A Review of How Not to Kill Yourself by Clancy Martin A professor begins his classes by asking all students who have ever thought of killing themselves to raise their hands. But first he tells them he’s tried to do it ten to twenty times and how he deals with his suicidal thoughts now. ReassuredContinue reading “Taming Suicidal Thoughts”
Category Archives: Book Review
Emotional Labor
Who’s Really the Boss? It sounds like a capitalist’s dream come true, monetizing your feelings. Except it’s already come true. There are many jobs that include emotional labor. Sociologist, Arlie Hochschild was perhaps the first to write, back in 1983, about emotional labor in her book The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. In herContinue reading “Emotional Labor”
It’s Three in the Morning, Do You Know Where Your Schemas Are?
You’ll Need Them If CBT Doesn’t Work One of the nice things about being a reflective eclectic is I have loads of methods I can use to help people who see me for psychotherapy. Sometimes it’s simple. If you come in and say you’re anxious, I can teach you a method of breathing that mayContinue reading “It’s Three in the Morning, Do You Know Where Your Schemas Are?”
What is the Evidence that You Are Plural?
A Review of “Many Minds, One Self” By Schwartz and Falconer I have an image of being a practical, no-nonsense kind of therapist to uphold. A certain sort of underserved clientele flock to me because they think the mental health world is glutted with flakiness. Should I really be telling them that they are inhabitedContinue reading “What is the Evidence that You Are Plural?”
The Schopenhauer Cure
Irvin Yalom’s Relief from Despair If your anxiety and depression has made you turn on everyone and everything, if the closest you get to other people is in the commission of your sexual addiction, if you’re so spiteful, grouchy, and malevolent that even your own mother can’t stand the sight of you, if you’re anyContinue reading “The Schopenhauer Cure”
The Hatred of Sex
The Point of Sex is Not Just to Come, But to Come Undone Why would anyone hate sex? Yes, sex is pleasurable, but it’s also dangerous. It’s often most pleasurable when it’s the most dangerous. It lures you in with the promise of satisfaction and leaves you with a disease. It’s a tool of abuseContinue reading “The Hatred of Sex”
A Case for Rage
A Book Review Is my anger justified? Anyone who’s ever been angry believes it is. But anger can be terribly destructive and must be managed, say those who are not angry at the moment. Who’s right? Is anger worth keeping? Ethical philosopher, Myisha Cherry recently wrote a book that describes the difference between righteous angerContinue reading “A Case for Rage”
Is Addiction a Disease?
A Reading of The Urge: Our History of Addiction, Part III People have debated whether addiction is a disease for as long as I know and have never settled the matter for me, so that I cannot say for certain whether it is or isn’t. It depends on what you mean by disease. The wordContinue reading “Is Addiction a Disease?”
The Spectrum of Addiction
A Reading of The Urge: Our History of Addiction, Part I I’d like to devote a few posts to chew over Carl Erik Fisher’s book, The Urge: Our History of Addiction. Fisher is an addiction psychiatrist, bioethicist, and assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University.
Eleanor Oliphant Might Be Completely Fine But Using Therapists to Resolve Your Plot Isn’t
Ordinarily, I avoid reading books and watching movies that portray head shrinking because I’m careful to maintain a work/life balance. But I couldn’t ignore Eleanor Oliphant. Too many people recommended the novel as a delightful portrayal of someone with serious troubles. I soon saw they were right, and so was I. Eleanor is truly delightful,Continue reading “Eleanor Oliphant Might Be Completely Fine But Using Therapists to Resolve Your Plot Isn’t”
Keith Wilson - Counseling 