HEALTH

Think therapy is navel-gazing? Think again. Midway through a recent lecture about my psychology research, a bright graduate student voiced a familiar question. “I have heard psychotherapy makes people more self-absorbed,” they said. “So how can you encourage a practice that has such a negative social impact?” I am often struck by these negative stereotypes, despite growing demand for counseling – particularly amid the pandemic. The well-entrenched image seems to be that psychotherapy is an indulgent, narcissistic cocoon where therapists enable patients to “navel-gaze” and blame others for their problems. Full disclosure: I have seen examples of this during my 27 years in practice. But most patients are genuinely trying to improve close relationships, recover a sense of meaning and purpose ...

Racial trauma has profound mental health consequence – a Black clinical psychologist explains and offers 5 ways to heal. Since European expansion into the Americas, white people have demonized Black people and portrayed them as undesirable, violent and hypersexual. Originally, the intent of this demonization was to legitimize the conquest and sale of African people. One consequence of this negative portrayal has been the documented psychological impact on Black people themselves. It includes self-hatred, internalized racism and an erosion of Black consciousness within the Black community. During the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. recognized the consequences of racist stereotypes and tried to change the language and symbols of racism. “Somebody told a lie one day,” King said. “They couche...

The Darker Side Of Psychology When you think about psychology what first comes to mind may be that 101 class you took in college to satisfy a requirement, or perhaps an article you have recently read or a snip-it you saw on Youtube. Which usually characterizes a group of psychologists, somewhere, who have done a statistical analysis of humans doing whatever. Predictably, you would have found that most of their subjects fell within the fat lump of the bell curve. While a few individuals, are probably out there right now, doing anything and everything you can imagine. It has most likely always been that way. Primates are curious, if nothing else. It’s been a hallmark of our species, and may stem from our perennial desire to transcend the limits of our experience. Moreover, a shrinking numbe...