…ut a price on these activities, and you can’t excuse away their absence by coming up with a complicated-sounding psychiatric label. Young children will not develop a happy and confident sense of life unless adults consistently communicate it through language and behavior. Pills cannot accomplish this. Time and effort will. Children must be shown that their minds and thinking skills—not cool backpacks and iPods—are the most crucial components of se… Continue reading →

…like it’s possible to (over)do anything in a neurotic, irrational way. For example, a person with psychological problems will clean the same things over and over, knowing everything is fine but feeling a compulsion to do so anyway. But for most people, that isn’t what cleaning is about. New York psychologist Vivien Wolsk, Ph.D., puts it very well: ‘There’s something relaxing, even meditative, about these chores. When we clean, we have a visible im… Continue reading →

…lly depressed people to think more like this. Marvin Zuckerman, Ph.D., a researcher commenting on the subject of risk in Psychology Today, agrees: ‘Although risk-taking has negative aspects and can even prove fatal, it is a positive force as well. Without risky experiences, humanity would stagnate; there would be little impetus for discovery.’ He is, of course, right. Every positive step in the history of mankind involves someone, somewhere, takin… Continue reading →

…ms (such as an internal morphine release gland, let’s say) to cope with an environment our hunter-gatherer systems are completely ill-equipped to deal with.’ It’s an interesting theory. And, as it stands, probably true. But the question remains: How are we supposed to deal with feelings of rage—feelings that stem from a sense of being out of control—at least in the immediate moment? People who cope reasonably well with traffic, for example, tell m… Continue reading →

…price tag on these activities, and you can’t excuse away their absence by coming up with a complicated-sounding psychiatric label. Young children will not develop a happy and confident sense of life unless adults consistently communicate it through language and behavior. Pills can’t accomplish this. Time, effort, and concern will. Children must be shown that their minds and thinking skills, not cool backpacks and iPods, are the most crucial compo… Continue reading →

…seeking in a romantic partner. Sounds reasonable, but then the challenge becomes the open-ended (and seemingly endless) process of finding that person. Depression and anxiety can set in, and life becomes hostage to compatibility issues that you can’t control. The logical thinker who proceeds to, ‘What kind of person do I have to be in order to earn that person’s love?’ places him or herself in control of the process; identifying, in concrete terms… Continue reading →

…f the brain determines your emotions. Period. It just isn’t so. Think of a computer, for example. The machine consists of hardware and software. It’s true that the software cannot operate without the hardware; if the hardware is damaged or destroyed, the software is worthless. At the same time, the output of the computer — everything that makes it useful — comes from the software. Imagine your laptop without any programming – no operating system l… Continue reading →