MetroPolar

Dispatches from a New York City Shrink

by Dr. Greg Dillon

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

Crazy Back

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Empathy Within Reach

mies day bed 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

Sterile Drapes

When I was a resident, training to become a plastic/reconstructive surgeon, friends were often freaked. "Jesus! How can you cut into someone like that. That is crazy messed up!" And while it admittedly tweaked a nerve to cut into a recognizable and sensitive spot like a an eye lid or a child's cleft lip, I always answered them, "It's all about the drapes." Read More

Expert Tease

Do you have to have had cancer to treat cancer? Do you have to be a crack addict to truly get the jones and the pain? Do you have to be an artist to really understand creativity? These questions range from rhetorical to hmmm, but it's tricky. Read More

Greg Dillon, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health at the Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital Cornell.

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