I have found a better way to get at the truth than my psychiatric articles: FICTION
Covid did a number. I’m not talking about suicides or drug abuse or other much publicized ways the epidemic left its mark. None of that is insignificant. But, it is worth turning our attention to more widespread effects, those evident in the way a broad spectrum of people are reacting to the plague that …
It is not surprising that American psychiatry embraced science during the last half century. Before that Freud’s ideas and those of his critics dominated the field. While some of their ideas had the ring of truth, and many fine observations were made, the one thing they were not was scientific. Their methodology was not the …
Chapter 6 And so Jeremy and CC are no more. CC is home for spring break. The plan is a weekend in Great Neck and then off to California to spend time with Mark. CC has had a thousand thoughts and reflections about her affair with Jeremy, but, in truth, she hasn’t missed him …
Chapter 2 Spartacus While Dr. Weiss has been unhappy that Jeremy is cheating on Carol, she is not taken aback. Carol’s the best thing in his life, but he’s demonstrated his lousy judgment again and again. His high IQ does a very bad job of handling the equally large stupid part of him. As …
Chapter 1 October 1968 Towering elms line the wide pathways crisscrossing the University of Buffalo’s campus: autumnal reds, vibrant oranges, translucent yellows all set against a brilliant blue sky. The wind whips up, happily swirling the colorful leaves with each gust. Students hurry in every direction. The commotion of the students arriving in their lecture halls is soon replaced …
It’s Not Complicated I had other things to do yesterday, but I got this email saying that T Mobile wanted to pay for a year of Paramount Plus, a streaming channel that was once new to me. Last week I had watched a terrific series on Paramount, 1883. Why not, I decided. So I googled how …
Mark is home from college for spring break. His uncles, Ira’s brothers, Lester and Herbert Gordon, his aunts, Irene and Anne, and their five children are at the table. Everyone is dressed up for the holiday, suits and ties and special dresses bought for the occasion. The men wear yarmulkes. In contrast, Mark is wearing …
Lately I have been hearing a lot of talk about people reassessing their lives. Juliette Lewis put it succinctly. “Only recently, I was like, life-work balance? That’s an amazing concept. I didn’t even know there was a name for it. I thought it was just like, work your ass off until you crash and …
Jeremy approaches Dave Miller’s office. They’ve known each other since the fourth grade. Their relationship has been up and down since then, but during the last several years, being in the same graduate program has turned them into pals. Both teach literature courses, but even when they are covering the same material, they couldn’t be …
Chapter 21 Ira and Evelyn’s Marriage While Jeremy had assumed that buying CC the wonderful ring and sharing the room over Niagara Falls earned him serious lovemaking, CC is not there at all. She wants to talk. That’s it. Nothing else. Talk. He has no choice. If he must he must, but not happily. Jeremy …
The biggest mistake an analyst can make is to overestimate the importance of reason in their analysis of why people do crazy things, or have crazy thoughts . Certainly reason plays a part, sometimes an important part. But fear is often overlooked or played down as an ingredient. And fear explains most of it We …
The Ballroom Use link to go to Amazon to purchase
During the Covid crisis experts have been quoted again and again and again as a central part of the discussion. Their advice and predictions have often been inconsistent or wrong but that has not stopped them from being an essential part of any commentary by journalists and politicians. It’s made me wonder exactly what we …
10/1/23 Tomorrow I will be 80 and am still unknown as a writer, but as ridiculous as it may sound, I am patient. Here and there I have had my moments, glimpses of where I might go, but they have been a tease. They have given me a hint of possibilities. Which …
CC’S PARENTS’ MARRIAGE A play in 2 Acts Simon Sobo CAST OF CHARACTERS CC: 19 year old CC is extraordinarily beautiful with long straight dirty blonde hair with streaks bleached by the sun. She is a student in Jeremy’s class JEREMY : 26 year old teaching assistant, with only his completed thesis remaining before he …
A few words about where this chapter occurs in the story: It is 1968. CC, a college senior has fallen for a charismatic teacher, a young man with his head in the clouds, in love with ideas. Half the girls in his class are also taken with him. CC is the most beautiful of them. …
Chapter 21 Mimi Moscowitz’s Shopping When her daughter Evelyn was born in 1927, Mimi Moscowitz expected that her daughter would grow up to be a princess. However, becoming royalty didn’t mean sitting on a soft pillow. When it came to Evelyn, Mimi was a strict taskmaster. It’s worked very well. On the one hand, …
This is an article that appeared in the WSJ on January 12, 2018. It is very relevant to the way psychiatry is being practiced (eg Evidence based medicine) Our poorly understood psyche has yielded to the temptation of numbers, the comfort of exactness, offering experts the illusion of scientific certainty about subjects they have delineated. …
“You seem to be the idol of only a crawling swarm of small souls, who love to glorify your most flagrant unworthiness in print or praise your vast possessions worshippingly; or sing of your unimportant private habits and sayings and doings, as if your millions gave them dignity.” Mark Twain 1869 Wait there’s more: ”Poor …
Chapter 8 Looking Back at Berkeley 1968 Mark is shopping on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. It has a large parking lot, which means he can drive there. The hippy revolution has not reached Shattuck yet. It looks like the downtown main street of any small city in America …