Author Archives: Keith R Wilson

Not everything about Neuro-Linguistic Programming is phony If you’re going to learn how to be a psychotherapist, you should study psychology and acquaint yourself with all the theories of human behavior. I believe it also helps to read Russian novels and ponder philosophy. You can do worse than have a solid grounding in statistics andContinue reading “Need a Map for Your Brain?”

Mental Health’s blindness to mass delusions Recently, a group of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in hopes of stopping what they regarded as the stealing of the 2020 election, something they were certain of, despite the lack of evidence. This was just one of many examples of groups of people who have drunk theContinue reading “Will Your Therapist Even Notice If You Drink the Kool Aid?”

Good and bad ways to feel bad As soon as you see how you are responsible for trouble, you are met by two emotions who offer to be your guide: guilt and shame. Which one should you go with? Is there a difference between the two? Continue reading →

Universal survivor’s guilt as a basis for ethics You’re a survivor. You’re the result of an intense competition between hundreds of sperm seeking to impregnate an egg. You feed yourself off the flesh of others. If you eat meat, hundreds of beings die to give you sustenance; and if you’re a vegan, plants give theirContinue reading “The Face of the Other”

What’s the difference? Not everything is your fault. In fact, most things are not your fault; you had nothing to do with them. You didn’t ask to be born to these people or at this time or this place, at least so far as we know. You didn’t invent the language you speak. You didn’tContinue reading “Responsibility and Blame”

A lot of psychological studies are just plain silly. Do we really need experimental data to tell us that power corrupts, or that pain and sickness are depressing, or that people like to hear things that confirm their biases? However, there is one bit of experimental psychology that, when I tell people about it, causesContinue reading “What Pigeons Can Teach You About Expectations”

I have an idea for a new business opportunity for us shrinks. You know how they have anger management classes that judges, employers, and spouses send people to when they keep losing their cool? The kind like in the movie with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson? Yeah, that. Well, anger’s not the only emotion thatContinue reading “Disgust Management”

Even though shrinks are quite spiritual, they tend to be skittish about religion. There are three ways we shrinks handle spirituality. We either A) ignore it and pretend it doesn’t matter, B) help the client work through what they’ve been taught till they arrive at beliefs and practices that work for them, or C) indoctrinateContinue reading “Can Therapy and Spirituality Co-Exist?”

If you need to be convinced that the feeling of disgust is a peculiarly powerful and primitive emotion, try this experiment. Get a clean glass. Spit in it. Now drink it. Even if you can drink the spit, you know what I’m talking about. You know there’s nothing wrong with the spit. You swallow yourContinue reading “Disgust”