Another One: Why So Many Celebrities Die Following Rehab
Drug use is not uncommon, addiction is less common. Following addiction, recovery is also quite common, with or without treatment – although we are convinced that the opposite is true. At the same...
View ArticleThe Shock of the Shock of Celebrity Addiction-Related Deaths
The recent reported drug overdose and tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman led to a conversation with a friend about why these types of deaths are still so surprising to people and why so much...
View ArticleGina Frangello: Our Collected List of Maladies.
An essay by Gina Frangello, author of A Life in Men.My father doesn’t remember that he’s been in this nursing home before: following a surgery four months ago, when his stomach muscles had been cut...
View ArticleKnowing What You Know. How It Matters
Whoever said "what you don't know can't hurt you" needs to rethink the position. Knowing what you don't know keeps you from learning what you need to know or would benefit from if you did know it....
View ArticleA Virtuous Mind: Tenacity
"In both our actions and our thinking habits, tenacity is often the difference between success and failure, fulfillment and frustration." Philip Dow, Virtuous MindsIn this third in a series of posts...
View ArticleWhy Diets Fail
It’s the beginning of February and resolutions to eat less dessert, start a juice cleanse, or avoid the vending machine in the New Year may be beginning to lose steam. Many people may blame themselves...
View ArticleShould College Deans Live With Students?
Harvard University has named Rakesh Khurana dean of Harvard College. Khurana is a professor of sociology in the university’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the “Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership...
View ArticleRighting Wrongs and Setting the Record Straight
In a previous blog, I expressed my remorse for not speaking out 20 years ago against the mass hysteria that led to the imprisonment of numerous innocent day center workers. They were charged with, and...
View ArticleChoosing Consciously
“Simplicity that is voluntary – consciously chosen, deliberate, and intentional – supports a higher quality of life.” (Elgin, 2010)We make choices everyday: what to wear, what to eat for lunch, what to...
View ArticleDigital Altruism goes mainstream during Super Bowl
Interest in the use of digital technology to promote character strengths and virtues is growing, especially in the area of digital altruism. Last night, digital altruism went mainstream during the...
View ArticleRevisiting the Psychology of Narcissistic Entitlement
When we hear about narcissism, the psychological condition in which people become excessively self-centered, it’s almost a given that we expect narcissists to be high on entitlement. In their...
View ArticleCrisis Goggles Make Everything Look Bad
If you look at the world with crisis goggles, you will always see a crisis. Our brain is designed to see what it looks for. It has ten times more neurons going into the eyes than it has coming out of...
View ArticleWho has time to meditate? You do!
I am often asked what is the single most effective way to manage worry and anxiety. My experience, and those of my clients, is to stay in the present. You see, we often don’t realize that everything...
View ArticleWhat the Teenage Brain Can Teach Us About Ourselves
Adolescence is a challenging time for both the kids going through it and their parents. It is a period of exploration and growth, opportunity and vulnerability. Dr. Daniel Siegel in his new book,...
View Article58 Caring Behaviors for Couples
Familiar acts are beautiful through love. – Percy Bysshe ShelleyTime can erode the feelings of care and concern in even the best of relationships. People stop doing the nice little things they used to...
View ArticlePsychedelics 2.0 and the Shadow of the Sixties
By Anca UleaTimothy Leary has a name people recognize. The only psychologist with a catchphrase (“Turn on, tune in, drop out”), he somehow became the unauthorized spokesperson for psychedelics and...
View ArticleRebels, I’d Love to Hear Your Perspective
For my book Before and After, about habit-formation, I’ve been developing my framework of the four Rubin Tendencies. I’m obsessed with understanding these tendencies. (If you want to be notified when...
View ArticleMore Sleep for Kids Reduces Calories
We all want our kids to learn healthy eating habits, to be active and to grow and live comfortably at a healthy weight. Yet for too many children, excess weight is a very real health concern. Too much...
View ArticleIf Kids Played More, Would They Be Less Fat?
As someone who was called “butterball” by my second-grade classmates, I was aware of the social stigma of being one of the fattest (my mother preferred chubby) in my class. Fortunately, the pounds came...
View ArticleU.S. Moralism and the Death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman
The death of one of our greatest actors today was avoidable. Hoffman's untimely death can be attributed as much to U.S. punitive practices as to his failed battle with addiction. Found on the bathroom...
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