A very smart man once came to me and said he wanted to understand himself. “Have you read Freud?” I asked. “No.” “Jung?” “No.” “Lacan? Winnicott? Bion? Kline?” “Never heard of any of them.” “Did you ever take psychology?” “I took a course or two. I graduated from Stanford summa cum laude, with a doubleContinue reading “How to Understand Yourself”
Category Archives: The Self
Peeling the Onion
When you meet someone for the first time, you’re generally on your best behavior. You’ll present the most polite, least objectionable version of yourself that you can come up with. This is called the public face, the mask, or the persona. Most of us cultivate this persona as carefully as we edit our Facebook page.Continue reading “Peeling the Onion”
The Shrink’s Links: The Defensive Functioning Scale
Bringing you the best of mental health every week. It’s not a question of whether or not you use psychological defenses. Everybody does. It’s really a question of what they are. Some, you see, are better than others. The first defenses we develop are the primitive ones, cheap and dirty, the barrel bombs of psychologicalContinue reading “The Shrink’s Links: The Defensive Functioning Scale”
Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 18: You don’t know what you can do
You could learn a lot about addiction and recovery by watching the Wizard of Oz. I’m not referring to the scene where Dorothy and her friends pass out in a field of poppies. That’s the only outright drug reference I can recall. I’m talking about the way Dorothy and her friends are traipsing all overContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 18: You don’t know what you can do”
The Shrink’s Links: The Enneagram
Bringing you the best of mental health every week. If you were intrigued by my last post, Nine kinds of madness and the hole in the middle of it all, then you’ll love learning about The Enneagram. Enneagram is the Greek word for a nine pointed figure. The Enneagram is a model of personality thatContinue reading “The Shrink’s Links: The Enneagram”
The Shrink’s Links: Still I Rise
Bringing you the best of mental health and relationship articles on the internet. Today’s link from the shrink is: Still I Rise Feeling oppressed? Recite this poem to yourself and you’ll feel ready to take it on, anyway. Good for all types of oppression. Click here to go to the link Related articles The Shrink’sContinue reading “The Shrink’s Links: Still I Rise”
Some Things You May Not Know about Your Self, Part 2
Peeling the Onion When you meet someone for the first time, you’re generally on your best behavior. You will present the most polite, least objectionable version of yourself that you can come up with. This is called the public face, the mask, or the persona. Most of us cultivate this persona as carefully as weContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know about Your Self, Part 2”
Some Things You May Not Know About Your Self: You never really know yourself until you die
The younger a person is, I have found, the more they think they know themselves. They can be heard, saying things like, “I’m not like this, I’m like that… I never… I always… my personality is…” They limit themselves this way. That’s what I did. The older I get, the more I surprise myself. IContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know About Your Self: You never really know yourself until you die”
Keith R Wilson 