What Mork, My Clients, Comedians, and Robin Williams Have in Common

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My clients have been talking all week about Robin Williams’ suicide. Then I talked to my girlfriend, the successful ghost writer, over the weekend. She said, “Surely you’re going to write a post about Robin Williams?” I said, “Surely there is nothing I could say that hasn’t already been said.” She convinced me that perhaps I had a few words ... Read More »

How to Recognize a Psychopath Lite

Psychopath Inside

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 »

What Do Boko Haram, the Internet, and Books Have in Common?

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I recently read, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr (W.W. Norton & Company). Hint: It’s making us shallow. The author makes a good case, backed up by solid evidence, that the Internet is causing us to think less deeply (less concentration, contemplation, and reflection). Instead we are becoming more ADHD, as we flit ... Read More »

Arguing Leads to Early Death—So Don’t Do It!

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Los Angeles Times reporter Karen Kaplan reported on a longitudinal study published online last week in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that proved that arguing leads to early death. The study looked at middle-aged adults who frequently fought with their spouses and found that they were twice as likely to die young when compared to their nonfighting or ... Read More »

There Are Five Groups of People Who Will Love The Bluegrass Conspiracy–Are You In One of Them?

Bluegrass Conspiracy~

Just finished reading The Bluegrass Conspiracy: An Inside Story of Power, Greed, Drugs, and Murder; by Sally Denton. The book is dense with facts, dates, names, and places; along with crimes, unsolved murders, and murder convictions. Don’t let the density dissuade you! It is a true story, written by a reporter, and reporters love facts. Once you get past the ... Read More »

What do Putin, Firemen, and Macho Men Have in Common?

putin

One of my clients, a young man, has a learning disability that caused him significant difficulty in school. When he came in for his appointment recently, he opened with, “Putin is trying to start World War III in the Ukraine.”  The young man has wisdom far beyond his learning disability. Anyone who is watching and listening can see for themselves ... Read More »

Help! My Husband is Retiring!

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Dear Ask My Jackie, I understand that life consists of growth and transitions, but some transitions are overwhelming. I’ve faced marriage, divorce, re-marriage, childbirth, empty nest, and now, the so called “twilight years.” This was supposed to be the reward for persevering the previous transitions and surviving relatively intact. However, last week I had the sensation of being swept up ... Read More »

Understanding and Handling the Corporate Psychopath—A Book Review of “Snakes in Suits”

snakes in suits~.

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 »

All’s Fair in Love, War, and ADHD (apparently)

adhd

One of my clients, Charity (not her real name), mentioned her son’s recent diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactive disorder. (ADHD) She had been resistant to the diagnosis at first, she shared, but she soon gave in, after realizing that in fact, she and her husband both suffered from ADHD as well. In the end, it was good news. An occupational therapist ... Read More »