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Dispatches from a New York City Shrink

Greg Dillon is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and an Assistant Professor of Public Health and Clinical Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell Medical College. See full bio

February 26, 2009

No Next New Big Things, Please

The secret to publishing success (at least in the impulse-buy-quick-fix-self-help-non-fiction-cum-memoir market) has been said to be a number. A single digit, 3, 7, 8, or what have you. That digit represents the number of quick and simple steps towards fortune, fame, and total enlightentment. People eat this up, not surprisingly. Read More

May 15, 2008

Crazy Back

Justin Timberlake took "sexy back". Whose got "crazy back"? Mad Pride, empathy, and responsibility. Read More

April 1, 2008

Spring Cleaning

Many patients seem to want psychic spring cleaning. It's a time of change, and they get impatient to have their insides change to keep pace with anticipated external changes. Read More

March 21, 2008

Virtual Betrayal

The wheels of capitalism must turn. Everybody has to make a living. But can marketing's cyber-sneak-attacks threaten the field of human communication? Read More

March 20, 2008

Bear Stearns In Treatment

"Can you believe this?! Can you believe what happened to Bear Sterns?!" The truth is, I can totally believe it. But how does such drama shake the psyche? And who is going to make it all better? Read More

March 6, 2008

Placebo Abuse: The Hubris Effect

pla-ce-bo

2. Something of no intrinsic remedial value that is used to appease or reassure another... C'mon, just a little taste... Read More

March 4, 2008

Let It Bleed

"Doc, I'm bleeding here!" "What do I have to do, open a vein and bleed all over your rug?" Blood and bleeding make for strong symbols in psychotherapy, but what does it all mean? Read More

February 28, 2008

Free v. Cheap

"Free" (stuff, exchange, whatever) psychologically triggers enthusiasm in a way that even "very cheap" cannot. Can the promise of the free beat out the lure of the cheap, in therapy? Read More

February 26, 2008

Is Ryan Seacrest the Devil?

Film, television, literature, the Bible have all taught us that when the devil comes, he will be sneaky. At least a slithering, tempting snake, if not a more ethereal manifestation of our own baser traits. So, is Ryan Seacrest the Devil? Probably, yes. Read More

February 25, 2008

Empathy Within Reach

Design Within Reach haunts me. Not in a scary way, more ruminations. Where did it come from, what does it all mean, and, more importantly, why do I find myself strangely attracted to it? Read More

Psychiatry Basics

In its ongoing attempts to define, understand, and categorize disorders, and determine the best treatments, the medical specialty of psychiatry is always up against the protean complexity of the human brain.

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