Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
The Art of Case Formulation
This article is a complement to and/or extension of another paper on this website: The Art of Case Presentation. Other relevant articles include: The Real Diagnostic Categories, Diagnosis in Psychiatry, Factors in Human Development , and others. What’s wrong with the patient? What really is the problem? A term like “depression” rarely explains much. Offering a diagnostic label is […]
Posted in Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | 1 Comment
Being Nice: It’s Not So Easy
The stresses of the Christmas Holidays are mixed and manifold, and the temptation occurs to get edgy, irritable, bossy, unkind, or grumpy. Such temptations must be resisted. The following is a depth psychology analysis of the problem: Unless attention is brought to the moment, it is easy to slide into a partially unconscious reactive mode […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Social-Depth Psychology (Sociometry) | No Comments
The University of Yourself: A Curriculum for Integrative Learning
There are many, many kinds of learning that have to do with self-development, and that aren’t taught in most schools or colleges. Imagine you could take a major in a four-year college, one that emphasized the development of the human potential instead of the “liberal arts.” Now modify this idea so that it would be […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Thoughts on the Meaning of Humanity
(Stimulated by a Class, “What is Man?” at Senior University Georgetown, taught by Prof. Doug Browning, February, 2005) 1. What is the need behind the question? What concern does a potential answer address? Aside from the trivial fiddling with abstractions, I think there are two themes that immediately occur to me: (a) Where can we […]
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Learning to Use Anger Constructively
Anger is a natural emotion and signals a need for a change in the environment. However, it is possible and usually desirable to express anger in modulated forms, and learning to do this is the hallmark of maturity. Role playing is an excellent way to learn this skill, because each level of anger involves a […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy | No Comments
Archetypes: The Relevance of the Concept
Carl Jung’s concept of “archetype” presents a category of motivation that fuses imagery, desire, and basic human instinct. One of the values of this concept is that it offers a way to unify the diversity of theories of motivation in dynamic psychology. Finding a Common Denominator One way of thinking about the primary differences among […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | No Comments
Imaging God
People generate an image of God, and this is often subconscious. They may consciously try to deny that they hold any image of God, because they’ve been taught not to do so. It’s quite taboo in Islamic and Jewish traditions to ever picture God, and for Jews, even God’s name is taboo. All this is […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
The Re-Integration Of Spirituality And Psychotherapy
(These remarks are a supplement to a talk I gave at the Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds of the Scott & White Medical Center, on October 1, 2004.) (See also: Re-Story-Ing the Soul.) Historical Developments The history of the re-emergence of spirituality in psychotherapy is complex, but just briefly mentioning some of the precursors lets […]
Posted in Psychotherapy and Psychiatry, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
Why We Should Get Out of Iraq Now
A couple of years ago I posted on my website a paper, Why invading iraq is a baaaad idea. Turns out I was right in ways that I hadn’t even anticipated. Mixed emotions: I confess to being slightly triumphantly satisfied, but mainly I’m very sad, worried and indignant, enough to be losing sleep over it. So […]
Posted in Current Events, History | No Comments
Unhelpful Overgeneralizations: A Form of Psychobabble
One of the common pitfalls in counseling is the use of words and phrases that are unhelpful generalizations. Consider these, among others controlling self-deceptive narcissistic don’t trust me defensive repressed paranoid inappropriate manipulative neurotic difficult unresolved conflicts stubborn superficial regressing fixated resistant selfish aggressive too sensitive fragile lazy immature feeling sorry for yourself hostile self-centered […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | No Comments