Only July 4, the United States will be celebrating Independence Day, the birth of our nation. Unfortunately, the greatest freedom provided us by this new democracy has been dying and few people seem to be aware of it or care about it. And many others are even cheering it on. Read More
Do you think you need more red or blue in your life? Although the current economic crisis might prompt you to say, "Please, anything but red" faster than you can clip a coupon, there's new research that shows that the colors red and blue each have a distinctly different impact on the brain. Read More
Please say no, you're not a Delicate Flower; please tell me you're not a DF.
Because she's one kind of broad I just can't stand.
You know the one I'm describing here, right? She the princess of pain; she's the queen of whine and roses, except the roses always have too many thorns. Read More
Painful intercourse can be a difficult subject to broach: After all, sexual intercourse is supposed to be a pleasurable endeavor, this universal assumption leading the individual sufferer of dyspareunia to wonder if there is something wrong with her head, her vagina, or, Lord have mercy, both.
Truth be told, sex is not always a purely pleasurable thing for women at all times, and this c Read More
Equality can't be engineered in a Petri dish. Instead of pursuing over-the-top-risky biology experiments, let's work for equal access to existing means of family building, and push for legal protections and full social acceptance for gay parents and children. Read More
We are genetically designed for selfish altruism. Our minds, at times, distort this genetic principle, and we begin not only to behave as "one for one" but also to expect "all for one" (in other words, me). Such tampering destroys the matrix of mutuality, the very ground of existence. Read More
Non-suicidal self-injury strikes me as one of those mysteries of human behavior. The purpose of self-injury is not to cause permanent damage to the body; self-injury is not always intentional self-mutilation. Yet, the outcome of self-injury is often a permanent mark. Read More
Years ago-- and for much of human existence-many parents felt they had a simple, effective response to a child's misbehavior: "a good smack". Today, although smacking, is far from uncommon, many thoughtful parents reject the practice. They understand that physical punishment does not necessarily work very well to prevent misbehavior. Read More
When Joshua Persky was fired from an investment bank at the nadir of the economic crisis, he spent months looking for a job. His lowest moment, he says, was watching his wife cry as she left New York with their kids to move back to Omaha to save money. Read More
"It's the summer, why not have a good time and get drunk?" "I'm on vacation, who cares how much I drink?" "It's a wedding, let's celebrate, where's the alcohol?"Read More
Michael Jackson named all three of his children (including his daughter) after himself. In this phenomenon, he comes in second to George Foreman, who named each of his five sons "George." Why do parents do this? What impact does it have on a child? Read More
My reading about life in many different hunter-gatherer cultures has led me to conclude that their work is play for four main reasons: (1) It is varied and requires much skill and intelligence. (2) There is not too much of it. (3) It is done in a social context, with friends. And (4) (most significantly) it is, for any given person at any given time, optional. Let me expand on these, point by point. Each point is relevant to our lives, today. Read More
In the last of this series of posts, I want to talk about some contemporary research in developmental psychology which offers clues to the experience of a small child. Read More
Here are two wonderful opportunities to tell mental health professionals, and an author of an advice book, what people need to know about the real lives of singles. What do friends, relatives, and counselors get right in their beliefs and in their interactions with you, and what do they still not understand? Share your experiences, and you just may see them reflected in a new family counseling textbook and in a self-help book.
It has long been noted that people tend to view others holistically, that is, as all good or all bad. This is referred to as the "halo effect" because often it seems one characteristic (albeit positive or negative) seems to "outshine" others and bias our perception in the respective direction. We suppose it could be called the "devil's horns" or "pitchfork" effect, but the metaphor just isn't as pleasant. Read More
I appreciate the anonymous comment about "another label" as it referred to Parent Frustration Syndrome (PFS). While the response is provocative it is also erroneous. Read More