I appreciated Ellen Goodman's Nov. 2 Other Views column A little short of paradise on the state of women's happiness. If women are testing as less happy 40 years after the rise of women against systemic oppression, it means they've become more real. At the Trauma Resolution Center, we use validated measurements for posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety on the traumatized humans who come to us for help to ensure they are making improvements in our program.

Many times the test scores increase at the mid-point in treatment: To survive at all, clients have had to dissociate, deny and suppress true feelings. The mid-tests indicate that they've connected with how they actually feel. From there, it is all downhill in a positive sense as they can now deal with reality and find true happiness.

Women are faced with a world gone mad from the oppression of values that represent the feminine side. With enough of us rising above our dissociation, denial and suppression, there is hope for the planet.

TERESA DESCILO, executive director, The Trauma Resolution Center, Miami