I always know when I’ve written something controversial when I receive a number of email un-subscriptions for my blog. I haven’t received one in many months, but this morning, in very short order I received five. As site visitor Lauren made clear in her comment to my last post, many people will cut you off… Continue reading Intolerance and Conformity
On Success and Having Arrived
During a session on Thursday, one of my clients was talking about his feeling that he had “arrived” in his profession. In his mid-30s, he’s well-established now in a competitive field, earning an excellent income and finding himself respected and sought-after as an expert. As I listened to him, I recognized that I had never… Continue reading On Success and Having Arrived
Constructing the Psychotherapy Narrative
[THIS POST IS A BIT DIFFERENT FROM MY USUAL STYLE; IT’S ADAPTED FROM SOME IDEAS I’M EXPLORING IN MY NEW BOOK ABOUT NARCISSISM] At the beginning of our first session I ask MacKenzie, a 32-year-old single woman, what prompted her to seek treatment. Although she mentions occasional depression and anxiety, she seems most focused on… Continue reading Constructing the Psychotherapy Narrative
On Optimism
Over the course of my practice, I’ve come to know a few men and women who emerged from families so toxic and dysfunctional that I often wondered how they managed to survive, emotionally speaking, and why they hadn’t long ago surrendered to despair. Given how little goodness they encountered in their post-uterine world, why did… Continue reading On Optimism
On Pessimism
I haven’t been posting much lately because I’ve been focused on my book about narcissism, plus I just completed another article for The Atlantic, which you can find here. It’s about bullying as a kind of narcissistic behavior, linking the Richie Incognito story with the suicide of Rebecca Sedgwick and further thoughts on Lance Armstrong.… Continue reading On Pessimism