Therapy has been trending. From athletes to school systems to social media it’s hard to go anywhere without seeing some mention of mental health. And while awareness of mental health may be a good thing, we do run the risk of diluting … Read more
From the merely mundane to the release of rubble buried in the unconscious, therapists focus on what is said during a session. This is for good reason. But psychodynamic therapy is not merely talk therapy, it’s relational therapy. And as … Read more
I’m not an anxious person, but I do get anxious. And few things make me more anxious than my “smartphone.” While there’s emerging research on this, plus a recent report that Apple plans to do something about it, I would … Read more
We hear it now as a truism: These are uncertain times. Uncertainty gets attached to big events climate change and war, both existent and future, but its most depleting manifestations may be those in our daily lives, or what we … Read more
Sigmund Freud said “everyone owes nature a death.” Death is always with us, waiting. It worries and terrifies us. Its presence seeps into who we are and what we do. And most of the time we avoid it—at a cost. The … Read more
Living in L.A., one confronts a world of acquisition. A quick glance at the neighbor or a fellow parent or a passerby reveals all that can be had and displayed. We get tricked into believing that we constantly suffer from … Read more
For many, the idea of confrontation induces fear. We tend to think of it as aggressive and repellent. But there’s another perspective. Confrontation, done right, can lead to closeness and intimacy. With confrontation you’ve gone to the uncomfortable side of things … Read more
Advertising, we’re told, is a necessary evil. It pays the bills, funds free content and keeps consumer prices low. I equate advertising rather simply with pollution. And it’s a pollution that by some estimates we take in 6,000 to 10,000 … Read more
Poetry. Seems dead. Even hearing its purported virtues can feel high-minded, conservative, retrograde, stodgy, stuffy, fanciful, a plain waste of time. It’s not. It can shape us well beyond the broken lines on the page. Why read poetry? So why read … Read more
As revealed in my private practice, one of the most trepidatious acts for people seems quite simple: To begin. We can take a “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” approach. I frankly believe there’s a time and place for that … Read more
