I haven’t written about my opposition to the widespread use of psychiatric medications in quite some time, mostly because I feel I’ve already said most of what I have to say on this issue. (See the collection of posts under the heading “The Medicalization of Mental Health,†to be found at the lower right of… Continue reading Benzodiazepines and Dementia
The Up-Regulation of Joy
My client Ari got married this past weekend. Given his family background, and in light of a gloomy prognosis for his future made by a former therapist, it was a major and moving event. And yet, in our sessions leading up to the ceremony, Ari seemed “dispassionate,†as I expressed it to him. I found… Continue reading The Up-Regulation of Joy
Los Angeles Radio Interview
UPDATE: Here’s a link to the archived interview, in case anyone wants to listen. As I said on my Facebook page, this was the first time that I felt absolutely no anxiety before a public appearance. I’ve found my personal “answer” to the problem of performance anxiety: just be yourself and say exactly what you… Continue reading Los Angeles Radio Interview
A Request for Input
In response to my recent post about The Self-Serving Lie, I had a very interesting email exchange with a site visitor. An intelligent and thoughtful woman, a strong believer in the value of psychotherapy, she felt that by writing such a post, I was behaving in an unprofessional manner. She felt such personal disclosures devalued… Continue reading A Request for Input
The Evacuation of Pain
Nearly four years ago, not long after I first launched this site, I wrote about a client who coped with unbearable feelings via her eating disorder: when she could no longer endure a painful emotional state, she would binge and then purge in an attempt to evacuate it. I discussed this as a form of… Continue reading The Evacuation of Pain