Are You Having An Affair or a Friendship?

MysteryShrink Shorts:  Are You Having An Affair or a Friendship? Picture yourself in a restaurant with your ‘friend.’ You look up and see your spouse or significant other walk in the front door. What happens inside you? If your urge is to jump up, to smile, and cross the room …

Continue reading

Psychology in Real Life: Diagnosis, Good News or Bad News?

Psychology in Real Life: Diagnosis, Good News or Bad News? So now you have a diagnosis for someone else or for yourself. Should you tattoo the bar code across your forehead or would it be best to fold that little sheet of paper into a tiny square and tuck it …

Continue reading

Which is Best? Potato Peeler or a Paring Knife?

Potato Peeler or Paring Knife? Which is Best? The lady across from me in my office described an anxious situation she experienced every time she visited her parents for Sunday dinner. Mashed potatoes were usually on the menu and my client’s responsibility. The potato tool selection is when Potato Peeler …

Continue reading

Dr. Dale’s Journal. Part 3: FALLOUT (Radiation)

Dr. Dale’s Journal: Entry Three on Joys of Radiation For this entry to make sense, you’ll need to have read Diagnosis Black and Hemlock. Introductory Dr. Dale Memory Story: Dr. Dale Maxwell, psychiatrist and buddy, has been diagnosed. He has less than two years to live. My husband and I …

Continue reading

What Changes in Relationships when Anxiety Increases?

What Changes in Relationships when Anxiety Increases?  From an article by Hal DeShong, Ph.D., P.C. ** This article is for reference with Distance in Relationships: Take a Trip on The Darjeeling Limited (Owen Wilson.) There are four biologically based anxiety-binding mechanisms [Four actions we likely initiate when we are anxious …

Continue reading

I’m Okay if You Are Okay with Me.

I’m Okay if You Are Okay with Me. **This article is not a standard review but a discussion of how the story weaves in lessons in psychology and behavior. What’s the difference between being in love and being locked in relationship dependence? In her novel, The Pact, Picoult does an …

Continue reading

Relationship Dependence: I’m Okay if You’re Okay, “The Pact”

Relationship Dependency: “I’m Okay if You’re Okay” The Pact by Jodi Picoult Part One What I’m Reading . . .  **This article is not a standard review of the book but a discussion of how the story weaves in lessons in psychology and behavior. The Pact tells the story of a teen couple, Christopher …

Continue reading