Mental health? Are you unhappy? Feel out of control?
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A Turbulent World
We live in a turbulent world. We must learn to understand and manage psychic conflict in the presence of this turbulence. Managing turbulence is a pathway to emotional health.
Mental Health Care
I am a practicing psychologist, trained in cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis, exposure interventions to name a few. At 65 years, I would not pigeon-hole myself in any one of the psychological dogmatic approaches, but they all probably have some limited value for the right issue or circumstance. I’ve had a range of experiences both within and outside the USA. Most of my work has been in the area of human memory, but my psychological practice has focused on symptoms of chronic depression and bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, grieving, dementia disorders, paranoia, delusions of all types, and suicidal thinking. I now have COVID-Connected Emotional Disorders to understand. My views of these are both clinical and philosophical.
Over the ages, there have been profound thinkers and chroniclers of the psyche. Of those, I pay attention to historical figures from Greek Philosophy (Aristotle and Plato), Western Continental philosophy (Spinoza, Kant, Schoepenhauer and many others who have made significant, but in my view, discrete, contributions to understanding the psyche. I puzzle Freud. He, of course, rates as a great thinker for his time, but he was a dogmatic, self-obsessed man, deeply entrenched in certain ideologies including sexuality and repression, so some of his beliefs are tricky. Carl Jung, likewise, who became lost in the world of myth and symbols, made a substantial contribution to understanding what we cannot see, feel, or otherwise verify in any empirical way. Otto Rank, who made insights, but narrow in scope. Huston Smith, a religious philosopher who had a unique and substantial perspective on religiosity. Then social anthropologists: Ernest Becker (Terror of Death), Eric Hofer (Psychology of Mass Movements) to name a few.
During the course of this newsletter, I will list my own top 10 thinkers and practitioners.
I’ve written this newsletter to underscore that therapy is education. If there is anything to learn from psychotherapy it is that life is a time to develop ones self in a direction that brings pleasure and satisfaction to living. Cultivating curiosity, desire, wonder, grace, and gratitude are all inherently worthwhile. Psychotherapy is perspective taking, learning to keep an open mind about yourself and your issues.
My webpage:
https://roberthillpsychologist.com
I see people weekly, twice a month and monthly. I see long-term clients of 10 years or more and there are those I see just once. People and their issues range from poor to wealthy, frail to resilient, old and young, partnered and single, homosexual, heterosexual, and transgendered. I’ve seen people marry, divorce, have children, age, and die during the course of therapy.
This blog describes how to put into practice what you learn in therapy or what you learn reading a long and interesting psychology self-help book.
A question frequently arises:
“What am I supposed to do after our session is over?”
The answer is obvious and not so obvious. If you are an alcoholic then abstinence is an obvious answer, “stop drinking alcohol.” This might not happen right away, but being alcohol free is the goal.
If it’s finding happiness, contentment, or getting perspective, maturing, developing a world-view that serves your psychological health, what you do during the week is harder to describe.
Therapy is not designed to remove conflict, bring back a lost love, or erase traumatic memories. Therapy changes you and your response to challenges.
This is: “AN AFTER THE SESSION BLOG”
