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”
Tag Archives: Self
The Self Concept
Chapter 7b of Meeting the Voices in My Head and Searching for an Inner Adult The mission of the Rebel is to claim certain feelings, beliefs, and practices as my own, distinct from others. It establishes the boundaries of the Self and assiduously patrols them. It guards my individuality and protects me from losing myContinue reading “The Self Concept”
Looking for My Father in Emerson’s Essays
I recently opened for the first time, a volume of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson from the collection of old books in my library that I have never read. I was surprised to find that my father, whom I must’ve gotten the book from, noted on the title page that he had read it threeContinue reading “Looking for My Father in Emerson’s Essays”
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: Identity Design
Bringing you the best of mental health every week. I hope you have met, at least once in your life, someone who can break it down and tell you how it is; someone who brings out the best in you, with an unerring moral compass, and can give you a good swift kick in theContinue reading “The Shrink’s Links: Identity Design”
The Shrink’s Links: Book Review: Internal Family Systems Therapy
Bringing you the best of mental health every week. You are divided. You must have noticed this when you’re trying to decide whether to have that chocolate cake, or stick to your diet; when you rise, groaning from your bed, despite how comfortable that pillow looks; when you want to tell your boss to shoveContinue reading “The Shrink’s Links: Book Review: Internal Family Systems Therapy”
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”
The Shrink’s Links: The Plutchik Emotion Circumplex
Bringing you the best of mental health and relationship articles on the internet. Today’s link from the shrink is: The Plutchik Emotion Circumplex “How does that make you feel?” I’m a shrink. I say that a lot. Much of the time when I ask that, the person looks like a deer in the headlights. It’sContinue reading “The Shrink’s Links: The Plutchik Emotion Circumplex”
Favorite Quotes: Life is a Journey
Birth is a beginning and death a destination; But life is a journey. A going, a growing from stage to stage: From childhood to maturity and youth to old age. From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing; From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom. From weakness to strength or strength to weaknessContinue reading “Favorite Quotes: Life is a Journey”
The Shrink’s Links: How to be an Introvert
Bringing you the best of mental health and relationship articles on the internet. Today’s link from the shrink is: Skin Deep Psychotherapist, Martha Crawford, writes about being an introvert: Non-intimate social events and groups can make my skin crawl and my feet itchy. Any chatty, surface engagement requires that I set aside significant recovery time afterward.Continue reading “The Shrink’s Links: How to be an Introvert”
Keith R Wilson 