trail? Having come from other parts of the country has allowed me to see the advantages of this beautiful city and state, and what may be disadvantages.