Taking Charge with Dr. Dale Archer


Welcome to the online companion to Taking Charge with Dr. Dale Archer, a regular featured column in Lagniappe Magazine, a bi-monthly newspaper distributed in Louisiana.  

In the Taking Charge column, noted psychiatrist Dr. Dale Archer provides answers to questions on a wide variety of topics, including: psychiatric conditions; medications; recent mental health advances; relationship issues; parenting issues; workplace conflicts, and much more.  Dr. Dale’s goal is to provide perspective and to help his readers make sound choices to resolve the diverse problems life brings.   

The name of the column, Taking Charge, reflects Dr. Dale’s common-sense philosophy of personal responsibility.  Dr. Dale’s advice is that we are in charge of our own lives:

• We choose our reactions to events in our lives, even reactions that are negative.
• Everything we feel, think or do is a decision that we choose.
• Other people do not control our lives.
• We are in charge- There are no excuses for failure.
• We can choose to be healthy, happy and successful!

Dr. Dale caringly reinforces these principles in the answers and advice he gives in his column and on this website.  He provides insight and guidance that will help you "take charge" and resolve your problems! 

In our Advice section, you will find questions and answers reprinted from Dr. Dale’s Taking Charge column , as well as answers to questions submitted to Dr. Dale through this website.

In our Resources section, we provide a mental health glossary, and some interesting mental health links for you.  Also, click on any of the links on the news feed on the left to read recent news articles of interest regarding mental health and psychiatry.

You can also ask Dr. Dale a question!   You may use the contact form on this site, or email Dr. Dale at mail@drdalearcher.com.   Selected questions will be answered in Dr. Dale's column, or on this website.  This is Dr. Dale’s way of giving back to our community- it is a public service and free of charge.