Dear Mr. Ritz:

You are welcome. In regard to your new dog: I’ve been wanting a beagle puppy for a long time, but like you, I am concerned about the extra responsibility. It’s interesting that there is hardly anything (is there a single thing?) that has a plus side and no negative side, your antidepressants included. There is always a cost and a need to weigh in cost vs benefit.

“I must have seen 7-8 in the past several years. A couple were good, some weren’t. No one has ever really gotten to the bottom of my issues. Also got a new dog…. Maybe it was a little too early for me to get her? I feel like maybe I should have had the house finished first?“-

– how about this as the bottom of your issues (I am smiling because I know that I am not a professional and I am not diagnosing you…) : lack of confidence (and the anxiety involved) in regard to your competence in making the right choices because of a father who told you that what you were doing was wrong, wrong, wrong…? (Maybe…?)

anita