Psychoanalysis 3.0

Building a Practical Philosophy of Self-Knowledge for the 21st Century

by The Psychoanalysis 3.0 Writing Group

Fifty Shades of Porn

The book, Fifty Shades of Grey, has been at the top of the New York Times Bestseller. And Internet porn is ubiquitous. Do the differences teach anything about how to have a sexually fulfilling relationship? Read More

A Preoccupation With Modesty or "Sex on the Brain"

When a crowd of ultra-orthodox men insulted and spat on an 8-year-old girl for her alleged "immodesty," they revealed a disturbing attitude toward sex and modesty. Read More

Death and Drugs and Whitney Houston

The tragedy of Whitney Houston's early death leads us to ask: What price does creativity have in a world of quick-fix perfection? Read More

The Thinking Body, The Moving Mind: What I Learned From Merce Cunningham About Psychology

The Merce Cunningham Dance Company performed for the last time on December 31, 2011. A psychologist reflects on her 20 years taking classes at Merce's school. Read More

Teenage Boys and Sexual Decision-Making: An Expanding Role for Mutually Satisfying Consensual Sex

Relationship-positive teen-age sexual decision making makes an appearance in recent survey data and in enlightened approaches to sex education. Read More

Watching Chaz Bono Dance with Lacey Is not Harmful to Children

Even Keith Ablow watchers are entitled to accurate scientific knowledge rather than opinions, scare tactics and inflammatory language. They just have to look elsewhere to get it. Read More

Brain Mapping Does Not Reveal What Turns a Woman On

Recent imaging studies mapping locations for the vagina, cervix and nipples in the brain's sensory cortex leave the mystery of female sexual desire unsolved. Read More

Ex-Gay Therapy: NPR Forgets Infomercials are not Science

The media is glossing over what is harmful and unscientific about so-called "ex-gay therapy." Instead they broadcast infomercials for the ex-gay movement. The message for anyone thinking of buying what the ex-gay movement is selling is the time-honored warning: "Let the buyer beware." Read More

Rewriting Cinderella: From Infertility to Adoption

Adoption is one of several ways to build a family. Emotional openness, even after the traumas of unsuccessful infertility treatment, is the only way to hear children's fears and come to meet their ghosts, demons and angels. Read More

The Top 5 in Bad Love Advice

When it comes to other people's relationship problems, many feel free to dispense advice in copious quantities. Unfortunately, the love advice that flows so freely is often really, really bad advice. Here are 5 examples. Read More

The Computer Screen Shatters the Blank Screen — and Patients Benefit

Information technologies, from Google to Electronic Medical Records, are changing traditional models of the relationship between patients and therapists. Using the new transparency to create more openness between therapist and patient can have salutary effects. Read More

Readiness to Win: Does Rory McIlroy have what it takes to win his first golf Major?

With Rory McIlroy's mental game becoming as impressive as his technical abilities, is he ready to win a Major and become a genuine force in the game? We will find out later today. Read More

The masculinity crisis, male malaise, and the challenge of becoming a good man

We are learning that "masculinity" and "femininity" exist in every individual. But the individual and collective consequences of this discovery has yet to be fully felt. Growing from boy to man is now a journey without familiar guideposts. Read More

On the Front Lines with a Japanese Psychologist at the Fukushima Disaster

An interview with Professor Naoto Kawabata, a Japanese psychologist providing disaster psychological services to Fukushima survivors. He questions whether and how western theories of trauma treatment can help Japanese trauma victims. Read More

The Thrill of Victory and the Lessons of Defeat

Don't fail to fail, it's how you learn to succeed. But fear of failure can become a trap. Read More

Curing the Loneliness of Illness

The suffering of serious medical illnesses is made worse by loneliness while companionship, even love, makes it easier to bear. Read More

From Meat to a Meeting: A 4-Step Approach for Women

Advice for when the man in your life treats you like nothing more than a collection of sexually interesting body parts. Read More

Creating a Magic Circle for Your Children and Yourself!

Conversation between parents and children is the best way to counter fears of secrecy and unspoken wild things. But such healing conversation needs a listener genuinely open to hearing whatever it is that will be said. Read More

Taking More from Menopause than Hormone Replacement Therapy

Menopause can be used as a growth-promoting crisis rather than the drug-taking opportunity it is often marketed to be Read More

What's Up With All the Wedding Hoopla?

Wedding hoopla helps couples avoid the difficult emotional challenges of launching a life with another person. And celebrity weddings help keep the "happy ever after" myth alive. Read More

Thinking and Talking: Where's the Human in David Brooks' Social Animal?

Symbolization and exchanging symbols with each other (thinking and talking) helps makes us uniquely human. David Brooks' social animal ignores those processes and presents a shallow, limited vision. Read More

Will Tiger Woods Master His Demons?

Will Tiger Woods be able to re-find his greatness in golf now that we know he's a "duffer in life" just like the rest of us mere mortals? Read More

Sex and Menopause: Thawing (Boiling?) the Big Chill

Though menopause is not an easy transition for many women, it can also be a time when women become the authors of their own desire and sexual pleasure. Read More

The Dis-Ease of Chronic Medical Illness

Attention to the psychology of chronic medical conditions can sometimes make all the difference. And remember, the chronically ill are not other, they are us. Read More

Dual Sexuality: Why you might consider going off the pill before tying the knot

Women contemplating marriage who have been on the Pill for their entire relationship may want to try cycling before making the long-term commitment.

When the APA removed "homosexuality per se" from the DSM-II in 1973, they created previously unimaginable opportunities for gay mental health professionals and helped integrate the broader gay community into American life. Read More

Stepping out from the shadows: Senator Brown speaks about childhood sexual abuse

When Senator Scott Brown came forward on 60 Minutes to reveal his history of boyhood sexual abuse, he joined a group of prominent men who have bravely stepped out of the shadows. Read More

Demon Victory: When winning isn't the only thing

Being afraid to win and excel is both paradoxical and powerful. But becoming mindful of one's fears and anxieties can help turn "demon victory" into a joyous win. Read More

When Love Fights with Faith

People troubled by conflicts between traditional religious beliefs prohibiting homosexuality and their same-sex attractions and desires are adaptively learning to live with contradiction rather than reaching for typically ineffective—and frequently harmful—"sexual conversion therapies." Read More

Do Tears Really Kill Sexual Desire?

Recent research documented decreases in male sexual arousal following exposure to female tears. But what does this research mean? And how do we account for the power of context and fantasy? Read More

The Psychoanalysis 3.0 Writing Group is a network of forward-thinking psychoanalytic writers organized by Todd Essig, Ph.D., Training and Supervising Psychonalyst at the William Alanson White Institute.

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