A young man sat in my office today and pondered his father’s unhealthy behavior. He said his dad would go on daily rants over the smallest infractions. When not having angry outbursts, he is just generally irascible (teens: that means cranky) to his wife and kids. He is clean to a fault (being clean is good; to a fault, not ... Read More »
As always, like to do a top ten list at the end of the year. Top ten best theories to explain why you are unhappy . . . 1) Attachment theory: A subset of Freudian theory. In a nutshell: your parents are to blame and that’s why you can’t form healthy attachments to others. A good theory for those times when ... Read More »
I remember when I was in graduate school and first heard about the disorder Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP). First off it’s a strange name. It is named after Baron von Munchhausen, an 18th century German nobleman known for allegedly making up stories about his travels and experiences in order to gain attention. As it turns out, that’s not even ... Read More »
Note: This is part two on this subject. Please start by reading my January 13 post: This is Your Brain on Psychopathy: And For Some, a Cure. It tells the background story on how James Fallon discovered that he had the brain scan of a psychopath. Just finished reading James Fallon’s book, The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey Into ... Read More »
The term psychopath is part of our common language. Psychopaths make headlines. They are the lead story on the evening news. Books are written about them. Recently, I was watching a CNN broadcast on the Jonestown killings. A survivor was quoted as saying that Jim Jones was a psychopath. No one argued the point. So–criminals, rapists, predators, murderers, and mass ... Read More »
Anderson Cooper, if you weren’t gay, and I wasn’t married, I’d think you were trying to win my heart. For the second time in two weeks you have broadcast an outstanding report that has life-changing implications. (See my December 21 post, “Fear of Death—The Antidote, Part 2” for the previous one.) The latest one is “Professor learns he has the ... Read More »
Let’s put it this way — If I were on a desert island and I could only have one mental health tool, it would be . . . an understanding of the term “gaslighting.” It is a pattern of psychological abuse wherein victims are manipulated into doubting their own reality. The tactics can involve rearranging or hiding objects to induce ... Read More »
My girlfriend Donna, the writer, is always coming up with ideas she wants me to write about on my blog. Last summer we were watching “Under the Dome” together and she said, “You should write about these crazy characters are on your blog.” OK, so that was last week’s post on psychopaths vs psychotics, and yes, it included a reference ... Read More »
After the Washington Navy Yard shooting rampage by Aaron Alexis I had planned to write a post entitled: “What? Another Psychopath?” I’d planned to tie in some well known media psychopaths, e.g., for the nearly 18 million of you who watched the summer CBS science fiction drama “Under the Dome” that Stephen King and Steven Spielberg produced – that would ... Read More »
This book by Kiera Van Gelder is a must-read if you’ve been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, if you think you should be diagnosed with BPD, if your friends or family have amateurishly diagnosed you with BPD, or if you just want to understand approximately 20% of the population.* Kiera: Thanks so much for sharing your story with us. Here’s ... Read More »