March 2012
18 posts
“The creative person is both more primitive and more cultured, more destructive...”
– F. Barron, “The psychology of imagination”, Scientific American (September 1958)
February 2012
19 posts
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old,...”
– Socrates
Never real and always true: on depression and... →
Writer James Bradley’s wonderful essay on the links, both real and mythologized, between mental health and creativity. A highly recommended read.
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“It’s delicious to have people adore you, but it’s exhausting, too....”
– Tasha Alexander, A Fatal Waltz
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The Decline and Fall of Parental Authority... →
via Psychotherapy Networker:
American parents today face a perfect storm of cultural and social circumstances that undermine the very foundations of parental authority. In response, mothers and fathers are beginning to see therapists as irrelevant and to challenge the entire social, educational, and economic context of childrearing. On a day long before the Occupy Wall Street Movement began, I...
3 tags
Should OCD be Removed from Anxiety Disorders in... →
via Good Therapy:
Obsessive-compulsive-disorder (OCD) is currently listed under anxiety disorders in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). However, the upcoming revised edition of the DSM proposes removing OCD from this category and listing it under the heading of related OCD conditions, which include body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) tic...
“Everyone should have access to therapy. I don’t see it as a bad thing....”
– Emma Forrest
Why We Hide Emotional Pain (Leon F. Seltzer,... →
Excerpt (via Psychology Today):
“Not to show vulnerability is typically viewed as a strength, a “demonstration” of character. But in reality the major motives in hiding our emotions are (as I’ve already indicated) fear-based. We’re just afraid to look weak or susceptible to others. Paradoxically, though, unashamedly disclosing our vulnerability can actually be a...
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Love Poem, John Frederick Nims
My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases, At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring, Whose palms are bulls in china, burs in linen, And have no cunning with any soft thing
Except all ill-at-ease fidgeting people: The refugee uncertain at the door You make at home; deftly you steady The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.
Unpredictable dear, the taxi drivers’ terror, Shrinking from...
Here's Why Your Relationship is Doomed, and Other... →
So are most marriages doomed to fail?
It is an archaic institution designed to expire concurrent with a woman’s childbearing years, just like in the olden days. The idea of two people changing together and—more importantly— accepting each others changes over a 50-year span is delusional unless that person is undeniably your best friend in the whole world. Ever.
Needs-based...
“Healing grief does not mean making the grief disappear, but rather making peace...”
– Barry Grosskopf
“Americans today probably belong to the first generation on earth that looks at a...”
– Lauren Slater, Welcome to My Country
Can you describe what you do on a daily basis to stay healthy?
Andrew Solomon: When I began researching depression, I was a real medical conservative. I thought it was all about the meds. But now I believe that there are multiple elements involved.
For me, the medications are essential; I’ve tried going off them over and over, and I feel fine for a little while, and then I begin to ...
Passive Agression Toward the Self →
via Psychology Today:
Are you—unawares—a mental and emotional masochist?
In self-sabotage you “act out” internal conflicts by first moving toward a goal—then retreating from it. “I can do it” is offset by “I can’t do it.” “I want it” is overridden by “No, I don’t want it.” “I deserve it”...
This Could Be Carl Jung's Century (The Guardian) →
excerpt:
“…Yet if the last century has been called “the Freudian century”, there are reasons for thinking that this one could be Jung’s. His time does seem to have come.
For a start he invented the term “complex”, meaning combinations or clusters of emotional issues and dynamics, drawn from past, present and even the future. This idea rescues clinicians...
“Remember that the word psychiatry means ‘healing the soul’, not...”
– Elio Frattaroli
Family History of Psychiatric Disorders Shapes... →
(via Psych Central)
“Results of a survey published by Princeton University researchers suggest that a family history of psychiatric conditions, such as autism and depression, could influence the subjects a person finds engaging.
The Princeton researchers surveyed nearly 1,100 students from the university’s Class of 2014 early in their freshman year to learn which major they would choose...
“We’re all difficult. Everyone who is married is a difficult spouse. We...”
– William Doherty, psychology professor at the University of Minnesota