Compulsive Acts

A psychiatrist's tales of ritual and obsession.

by Elias Aboujaoude, M.D.

Bath Salts

Not long ago, the mention of “bath salts” may have conjured up scenes of pampering and ultra-relaxation, perhaps in a spa setting or a five-star resort. More and more, however, bath salts are the street name for a new family of synthetic chemicals that people are getting high on, including mephedrone, pyrovalerone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone. Read More

They Met on the Psych Ward

Love blossoms in the strangest places, and there is something wonderfully life-affirming about that. Read More

Muting a Therapist: The Case of Dr. Rafah Nashed

War casualty: a psychoanalyst is muted for the crime of treating a traumatized population. Read More

Grieving 9/11, Online

if grieving feels simple, easy or more efficient online, then maybe we are diminishing the process somehow. Read More

So Long, Steve Jobs, and Thanks for the Apps

We trusted him with nothing less than our brains, allowing ourselves to become physiologically hooked on one genius product after another. What to do now when the "fix" starts yielding less and less of a "high"? Where do we flock? Who do we ping? What do we download? Read More

The Great Recession of Our Virtual Lives

We used to want to keep up with the Joneses. Now, it's our online alter egos we are competing with. Could our new relationship with money be contributing to our economic woes? Read More

Rise of the Online Narcissist

More than ever, the Internet and "personal media" are putting us in the driver's seat, and that is making us more narcissistic. Read More

What Is Virtualism? (And Why You Should Care.)

How our real life persona increasingly resembles that of our avatar... Read More

Violin Requiem for Privacy: The Tyler Clementi Story

By all accounts, Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers freshman who jumped to his death after his roommate streamed a video of him having sex with another man, followed appropriate—in retrospect perhaps old-fashioned—dorm etiquette. To avoid surprises, the shy music major would ask to have the room to himself for specified blocks of time when he planned an intimate meeting. Read More

Somebody Tweet "Bye Bye Democracy"

Much has been said about how digital media are changing how we write. Not surprisingly, reading is also changing. Eye-tracking experiments suggest that online reading does not progress in any “logical” way but unfolds like a giant-font letter “F” superimposed on the web page. Read More

Googling Your Medical Record

Do you worry that personal information that your doctor types into your electronic medical chart will have the same level of privacy as your Facebook status updates? Privacy is passe, but how about for your health record? Read More

Your Brain on Facebook

All learning starts with the ability to focus and heed a teacher’s command to “pay attention.” Yet kids, like many of us, are showing a classroom attention span that is increasingly like their attention span on Facebook: Many seem to be exquisitely distractible and unable to focus on Mrs. Read More

The Psychiatrist as Barista

The Psychiatrist as Barista: Can We Caffeinate Our Anxiety Away? Read More

Psychotic Websites

We are accustomed to people allowing the less attractive features of their personalities to blossom online. Lewd, impulsive and antisocial behavior becomes irresistible when potential perpetrators are shielded by secrecy and online anonymity. Read More

The Biology of Psychotherapy

Brain imaging studies are showing that a form of therapy known as cognitive behavioral therapy produces changes in the brain that are similar to what Prozac-like drugs do. What does this tell us about how psychotherapy works? Read More

Dr. Aboujaoude is a psychiatrist and author based at Stanford University. His most recent book is Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality.

more...