My friends are in debt but won’t rein in their lifestyle. And I feel pressured to keep up
Dear Annalisa, I have a friend who has experienced a truly awful year with her husband. They have been put through it and are now in…
How can I persuade my elderly parents to downsize – and get rid of some stuff?
Dear Annalisa, My parents are 84 and in fairly good health, although my dad has a few issues. I am in my late 50s and was…
How can I end a strained friendship as gently as possible?
Dear Annalisa, During university, I became close friends with a girl who I had a lot in common with. She is very loyal, a great listener,…
I feel trapped by our family life abroad and want to move back to London
Dear Annalisa, I am of Asian background, in my late 40s, and live in the capital of my husband’s European home country with him and our two children. I…
Both my parents died and then my step-parents got together. Why can’t I be happy for them?
Dear Annalisa, I’m a woman in my 40s. My father died three years ago, my mother two. Three months after my mother’s death, her partner, Alan (not…
I feel sickened with myself for shouting at my child. Please help
Dear Annalisa, I am a parent of two small children, three years old and six months, and am struggling to control my temper. I have never…
How do I find a balance between work, family and my new partner?
Dear Annalisa, I live with my teenage children and my mum, who had to move in because of ill health, having lost my dad a few years…
My friends haven’t been there for me since my dad’s death
Dear Annalisa, My dad died unexpectedly a few months ago and I can’t shift the resentment I feel towards some of my oldest friends, who have barely…
My friend is working so hard it’s affecting her health and family. How can I help?
Dear Annalisa, I have a friend in her mid-40s. She is the most senior member of a team in a very large organisation, and has a husband and two…
My stepson lives with a girlfriend twice his age. Should I be worried?
Dear Annalisa, A few years ago I got married and became step-parent to a teenager (now in his early 20s) who was raised by his alcoholic and…
Annalisa Barbieri 
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