Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reportedly affects approximately 7.7 million American adults, with members of the military as one of the high-risk groups. After experiencing severe trauma or life-threatening events, the mind and body will either go into mobilization mode (fight-or-flight) or immobilization. When the nervous system is unable to return to its normal state of… Read more »
This essay is the second of two, comprising an article that began with my essay posted on May 1, 2015. The prior essay initiated a consideration of the spiritual aspects of existential psychology and psychotherapy, endeavoring to show that what is commonly understood to be transpersonal psychology expands, enhances, and enriches the Existential-Humanistic paradigm for… Read more »
Last week, my husband’s daughter was forced to face a number of truths she never expected to learn. Her best friend, Chris, was killed tragically when a young driver in an SUV accidentally backed over him while he was riding his wheelchair on the sidewalk near a restaurant. The young driver did not even know… Read more »
This essay is the first of two, comprising an article that will be concluded in my next contribution to the New Existentialists. In my Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy courses, upon encountering concepts of existential philosophy and psychology for the first time, some of my more religious students become ensnared in and troubled by their perception that existentialism… Read more »
Dad, I would like to say a few words on this occasion of your 90th birthday. Tolstoy begins his great novel Anna Karenina with this famous opening line: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” A couple of sentences you could spend a lifetime pondering without quite figuring… Read more »
Last week a strange thing happened on Facebook. I had a request for a friend to be tagged on an old picture in Facebook. I knew this friend was not on my list of friends, and had not been on Facebook for a long time. I had called but her number was out of order…. Read more »
“It’s all in your head. You just don’t know how big your head really is.” –Lon Milo DuQuette I write this essay two days before the start of the Eighth Annual Conference of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (APA Division 32), held this year at the school where I teach. I have spent most of… Read more »
My husband insists we have a traditional IRISH meal for St. Patrick’s Day. Contrary to popular belief, this does not involve green beer, corned beef, or boiled potatoes. He plans to cook bacon (Americans call this ham) and mashed potatoes with cabbage. He will proudly wear his Irish shirt, don the leprechaun hat, and share… Read more »
I have a confession to make. (Not surprising, since Catholics seem to be pretty good at spilling our guts all over the confessional room floor.) This Sunday was a lesson in empathy for me, and it came in a very odd way. I learned to have empathy for others and listen to my conscience from… Read more »
Listening to the Gospel Sunday was a difficult experience. I had an adolescent girl on hormones. Concentration was made more challenging when my pubescent daughter began crying because her socks did not match her dress. Unlike Jesus, my daughter does not wear white, as it becomes an invitation for her clothes to be used as… Read more »
