New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks writes this week of one family’s trauma, following the death of their 27-year-old daughter and the severe injury of their second daughter, Catherine, a few years later at the age of 26. He shares lessons drawn by the Woodiwisses, which at least apply to their own experience, about how those of us outside the zone of trauma might better communicate with those inside the zone.
More Friends, Less Lonely?
As we connect more and more through social networks, are we becoming more and more social? A video entitled The Innovation of Loneliness, produced by talented digital artist Shimi Cohen, addresses the question of whether our over-indulgence in social media is at the expense of real and vulnerable conversation. The video has been spiraling its way rapidly through (you guessed it…) the internet.
Loving Like an Elephant
18th-century poet Alexander Pope notes: “The proper study of mankind is man, but when one regards the elephant, one wonders.”
Writes Rich Lowry this week in the New York Post: “One wonders particularly after reading an extraordinary essay, “Do Elephants Have Souls?” published in The New Atlantis (Winter/Spring 2013).
The Conscious Relationship (H. Hendrix)
Harville Hendrix, author of the best-selling Getting the Love you Want (1988), and founder of Imago Relationship Therapy, coined the term “conscious marriage,” referring to a relationship that fosters maximum psychological and spiritual growth. Such a relationship, he taught, can be created by “becoming conscious” of, and consciously cooperating with, the fundamental strivings of the unconscious mind for safety, healing and wholeness. How does one do this?
Facial Expressions – A Universal Map of Emotions?
In 2001 the American Psychological Association named Paul Ekman (b. 1934) one of the most influential psychologists of the entire 20th century. In 2009 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Lisa Barrett, professor of psychology at Northeastern University, is not impressed by the research that has made Ekman famous.
The Biology of Depression (E. Kandel)
In his recent article in the NYTimes (The New Science of Mind, 9.6.2013), Professor Eric Kandel, asks us to consider the biology of depression. It is his belief that growing understanding of the physical workings of brain disorders, whether psychiatric or neurological, will give us new insights into who we are as human beings.
It’s OK to be Average (L. Wieseltier)
As long as we are on the topic of overcoming diversity and dealing with failure (see my recent post on Spanx and Failure), I thought I’d share a different angle that resonated strongly with me.
Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, finds himself deeply uncomfortable with the many claims heard by the successful (such as that of Oprah Winfrey in her recent address to the graduating class at Harvard) that “there is no such thing as failure.” The success stories put forth, he suggests, reflect not a triumph of inner resources, but yet another example of the “triumph of outer resources — a common confusion [among people] at the top.”
Must We Forgive Abusive Parents? (E. Yoffe)
The Slate, 2.18.13
The relationship of adult children to their abusive parents gets little attention in the psychiatric literature. In an article in The Slate (The Debt, 2.18.13), columnist Emily Yoffe asks what grown children owe terrible, abusive parents when the latter come crawling back, often elderly, feeble and needy; she offers her take on forgiveness. The following is a selection from her longer article.