Bringing you the best of mental health every week. The best book I know about how drugs of abuse work and their effects is Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy, now in its fourth edition. No one is frying eggs and exaggerating or diminishing the effectsContinue reading “Buzzed”
Author Archives: Keith R Wilson
Broken Promises
While you’re at it, while you’re acknowledging the exact nature of your wrongs, don’t forget one wrong you might’ve committed that is so central that it may overshadow all others and be key to this whole business of reconciliation. Broken promises. Embedded in every wrong is a broken promise; a promise either declared or implied,Continue reading “Broken Promises”
Freedom
Bringing you the best of mental health every week. If you’re interested in understanding human behavior, you could do a lot worse than reading novels and fictional short stories. The worse thing you could do, I suppose, is to read instruction manuals on how to assemble Ikea furniture, astrophysics, or the nature of chemical reactions,Continue reading “Freedom”
Admit the Exact Nature of the Wrong
Now I’m going to talk about an essential part of the process of going from wrong to reconciliation, a part that many people, incredibly, try to pass over. What is this indispensable but neglected component? Identifying what you did wrong. People often want to pass right over this part to get to forgiveness, to argueContinue reading “Admit the Exact Nature of the Wrong”
Unbroken Brain
Bringing you the best of mental health every week. People have often asked me to recommend a book about addiction. For thirty years, the only one I ever urged people to read has been the Big Book of AA, written eighty years ago, when we knew next to nothing about addiction. I’ll get into theContinue reading “Unbroken Brain”
The Fractured Republic
Bringing you the best of mental health every week. On this MLK Day, after the recent dissentious election, you may be interested in reading The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism by Yuval Levin. Levin has ideas about how we can come together and mend what’s broken.
Beware of the Fundamental Attribution Error
The old lady ahead of you falls. You think she’s too weak to get around without a walker until you trip over the same bad spot in the sidewalk. You watch Jeopardy and try to come up with the questions for Alex Trebek’s answers. Alex Trebek seems to be smarter than you.
Guilt and Shame: 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? It’s easy to confuse guilt with shame. People refer to them interchangeably, like twins who areContinue reading “Guilt and Shame: Good and Bad Ways to Feel Bad”
Regaining Trust
Two people go to the bank. One has a good credit score, the other a bad one. One is clearly more creditworthy, or trustworthy, than the other, based on past behavior. One paid his loans on time, the other sometimes defaulted. These two see the same banker and ask her for a loan. You mayContinue reading “Regaining Trust”
Keith Wilson - Counseling 