Category Archives: Psychology
Reality Wars: Measuring the Collective Mental Health of a Nation
As a nation, we are fighting several “reality wars” at once. These wars are not only political, but deeply psychological. As a result, our collective mental health as a nation is being severely challenged and tested. Since language is the primary means we use to describe and invent reality, the language a nation uses to frame and treat important issues is a measure, however imperfect, of its mental health. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Media + Politics, Psychology
Tagged class warfare, politics, psychology, republican
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The Gap Between the Size of Our Problems and the Narrowness of Our Thinking
Increasingly, on every front of our existence, from the environment to the global economy, health care, the fight against terrorism, etc., we are confronted with messes of ever greater and growing complexity. And yet, essentially none of our basic systems (educational, economic, public and private) have prepared, allowed, and rewarded people to cope with and to manage messes. As a consequence, the gap between the size of our problems and the narrowness of our thinking grows daily. Continue reading
The Psychology of Extremism
It is not possible to understand fully why moderates are no longer welcome within the Republican Party — indeed why for all practical purposes the Party has been completely taken over by extremists — in conventional terms alone. To understand what fuels extremism — in short, the psychology underlying it — one has to dig beneath the surface of everyday explanations. This is precisely why the pioneering discoveries of some of the early giants of psychoanalysis are invaluable. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Media + Politics, Psychology
Tagged extremism, Melanie Klein, psychoanalysis
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It’s a Grim Day for Our Children
The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in striking down California’s law prohibiting children under the age of 18 from purchasing violent video games is a travesty. It perpetuates harm on the most vulnerable members of society by means of a complete misunderstanding and ignorance of child development. It is based on a profound misunderstanding of fairy tales. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Media + Politics, Psychology, Sociology
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Treating Mass Psychosis
From the hateful and incendiary rants of the Tea Partiers to the continual paranoia of the extreme left with regard to business, what little remains of rationality becomes more fragile with every passing day. To understand, let alone treat, the sickness, or “mass psychosis,” that is rampant, one needs to dig beneath the surface of everyday thought and action to get at the real forces that drive behavior. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Media + Politics, Psychology, Sociology
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