Sunday’s New York Times ran an interesting article about the end of traditional dating in the so-called millennial generation. It confirmed what I’ve been hearing from my younger clients for some time now — that men and women in their early twenties tend to socialize in groups and engage in a lot of casual sex. […]
Shame and Indifference in the Hookup Era Read More »
During one recent session with a new client, he wondered aloud if I would respect his fairly conservative religious beliefs or seek to impose my (presumably) more liberal values. A day or so later, one of my long-time readers sent me an email asking how I deal with issues of faith in psychotherapy. It felt
Religion and Psychotherapy Read More »
Twice within the last six months, I’ve heard the 18-year-old son of friends use the expression “put to shame.” The first time, he told me that Lea Michele’s rendition (Glee) of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” put Barbra Streisand’s version to shame (I beg to differ). More recently, he told me that a certain designer’s
Snobbery and Pretentiousness Read More »
This morning while on the elliptical trainer at the gym, I noticed a program on the monitor above me featuring several young women with long dark hair, driving a Range Rover around parts of Los Angeles that I happened to recognize. On the crawl, I read the name Kardashian, along with many first names that
When is Contempt a Legitimate Response? Read More »
One of my clients tells me that I should have a neon sign on the wall behind me that reads, “It takes time.” She says I could simply flip a switch and turn it on instead of saying those words myself, which I obviously do quite a lot … for example, when someone asks me,
The New York Times magazine ran a chilling article yesterday about psychopathic children, and how the features that lead to anti-social personality disorder and sociopathy may be identified as early as age five. If you haven’t already seen it, I suggest you give it read. Researchers uniformly focus on lack of empathy as the best
Empathy for the Psychopath Read More »
When an anti-Islamic loner explodes a bomb outside a government building, killing eight people, then travels to a nearby island where he guns down 69 more, we naturally view that man as a dangerous lunatic. His paranoid tirades against multi-culturalism and “Eurabia”, along with his grandiose view of himself as crusading member of the fictional
Anders Breivik, You and Me: What We Have in Common Read More »
Last night, we were out at our favorite restaurant, celebrating my daughter Emma’s birthday. After a fine meal, we came home and sat up late, discussing, as we often do, the fact that she seems more like 26 than 14 — not precocious in a pseudo-mature way, but genuinely older than her age. People with
Mothballing Your Parents Read More »
For the last 12 years, I’ve belonged to a writer’s group that meets every Thursday afternoon for two hours. We read our works-in-progress, giving support and constructive criticism to each other; we spend years reading and listening to different drafts of our books, so it’s an important event, something to celebrate, when a book by
‘Butterfly’s Child’ by Angela-Davis Gardner: A Review Read More »
Charles Foster Kane from the classic film ‘Citizen Kane’ displays narcissistic rage and a lack of empathy, psychological features that show up in different personality and autistic spectrum disorders.
Narcissistic Rage and the Failure of Empathy: ‘Citizen Kane’ Read More »