mysteryshrink

I'm a psychologist who goes to way too many movies, for the same reason I chose this profession. I love stories. I use movies and novels working with people in my office and during speaking engagements. "You should write some of this down," I kept being told. So, this is it, folks.

The Opposite of Love is Using People

The Opposite of Love is Using People How Far Would You Go to Be a Winner? One of the Envied People? **This entry was difficult for me to write. The story is true and disturbing. At least I was disturbed. I don’t know that readers who have grown up blasted …

Continue reading

The Opposite of Love, People as Products

The Opposite of Love is Not Hate: It’s Using People How to Sell Lots of Books I hunched down in an end seat on the back row of the Century City Los Angeles Hyatt Hotel auditorium. My presence was forced labor, a contract requirement from a publisher. The publisher had …

Continue reading

You Need a License to Eat Here?

You Need a License to Eat Here? MysteryShrink Mexico Short Sonia, a new university friend, and I settled into a high-backed, carved wooden booth at the Gran Ancira Hotel Bar. Monterrey, Mexico, was the first night on our Freedom Trip adventure. The day before Sonia had pulled her application with …

Continue reading

Love, Boundaries, and the Fastest Way to Ruin a Lovely Dinner

Food, Boundaries, and the Fastest Way to Ruin a Lovely Dinner MysteryShrink Short The couple at the next table at Brennan’s in old New Orleans giggled and smiled like newly weds- which they were. Both widowed in their sixties, they’d met a year ago on a cruise and married six …

Continue reading

How to Be a Loving, but Separate Person, Hawaiian Pineapple Cake

How to Be a Loving but Separate Self…Otherwise you will drift between faking agreement and hiding anger. MysteryShrink Short: Love and Boundaries FOOD, Pineapple Upside Down Cake The couple had just finished the last meal of their magical Hawaiian honeymoon. The gazed into each other’s eyes. The fragrance of blossoms …

Continue reading

How to Be a Loving, But Separate Self, Wedding Cake

How to Be a Loving but Separate Self…Otherwise you will drift between faking agreement and hiding anger. MysteryShrink Short: Love and Boundaries FOOD, Wedding Cake Leftovers The wedding had been held one on of those flowing green lawns behind Southern mansions, shaded by ancient and glorious oak trees hung with …

Continue reading