Impromptu Man

Politics

Obsessed About the Polls? Blame the Psychologists

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on September 24, 2024

Is election season polling driving you nuts? Consider that psychologists, including some of the most important figures in social science history, were among the first pollsters.

Psychopharmacology

What Are the Rules for Ethical Medication of Migrant Kids?

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on June 29, 2018

Reports that migrant children are being medicated require transparency and ethical management.

Psychoanalysis

The Passing of a Primal Therapist

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on October 31, 2017

Primal therapy and Janov were once embodiments of counter-cultural expression.

Intelligence

For Foreign Spies, the President Self-Profiles

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on June 30, 2017

Once world leaders thought they should conceal their quirks. That was so yesterday.

Psychiatry

The Real Story Behind the Goldwater Rule

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on August 27, 2016

Only the American Psychiatric Association bars long-distance diagnosis. Why?

President Donald Trump

Typecast as "Trump"

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on June 28, 2016

Trump has created a character he can't escape.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

What You Didn't Know About that Mad Men Encounter Group

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on May 21, 2015

In the last episode of Mad Men, Don Draper's personal growth experience has deep roots in the human potential movement, humanistic psychology, and J.L. Moreno's psychodrama.

Therapy

The Most Influential Psychiatrist of the 20th Century?

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on November 15, 2014

A prolific innovator whose ideas are so pervasive that they rival Freud in his influence on our time.

Psychoanalysis

Defending Lincoln Against Psychoanalysis

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on October 18, 2014

Why did a New York state senator want to ban psychoanalysis in 1931?

Suicide

How the "Psychological Drama" Taught Peter Lorre How to Act

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on October 15, 2014

Peter Lorre’s fate is a lesson for all of us. Old roles are hard to give up, even for great actors.

Alcoholism

The First Couples Therapy, Starring Joan Crawford

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on October 9, 2014

How two celebrities became what might be the first recorded case of couples therapy.

Career

My Dad, the Psychodramatist

Jonathan D Moreno Ph.D on September 26, 2014

Forty years ago my father, the psychodrama and group therapy pioneer J.L.Moreno, died at the age of 84. My book about his remarkable life and the many ways he shaped our time will be published next month: "Impromptu Man: J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama, Encounter Culture, and the Social Network."