We use linear time as a tool — but the action of life takes place exclusively in the anatomy of the present moment. — Change Is Fundamental Change is more fundamental — perhaps — than time. If linear, narrative time is at least partly a psychosocial convention, a social construction and consensus reality — then there does not have to be a universe which is billions of years old. That notion of linear time is conditionally-irrelevant within…

How we hold ourselves back by needing anxiety to function. — At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure is to take your own pulse. - Samuel Shem, MD, House of God What is “anxiety-dependent functioning”? For many years now, I’ve been thinking about the idea of “anxiety-dependent functioning” and using the concept in clinical and organizational settings. People get it right…

Resilience has emerged as key to health and recovery from traumatic experiences. — Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Jonathan DePierro, Ph.D., about his newly updated book Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges. DePierro is associate director of the Center for Stress, Resilience and Personal Growth (CSRPG) at New York’s Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine. The book provides…

Much buzz about free will — my sense is we are far from being able to speak meaningfully about this idea, but we may be able to speak meaningfully about how we speak about this — There is a lot of buzz about free will now — I guess that makes sense with the way the world seems to be careening along under its own special momentum — but I think it’s a pointless question we’ll not answer any time soon, no matter what the smartest…

Work in progress, satire driven by adaptive humor… — As a Psychiatrist, I’m trained in the use of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) to classify mental illnesses. War, poverty, lack of education, intergenerational trauma, high childhood adversity within certain subgroups, and related factors are largely social problems. Labeling them exclusively as individual diseases misses the mark because the…

An interview with an Israeli-American in Tel Aviv working to make sense of events and remain positive and constructive. — The toll of human suffering from the recent outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East is untold and universally tragic, forcing us to accept, or at least acknowledge, the unacceptable. Politics notwithstanding, civilians have been caught up in violence and vengeance, and the line between combatants and non-combatants has blurred…

Staying safe becomes risky when it keeps us from seeing what we need to see. How often does conflict in relationships-for example, between partners in a couple-serve as an interpersonal or social defense against uncomfortable feelings: sadness, grief, trauma, loneliness? How often do we use the performance of caring, going through the motions, to avoid authentically connecting? How do therapists work with interpersonal conflict in…

Organizational consulting and trauma theory make sense of team dysfunction. Trauma can play out in organizations and groups in destructive and constructive ways. Destructive “enactments” are more likely occur when there is unseen and unaddressed trauma tainting how people make sense of reality. Sandra Bloom, psychiatrist and public health expert, breaks down trauma’s impact on organizational function (2011).

Cinema has a unique power to shed light on personal struggles and heighten empathy and awareness. In NYC September 26–28! — Key points Artistic experience provides the opportunity to empathize in ways that talk alone cannot accomplish. Filmmakers bring creativity and compassion to struggles that are more common than we often credit. Indie films on our common struggles serve as a fine antidote to the cynicism in the air.