Dr. Payton

When I was looking at the acknowledgments at the beginning of a book by Kate DiCamillo called The Tiger Rising, I noticed that the acknowledgments ended with thanking a specific person for “believing that I could and that I can. And that I will.”I rarely look at this section of a book but I did this time and…

It is time for us [Americans] to take action to keep our children safe [and thus reduce the rate that our children die]. An opinion piece in the February 18, 2028 New York Times by David Leonhardt reports that the United States is now “the most dangerous of affluent nations for a child to be…

I wonder if most of us have had the experience of changing an answer on a test and finding out that we changed a right answer to a wrong anwer.  It is actually hard for some people to stop doing this as they feel that they have the correct answer after thinking about the question…

With reference to chaos theory, the butterfly effect refers to the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere [Dictionary: In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result…

Suicide continues to increase in the United States. I have no doubt that this is directly related to increased stress in the lives of those who have died by suicide. I also believe that a major factor in their decision to harm themselves was feeling alone and isolated. So, they felt disconnected from others and…

For a couple of years I have been prescribing low doses of lithium carbonate to help people with PTSD [post traumatic stress disorder] not react as much to past traumatic experiences when they are recalled.  Those who respond report feeling less anxious and less reactive when they think about past stressful events. It is like…

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…

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…

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…

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…