St. Augustine: Love and Do What You Will

A sunset over the desert with mountains in the background.

Well, what does that mean? Does it mean that if you love then you can do anything that you choose to do? Is love really that powerful? Don’t we humans need more checks and balances to keep us in line? Don’t we need protection from ourselves vs having the license to do anything that we…

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Is Giving Advice Overrated?

A view of the mountains in autumn.

A better question might be if giving advice is ever helpful. Now that might sound radical and yet in my experience with a few thousand people I have never noted that advice was helpful to anyone nor actually accepted by anyone. If it seems to be that people seek advice and then reject it. What…

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What is the Source of Evil?

A body of water with trees and mountains in the background.

Assuming that evil does exist, I believe that when anyone judges someone else or sterotypes others or thinks/discusses prejudicial ideas or in any way acts to separate theirselves from others, they are acting in a way that is potentially evil or are beginning of a process that will clearly become evil. [I am not referring…

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Beyond Gender…why Do We Need Things That Separate Us?

A close up of pink flowers on a tree

In August, 2018 I saw the play “Paradise Lost” by Erin Shields that was adapted from the poem by John Milton performed as a world premiere at the Stratford Festival, Directed by Jackie Maxwell. The play portrays the innocence of Adam and Eve and it occurred to me that gender was only recognized after their innocence…

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Is It Better to Share Than to Keep?

A field of purple flowers in the grass.

One of my patients said the above as he was reflecting on how much he has benefited from attending alcoholics anonymous meetings. He felt that he had recieved a lot from others attending the meetings and had also gained a lot by sharing his story with others. I then said that I believed that it…

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What Can We Do About Suicide?

A river flowing through the middle of a forest.

Dr. Igor Galynker, who is the director of the Galynker Suicide Research Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NYC was quoted in Clinical Psychiatry News [Vol 46 No 8 August 2018] stating that “using suicidal ideation as a risk factor [for suicide] is flawed” as this will miss 75% of…

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Is Loneliness at the Heart of Addiction?

A field of flowers with a sky background

Recently I listened to a TED talk by Rachel Wurzman entitled: “How isolation fuels opioid addiction.” She discribes her experience of having tics [Tourettes Disorder] that she calls “unvoluntary.” Dr. Wurzman experiences her involuntary tics as unvoluntary meaning that she feels like she is doing the tic movement and not an external force. However, Dr.…

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Why Do Amphetamines Help People With Adhd?

A field of yellow and white flowers.

There has been a lot of concern expressed about amphetamines being prescribed for ADHD in children and adults. There is concern about addictions and dependence on these medications. It had been thought that these medications work by influencing neurotransmitters [serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine]. These neurotransmitters are influenced by amphetamines. However, my patients have never responded…

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Why I Am Against “Good Intentions”

A bunch of different colored flowers are in the air

I have recently had a number of my patients say that they know that a person [family member or friend] had good intentions but that what they said or did was not helpful. So, what is wrong with good intentions? Most people are familiar with the proverb [aphorism?] that the road to hell is paved…

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