While eating dinner (I make outstanding loin lamb chops!), I happened to be watching the news about what's going on in Iraq, and suddenly, "Clare Graves" rang out in my brain. How many times have we intervened in other societies, trying to grow them up to be "junior Americans", replete with democratic principles, then after we've left, they revert back to their "normal" ways of life? Apparently, their values -- their bio-psycho-social systems-- are not compatible with our way of life, but they are compatible with their own and as Graves indicated, you can't skip steps in the helix.
On many occasions during my three decades as a New York State Licensed Psychologist, clients canceled appointments or failed to show up for one reason or another. This phenomenon is quite common to psychology practices-- it goes with the territory-- and there doesn't seem to be much you can do about it.
A "paradox" arises from two statements or ideas that by themselves may seem sound but cannot exist in the same space without contradiction. So for example, "Be spontaneous!" is such a paradox. You can do something purposely or have it arise accidentally, meaning, without known effort. But there is no context in which trying to have an accidental experience can occur.
In an age where we are constantly bombarded by advertisements for products we didn't ask to choose, but that leave us feeling confused and uncertain, it is once again time for that litany of "back-biting" unsolicited ads leading up to mid-term elections. Essentially, all those ads boil down to a choice: the (blue) donkey or the (red) elephant. Pick your animal! In fact, one would think a red herring is the animal being offered based on the way many of the election campaigns have been run.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of law suits against pharmaceutical companies for various breaches of conduct including producing contaminated products or those that fail to do what they are purported to as outcomes. "Whistle-blowers", often disgruntled company employees whose complaints go ignored, at times bring these suits. Most recently there was a successful suit brought by the government against GlaxoSmithKline, makers of such drugs as Avandia and Paxil; Pfizer was sued in 2009, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, makers of Abilify, were sued in 2007.
People often ask, "What is different about what you offer people in your practice from what someone else does?" "Isn't all psychotherapy basically the same?"
Years ago, Leslie Cameron Bandler, the late wife of Dr. Richard Bandler, co-developer of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) identified and isolated a series of patterns people utilize as they interact with their environment. Some of those patterns had to do with what moves them-- motivates them to action; others had to do with the various decisions people make as they work within the various contexts of their lives. These were called, "meta-programs."
Hi Everyone!
The book signings are starting to increase fairly rapidly. The next one is scheduled for Tuesday, October 26th at the East Fishkill LIbrary in Hopewell Junction, NY. at 7 pm.
I have just secured another book signing for Friday, November 12th at 6 pm at Barnes & Noble, Mohegan Lake. And the former Borders book signing that was to have occurred last Saturday has been rescheduled for Saturday November 13th in Poughkeepsie.
