The Emotional Terrorist Part I

This column also appears in the January/February, 2011; Volume 23, Issue 1 of The Therapist, published by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT).  Abstract page 90. Abstract: This two-part series examines the psychological origins and antecedents of terrorism.  Object relations, intersubjective systems theory and contemporary relational psychoanalytic theories are used to define […]



Working in Psychological Space Part III: Using the intersubjective field to access, decode and understand what lies beneath

This column also appears in the online edition of the July-August, 2010 issue of  The Therapist Magazine, the publication of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Abstract: Adapted from a presentation to the CAMFT Orange County chapter, this third in a three-part series examines the ways applied contemporary psychoanalytic theory, particularly Intersubjective Systems […]



The Origins of Culture

This column also appears in the Orange County Register. Once upon a time when the young woman who would become me was a freshman at Cal Berkeley studying French, art history, anthropology, mythology, literature and on weekends, beer and poetic boys with long hair, she was lucky enough to get into a very crowded physical […]



What are you doing right now…?

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register. In response to the queries of persistent readers who have been awaiting a new column since late June, I thank you for your notice and offer this little essay in response.  In case you’ve ever wondered, the English word essay comes from the French word essayer, […]



Prop. Hate: sexual development and the origins of homophobia

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register. The recent California judicial decision upholding Prop. 8 has inflamed very strong emotional reactions all along the socio-political spectrum regarding the relationship between civil liberties and the private realm of sexuality.



Oops I did it again: the origins and importance of learning from experience

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register. America, in its relative youthfulness, still perceives itself as morally, politically and militarily invincible, devoid of the stabilizing historical context that might actually insure the retention of its truly consequential status.



Empathy, Ethics and Morality

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register. Most of us would agree that balanced concern for self and others constitutes a measure of psychological maturity and health.  While other, mostly mammalian, species share our capacity to live cooperatively and care for one another, only human beings are able to reflect consciously upon this […]



Sadness and Mourning

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register A screenwriter friend gave me an article discussing the salutary aspects of sadness and the ways in which our contemporary culture tends to quickly erase it or prematurely foreclose upon its gritty psychological usefulness in a quest for perennial cheery happiness.  As if happiness were a […]