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Showing posts from June, 2015

The Supreme Court, the Opposition, and the Gay Marriage Law

We have to talk about the Supreme Court decision making it a Constitutional right for gays and lesbians to marry in the United States of America. Less than 50 years ago the psychiatric community pathologized same-sex attraction, deemed it a disorder with a real DSM II code. That didn't last long. Reporting the news, in the same breath, journalists quoted various self-identified groups of conservatives opposed to the decision. Googling "opposition to gay marriage," I found page after page after page of groups and individuals dead set against the right of same-sexed couples to marry. Many, if not most, because of a Bible prohibition. Being one of a bible thumping tribe, the bible being the Torah, thank you, Orthodox the persuasion, this booming opposition is a concern. There are so many commandments, and it is ridiculously difficult to keep the entire Torah, although that is the goal. (No idea what it means, by the way, to be Ultra-orthodox. Orthodox implies strict observan

The Therapist Takes a Vacation and Blurting: Six ways therapists can recover from mistakes

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We all do it once in awhile, say something we wish we could take back. You may not even notice when your therapist does it, might not even get it, but she does. Mount Kilimanjaro You likely will notice! And when you do, might be tempted to confront, and you might just do that. But this is a hierarchical relationship, despite all our talk about Empowerment Therapy and Call me by my first name. We come to rely upon our therapists, don't get excited at the notion of arguing or challenging them. Well, some do. Which is fine! But we therapists know when it's a blurt, a wish I could'a taken that one back  moment, either by the look on your face, or through the words that play later on in our heads. (Many of us do this, think about you when you're gone, try to capture answers by reviewing what happened in the room.) If we think we've erred, and shouldn't have said what we've said, we have options, some more mature than others, some more therapeutic than others. Le