Attachment Parenting Goes to College
“Helicopter Parents Learn College Is Time For A Landing,” by Nicole Dieker on www.nbcnews.com is a helpful look at how to adapt attachment parenting to the needs of older children.
Love and Connection: Oliver Sacks and Living Fully
Love and connection. In reading Oliver Sacks’s February 19, 2015, op-ed piece in the New York Times in which he tells us of his metastasized cancer and what he describes as his “detachment” from life, I was struck by his acute engagement with his life.
Passion or Pragmatism: Which Is Most Important in Your Career?
We often think of this as a young adult’s dilemma, but I’ve treated people across the age spectrum in my psychotherapy practice who question the choices they have made.
True Joy: Alice Herz-Sommer
There’s a fascinating article in the New York Times about Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest living Holocaust survivor.
The Joy in Everyday Life
I read an interesting “Opinionator” piece in the New York Times called “A Decade of Goodbye,” about the process of helping a loved one die.
Couples Counseling With High-Conflict People
The following article, “Couples Counseling With High-Conflict People,” is adapted from a 2013 guest post I wrote for Randi Kreger's Psychology Today “Stop Walking On Eggshells” blog.
Substance Use Disorder and "Nurse Jackie"
Season Five of Showtime Channel’s darkly comic “Nurse Jackie” proves my contention that “if you deal with the behavior without confronting the underlying issues, you’re just switching chairs on a sinking ship.
Communications Technology vs. Relating
Communication is supposed to be helped by technology, right? We’re available 24/7 now, through cell phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc. We may be communicating, but are we relating?
Family Language
The article below about family language, also known as “chemistry,” was originally published on Your Tango, an online women’s magazine. Diane Spear, LCSW-R The emotional family language of childhood attracts you to familiar people and situations: chemistry.
Date Night Ideas For Exhausted Parents
The article below, about creative date night ideas for parents, was originally published on Your Tango, an online women’s magazine, then was picked up and published online by the Good Men Project, Chronicle Daily, Care2 Green Living, among several others (thanks!!!).
"Enlightened" Narcissists Return!
Laura Dern, Mike White, Diane Ladd, and Luke Wilson are back for another season of HBO’s “Enlightened”—and I’m thrilled to have one of my favorite casts of narcissists (the characters they play, anyway!) return. So much material, so little time!
Reality and "The Other Place"
I had an interesting Broadway theater experience with reality in December 2012, when a friend invited me to join him for Laurie Metcalf’s star turn in “The Other Place.”
Hurricane Sandy and Coping Style
Written 10/30/12: Your reactions to Hurricane Sandy, here on the East Coast, and to other challenging situations in life reveal your default coping style. What’s your hurricane coping style? Are you someone who goes with the drama?
Caring What Others Think: Dependency and "The Newsroom"
Dependency? “Of course I care what others think,” you may say to yourself. “Doesn’t everybody?” Considering others’ feelings is important, but this is something different; an inordinate concern about what others think of you is a sign of dependency.
The Fear of Being Direct
Writer Aaron Sorkin and HBO have given us “The Newsroom,” a terrific new show with plenty of material to write about, in this case, the fear of being direct. I
Pay Attention vs. Seek Attention
Do you pay attention, or seek attention? Attention is just attention, right? No! There’s a huge difference between seeking attention and paying attention.
How to Get People to Do What You Want!
Do I have your attention now?! The quest to get people to do what you want brings many people into therapy, whether you want the partner, child, friend, client, or parents to stop smoking, be nice, have sex more often, have sex less often, eat more vegetables and fruit,
Play by the (Relationship) Rules!
Do you have relationship rules for your partner? When one half of a couple makes rules for the couple, look out! Parents make rules for children, so the person who’s making the rules has cast him or herself as the parent and the partner as the child.
The Geographical Fix vs. Therapy
In Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), members talk about going for a geographical fix. What is a geographical fix, you ask? It’s the idea that if you’re miserable in NYC, you can fix your life by moving to San Francisco or some other place.
What "Size" for Therapy: Long or Short?
The buzz in therapy circles in April 2012 concerned a New York Times article written by a NYC psychotherapist, Jonathan Alpert, who inflates his credentials and bashes long-term treatment and the therapists who provide it.