Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Psychological Literacy
Mind/Brain Research: A Dialogue
A few days ago my friend John asked me to think about and respond to a few questions he had, and it occurred to me to also post it here: 1. J: What is new concerning mind/brain research? AB: tons, but much is still preliminary, and has little relevance to anyone. What relevance it […]
Miscommunications
“I know you believe you understand what you think I said but I’m not sure that what you heard was what I meant!” (I encountered this line on a button back in the early 1970s when lots of slogans were put on lots of buttons. T-Shirt printing wasn’t so easy then.) What we say that […]
Misunderstandings Abound
I recently inquired about some item that I wasn’t sure I should be looking for somewhere in the context, but the person I asked took it as an implied complaint, as if she “should” have had it there for me. I hadn’t even thought such a thing; there was no reproach in my mind—but the […]
Multi-Dimensional Mind
At one dimension—a line—we notice more or less of something, a spectrum. There are innumerable spectrums on all sorts of criteria or parameters. (My son David wrote a book about Spectrums, but he only touched the most obvious physical parameters.) In two dimensions—on paper on a computer screen—all sorts of patterns can be noted, as […]
Multiple Personality Order
Not dis-order; order. Or at least not chaos. I’m a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and there is a “condition” called Multiple Personality Disorder. I want to suggest there being a healthy form called multiple personality order, also known as healthy involvement in many things. People can indeed be very varied! The Utility of Consulting With Our Other […]
My Approach
This list is about 24 years old, written while I was still practicing psychotherapy and serving as an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Louisville: 1. Weave “inner connections,” using arts, drama, the urge to creativity. 2. Develop “psychological literacy,” skills for managing thoughts and feelings, basic knowledge that such skills can […]
My Quiet Rebellion
Me? a rebel? No way. I was so intimidated by everyone who was so sure of themselves and I certainly wasn’t. But on the other hand, as mind is wont to do, I did secretly rebel. I didn’t know that it was a rebellion until a few decades ago. It was disguised as a simple […]
My Visions for the Future
I am a visionary. I don’t claim to be all that great at it, but it’s what I do: I envision what could be. In terms of Jung’s theory of temperament, I’m an intuitive type, I naturally think about things in terms of future possible implications. I’ve also been exposes to a bunch of ideas […]
New Posts on my Website
Sometimes my percolating brain generates more extensive essays, which I post on my website. The following posted today are worth checking out: 1. Belonging-ness: Posted on webpage: http://www.blatner.com/adam/psyntbk/belongingness.html 2. Paradigm Shift: My intuition is that we are in the midst of several fundamental shifts of world-view. One is the developing of more complex forms of […]
Non-Rational Mind
Reading a book (A Perfect Fit, by Jenna Weissman Joselit) about fashion changes in clothing (mainly women’s) in the period of the late 19th through the early 20th century: I’m impressed with the symbolic power of dressing smart, the boundaries of femininity, modesty, and the depths of feeling evoked by those who felt these changes […]
Non-Rational Mind
In late January, 2011, I wrote about the “amplifying unconscious” as a feature of the mind that is as yet hardly known. This blog will present another category, the Non-Rational Mind, which roughly but not precisely correlates with the “right brain” functions. This category may overlap in a few way with the amplifying unconscious. (I […]
Numinous Verisimilitude
I’m giving a lecture series on illusion—part of a long-running series on psychological literacy. Some people have experiences that seem so real, not illusory, and more, the experience is compelling. The word “numinous” means strangely compelling: A thought or image seems is so true and important that it must be witnessed to. It compels you […]
Nurturance as a Primary Motive
Freud made sexuality a primary motive; and aggression another deep motive. Today I realized that nurturance is another profound motivating force—quite deep! I was cutting up a plum for my sweetie and realizing that I got a kick out of feeding her the way a momma bird is driven by the nonverbal cues of hunger […]
On Critical Thinking
I suspect that many people who went to college and got exposed a little to critical thinking have not as yet learned what a radical bunch of ideas it involves, and how it applies to almost everything: – what the relationships between men and women should be about – how to parent or […]
On Hypocrisy and Duplicity
I was reading a humor book in which one of the themes is the two-column list of what “he said” and what he really thought but would not say—or how that phrase might be covering a more mundane or less favorable reality. There are other lists of she said and what she meant; or what […]
On Intellectual Inhibition
A friend of mine is interested in the frontiers of consciousness development—as am I—and had recently attended the national conference of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). One theme he noted was the growing confidence that appreciation for the not-entirely- materialistic way of viewing the world was growing. I asked him (as I am wont […]
On Loneliness
At first, I think of being lonely in terms of the popular songs, focused on yearning for a true love, romance. But then I realize this is just the most appealing format, the type where we’re more likely to feel sympathy for the yearning person. However, there are other, far more pervasive types of loneliness. […]
On Understanding
A friend of mine responded to my blog #104 writing that he wonders about whether anyone can understand another person. The answer is: Partially, yes, if the goal is that the other person feels understood. The best way to do this is to empathically respond to what is being said and allow oneself to be […]
Oops: Reflections on Coping with Mistakes
Sometimes I mess up. Not that it’s “my” fault, you understand. I have these foibles. Foibles are sort of mental gremlins that fuzzy my mind and generate errors. It’s their fault, so cut me some slack. Seriously, though, mere exorcism won’t do the job, and what I’m really getting at is that it doesn’t help […]
Optimal Mental Flexibility
That’s a nice way of saying “just a few screws loose,” which, it turns out, is optimal. A little tiny bit wacko or playful or silly or goofy—the terminology differs with different locales in the multiverse— is what’s needed to be creative and enjoyable to others. Too serious and you’re well, “too”—even though you may […]
Our State of Understanding
I read this line somewhere: “It is therefore crucial for any professional to under-stand how and why we behave and interact with others the way we do.” In my opinion this considerably overstates the situation. The above-quoted line was perhaps part of the worldview in the 20th century, but now in the 21st century information […]
Out in Left Field
This is ambiguous: perhaps a put-down, perhaps an expression of guarded admiration and wonder. A friend, a poet, said that she was told by a friend that she was “out in left field.” I responded: “Well, maybe left field is a good place to live. It’s a “place” or state of mind in which one […]
Overwhelmed as a Diagnostic Category
Consider that being “overwhelmed” is a valid diagnostic description. It happens frequently in mild ways: The person feels, “I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how to respond. I may not be clear what is happening, I’m a bit disoriented.” It can be felt but not yet given words. The person may just […]