Earlier this week, my friend Sherry came over for dinner. After asking all about her trip to Las Vegas and briefly discussing our vacation, I finally got around to telling her of some recent developments in my writing career (more about this in a moment). After a few minutes, she said to me, “So you […]
The Fear of Seeming Narcissistic Read More »
The familiar plot of Cinderella gave me the opportunity to write about shame and narcissism, themes not traditionally addressed by other iterations of this classic fairy tale. Snow White, my current project, allows me to write about the experience of envy and jealousy, usually the most prominent feature of every version of the story: the
Envy for Your Children Read More »
Early in the summer of 2011, not long after we arrived in Colorado, I received an email from our good friends in Los Angeles who also own a cabin down the road from us. They had offered the use of their cabin for one week to the rector of their church, All Saint’s in Pasadena,
Envy and Competitiveness Read More »
In toxic divorce situations where a vengeful mother tries to turn her son against the boy’s father, it has the lethal effect of confirming his Oedipal fantasies, with lasting damage to the boy’s sense of self and his respect for authority.
The Oedipus Complex in Divorce Situations Read More »
Sigmund Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex doesn’t get much airplay these days but it’s still a highly relevant aspect of family life and psycho-dynamic psychotherapy.
Sigmund Freud and the Oedipus Complex Read More »
A discussion of envy and how the envious person wishes to spoil or destroy the object of envy. This article includes a clinical example from one psychotherapy case, as well as a personal example of envious behavior from the author.
A discussion of the subtle role of envy in certain forms of self-sabotage, with clinical material to illustrate it.
Envy and Self-Sabotage Read More »
We admire and envy celebrities because they supposedly lead the perfect, pain-free life we want for ourselves.
Celebrities — Why We Love and Hate Them Read More »