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“I want a whole lot more than the boy next door I want hell on wheels” From “ Cool Rider ” by Michelle Pfeiffer Nerds and badasses. Up until at least the early 1980’s you could witness these different humans in the anthropological petri dish known as the American high school cafeteria. Bad asses would be at one table and nerds at another - with little cross-pollination. And it felt as though people were pre-destined from birth to be either one or the other forever. Source: Michael Dobrinski on Unsplash, used with permission In retrospect, these seemingly polar opposite groups actually had something in common. They were both a little off center from the more traditional “normal” kids. Badasses seemed a bit dangerous like the “Greasers” from The Outsiders . They often wore leather jackets, were into cars and motorcycles, smoked, got into fights and often didn’t feel particularly compelled to play by the rules. They seemed both exciting and forbidding. On the … [Read more...] about Why Grease 2 Was The Most Important Movie Ever

By Michael A. Friedman “Look in my eyes, what do you see? The cult of personality . I know your anger , I know your dreams . I’ve been everything you want to be. I’m the cult of personality.” — from “ Cult of Personality ” by Living Colour There is something enticing about viewing the world in simplistic all-or-none terms of “good” and “evil.” We love seeing ourselves as righteous and perfect, while viewing those with whom we have conflict as villainous and devoid of moral value. Why get involved in the stickiness of the complexity of human interaction? And often we choose our entertainment based on our desire for this fantasy world. Good guys versus bad guys, cops versus robbers, superheroes versus villains — these are the dichotomies that pervade our cultural landscape. Source: Photo by Travis Shinn Who doesn’t love seeing a bad guy get their due in a television show or movie? And the more intense the retribution, the better – because if … [Read more...] about Vernon Reid and the Power of Comic Book Complexity

Source: Photo by Liz Fitch on Unsplash This post was co-authored by David Szwedo and Kristen Allen, a senior at James Madison University. Parents often have high hopes for how their children will turn out in adulthood, such as wanting them to be healthy, to feel satisfied with their career , and to have satisfying romantic relationships and strong friendships. But what factors help produce these outcomes as teens transition from adolescence to adulthood? Recent research suggests that a teen’s affect – especially positive affect – is one critical factor. What exactly is affect? Affect is the tendency to express positive or negative emotions, which in turn influences how we experience things and determine whether to judge a given situation as positive or negative. Affective responses to events typically happen automatically. Moreover, research suggests that a person’s affect is relatively stable over time, especially by the time one reaches adulthood. Affect is … [Read more...] about The Positive Effects of a Positive Affect

Source: agenturfotografin/Adobe Stock Seeing a therapist used to imply being in the same room with them, but not any longer. Teleconferencing has made it possible to see a mental health professional from a distance. With recent requirements for social distancing, many therapists and clients have had to either pause their work or make other arrangements, including meeting by video conference. I've been providing teletherapy services for about a decade now, and in the past year transitioned to doing only teletherapy. Here are some common questions and issues that come up when thinking about making the transition. Will My Therapist Agree to Online Sessions? Some therapists (myself included) are enthusiastic about using teletherapy, some won't use it at all, and a large number of therapists approach it with some reservations. I've been surprised how many therapists are now moving to it with the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting social distancing. Most therapists generally … [Read more...] about How to Transition to Seeing Your Therapist Online

Source: Freud's Headset by Paul Joannides If you are a therapist, you might be frustrated that sheltering in place has forced you to do teletherapy instead of seeing patients in your office. That’s how I felt 20 years ago when I first started doing teletherapy. But I wouldn’t have it any other way now. Twenty years ago, I had a thriving private psychoanalytic practice in Los Angeles. Although I am trained as a psychoanalyst, I rarely used a couch and almost always worked with patients face to face. But when my wife’s mother was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, we moved to a different state and everything changed. Lewy body dementia is a cross between dementia and Parkinson’s disease. We’d never heard of it before, but it had resulted in my mother-in-law believing an imaginary family was living in her house. Fortunately, she was happy--unlike Robin Williams, who also had Lewy body dementia. She did not become agitated, anxious or dull as might be expected with … [Read more...] about My Advice After Doing Phone Therapy for 20 Years