Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Psychotherapy and Psychiatry
Life Exploration
This is also a form of life expansion, and it’s not medical model. It’s a coaching model. Many—perhaps most—people who are referred aren’t really wanting to take on the world in new ways. They just say to themselves, “Don’t try this or you’ll seem foolish.” But life expansion is a form of non-problem-centered work with […]
Lifelong Re-Creation
It’s time here in the early 21st century to recognize that many procedures that have arisen from the context of “therapy” have far wider application! (It’s no more daring to note this than to note that there are now many thousands more applications for computers and associated technologies than there were back in the 1950s.) […]
Lollygagging
What a wonderful word. To amble and even ramble in a lackadaisical way. As in “Don’t lollygag, now.” But indeed, my age, the 70s, is a luxurious time to lollygag. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle were a popular singing duo in the later 60s and early 70s, and in 1967 they recorded a song titled […]
Meaning as Vital-Mind-M
I’ve been thinking of the need for a sense of meaning in life, becoming more intensely aware of the need for this to be operating at a certain level. It occurs to me that feeling that life is meaningful is a kind of psycho-cultural nutrient, a kind of vitamin-equivalent that I call a “Vital-Mind” component. […]
Medical-ization
A friend, asking about what she called “arbitrary definitions of illness,” noted that they “pose a therapeutic challenge. As a society we also tend to medical-ize normal human conditions (like infertility). And what’s normal?” This got me thinking about the nature of “diagnosis.” Also, the word "medicalize" is interesting. Sometimes diagnosis is one of […]
Metaphysics: Co-Creative Dynamics
I strongly suspect that it may be better to think of reality as we know it as co-created. That is to say, our minds co-create what we call reality. (By mind, I think this dynamic operates in dimensions or realms far from our material realm, yet co-exists; and even so, much of mind is to […]
Moreno and Jung: Confabulating
An acquaintance of mine is writing about J. L. Moreno (the creator of psycho-drama) and Carl G. Jung, the founder of analytic psychology. It might be more correct to say that she has written about their associated theoretical system and how these systems have evolved over the years. It should be noted that Jung emphasized […]
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 Approach in Psychotherapy
I found a piece of paper listing “My Approach,” written 6/15/93, at the height (?) of my career: Indeed, I sorta did it. Looking back I think it was extraordinary, but it seemed to be what’s needed: 1. Weave inner connections, using art and creativity. 2. Develop skills of psychological literacy—basic knowledge, education, […]
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 […]
Neurosis: Its Origins
I confess that I am taken somewhat with the new theories of neuroscience that serve as a testable biological source of neurosis and psychosis, but in spite of my wanting to expand psychoanalysis radically, including issues such as temperament and cultural and social issues, I really think that fully half of significant psychiatric disorders—often with […]
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 […]
On “Evidence-Based” Psychotherapy
Edward Schreiber has published one of the last sections (on Psychodrama, Sociometry, Sociodrama, and Sociatry, pages 2952-2956, in Chapter 30 in Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry—a major textbook in the field. (Previous editions had given Moreno himself significantly greater number of pages.) Interestingly, the earlier editions in 1973 or thereabouts gave psychodrama a […]
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 […]
Open Letter on Action Explorations
I sent an email to a wide range of colleagues who might in turn disseminate it to their own wider networks of their colleagues. I am calling for a gentle unification )(at least in principle) of a variety of a variety of fields who participate in methods that combine: group processes that are collaborative rather […]
Optimal Effort: 32%
The other day a friend wrote on an email, “When we open our hearts, God opens our minds!” This got me thinking—okay, so, if this were true, how would it work? First, let’s imagine, just for fun, that there are angels and that they manage meaningful coincidences, known as “synchronicities.” I use this “big if” […]
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 […]
Overcoming a Handicap
I has congenital megacolon, also known as Hirshprung’s Disease. (It was also what Elvis Presley had!) I couldn’t pass my bowels and it piled up. Doctors said it felt like a rock. They took me to a doctor when I was one year old (or earlies) and they did a bilateral sympathectomy, because the disorder […]
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 […]
People’s Lives
I continue to marvel as I become increasingly aware of the sheer complexity of people’s lives. Of course I know all this, perhaps better than most; but the point is that I continue to “get” more deeply the sheer number of stories—threads of becoming—that weave together. I’ve been a little more into the theme of […]