When dealing with other people, the reasonable, sensitive, and even self-interested thing to do is compromise, and be prepared to meet the other person halfway. Correct? Well, not really. All action needs to be purposeful. That includes the action of … Continue reading
According to Dr. Walter Kaye, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, anorexics use starvation as a mode of self-medication. How? Starvation prevents tryptophane, an essential amino acid that produces serotonin, from getting into the brain. By eating less, … Continue reading
Coercion, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry: Can A Mind Be Made To Reason? Sally Satel, a physician who wrote a book entitled ‘P.C., M.D.: How Political Correctness Is Corrupting Medicine,’ likewise fails to see the point about her profession. On the one … Continue reading
What Do Pills Really Do To Change Your Life? At best, a pill can calm or sedate you. Sometimes this might be a good idea, but more often it probably isn’t. If you’re too calm or sedated, how can you … Continue reading
What disturbs me most about the trend towards ‘medication first/medication exclusively’ is not the notion of medication itself. If a pill could cure problems as well as the medical establishment would have us believe, then life would be an effortless … Continue reading
A growing number of research studies are showing that self-esteem might not be all that it’s cracked up to be. Low-achieving students, some studies show, think as highly of themselves as valedictorians. Violent criminals are no more likely to show … Continue reading
Marital counseling and couples therapy are often a flop. This holds true even if the therapist is a pretty good one. Why is this? There are two common reasons. One is that couples wait until at least one of them … Continue reading
Being committed to growth means that you are willing to question yourself and others; to think philosophically and critically, rather than just react to events; and to go by reason rather than just by sheer ‘instinct.’ A person committed to … Continue reading
A Cornell University study asks, ‘Why do teens do stupid things?’ This same study also purports to answer that question. First of all, I have a problem with the premise of the question. Not all teens do stupid things, nor … Continue reading
Why do most people falsely believe that addiction is a disease? Are they all simply lazy and dishonest? No. While some are, I maintain that most are not. The confusion and error is created, in large part, by superficial similarities … Continue reading
Back in the 1970s, social psychologist Stanley Milgram published a study that focused on the psychology of obedience. In the study, volunteers were asked to administer shocks to ‘learners’ in an experiment. When the ‘learner’ made an error, the volunteer … Continue reading
You hear about this syndrome of either gender trying to change something (or a lot of things) about their partner (or even their friend). These attitudes and behaviors show a lack of respect. Deep down, the spouse who’s acting this … Continue reading