Parenting is a tough job. Parenting a child with a mental illness is unusually tough, as we learned from Tuesday evening's HealthyPlace TV Show.

Anyone who is raising a child knows of the challenges involved. From a very young age, all the way into teenage years, parents sometimes struggle to understand mood behaviors, actions and learning problems of their precious children. Many parents wonder: "is there something wrong with my child?" - but they can't put their finger on the problem or they make up excuses to validate the child's behavior - "all boys are like that."

Mental health certainly carries a lot of stigma, but think about this -- how many adults have you ever heard discuss surviving child sexual abuse? Outside of my job, the answer would be "none." No one talks about it. They mention sexual predators or child molesters, but not what life is like after being sexually abused as a child. On Tuesday night's HealthyPlace TV Show, the discussion centered around the impact child sexual abuse has later in life. Dr. Harry Croft, Medical Director of HealthyPlace, helped us understand how sexual abuse impacts victims in their adult lives. Many child abuse survivors suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, personality disorders and many self-harm. It's frightening, but some go on to become abusers themselves.

In today’s world, there is much discussion on the subject of sexually abused children. On a regular basis, our nightly newscasts bring us appalling stories of sexual predators and their young, innocent victims. Do you ever stop to wonder what happens to these “children” as they turn into adults themselves and try to lead a normal life? What is a normal life after you realize that you’re youth has been taken away? On Tuesday’s show (June 16), we'll dig into a topic that is often never talked about: adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Many times, victims try to lead normal lives but encounter problems such as low self esteem, problems with relationships, trust issues, and the ability to have normal sexual relations. As a result of the sexual abuse, other disorders such as PTSD and depression occur.

What a great show!

Sometimes in life, we encounter many situations that leave us empty or broken, causing us to feel like we have failed. For some, it’s easy to pick up the pieces and move on; but others are not so lucky. Feelings of self-doubt, emptiness and sorrow consume some people leaving them with nowhere to turn.

On Tuesday night's show, we addressed the difficulty in recovering from eating disorders. HealthyPlace.com Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft mentioned a key factor in understanding this disease is to remember it is not about having a fat phobia‚ but it has to do with control, or maybe even lack of.

For many people with an eating disorder, trying to recover from anorexia or bulimia can be a long and difficult process. June 2, 2009 we're discussing what recovery from an eating disorder really means and why it's so darn difficult to "quit your eating disorder." Our guest, Shannon Cutts, will give us a look inside her life and her 15-year struggle with anorexia and bulimia. Shannon understands firsthand the total isolation, dead-end thinking, and exhausting mind tricks that eating disorders confine you to.

On the HealthyPlace TV show, airing live tonight at 7:30 PM Central, 8:30 Eastern, the topic is sexual addiction . It's a difficult one and some of the points we'll be addressing include: How to tell if your sexual impulses are normal Where to find help if you have a sexual addiction What it means to maintain sexual sobriety

Recently, several celebrities including, most famously, David Duchovny, have publicly faced 'sexual addiction'. What does it mean to have a sexual addiction? Isn't it normal to love sex?