Psychwrite

My friend Burton

2010-05-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

Growing up in the Bronx in the 1930s and '40s was a mostly happy and secure experience. We survived the Great Depresion and World War II, unscathed. High school was a challnge. My friends were bright and most applied to and were accepted by The bronx High School of Science. Burt and did also by default. Started around 1947 it was an experimental school that prepared kids for scientific and medical careers. Almost everyone went to college and most were succesful in their careers.

I lived in a six story appartment building in West Bronx and my best friend, Burton, was one story up. Burt was a loyal friend and a very funny guy. His sense of humor, often, self-deprecating, kept me laughing all through hich school. After graduation I went out of town to Cornell and he attended the City College of New York. He worked as a teacher for a while and also a writer for TV comediens. Neither occupation suited him and eventually he pursued a successful real estate career with his brother. Always introspective, he became in later years, a poet and has published three volumes of verse. The last was nominated for a national award.

Last month, afte receiving an e-mail announcing the 60th reunion of my high school graduating class, I contacted Burt and we both decided to attend. It was a nice affair, only the fouth reunion our class ever held, and my first. Although I enjoyed the event, held a an upscale catering hall in Battery Park, I found most of the attendees more motivated to boast about their own success than to learn of what anyone else had accomplished. All but Burt. He was the same jovial, caring friend I remembered. We got together the day before for lunch with my wife, and renewed our friendship,laughing, reminiscing, and vowing to see each other more often in the future.

The master of ceremonies for the event provided a short talk, providing statistics on the large proportion of the class who had become scientists, physicians, lawyers, and other pretigious professonals. Our most illustrious class member won the Nobel prize in physics. Another old friend, Rick, a retired brain surgeon, was quick to point out, "Yes, but I beat him out for the physics award." (I assured him that his prize was by far the more impressive.) Midway through the list of successful attainments Burt leaned over to me, whispering, "He hasn't gotten to my category yet...beggar." I still laugh when relating this remark. Later, as we looked over the group of infirmed septagenerians we had become, he remarked, "The next reunion will have to be a seance."

Neighborhood

2010-02-25T05:31:00.000-08:00

At a recent dinner party, with couples aged sixty-five, and older someone asked the question as to whether things were better when we were growing up than they are for children today. Most of us agreed that was, indeed, the case. This from people who had been witness to the aftermath of The Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean War. A recent article in Time Magazine indicated that life expectancy in 1900was about 47 years and is now 78 years. It is projected that children born today have a fifty percent chance of living to 100. Nevertheless the "good old days" aeem to us seniors to be just that.

I believe my growing up years were better than those of my children, who were born in the sixties, largely because of location--a residential area of West Bronx v. the suburbs of Philadelphia.

3280 was, and still is, a six story apartment house for perhaps forty families. There was a fenced-in roof "garden" for residents to sit and take the sun. In those days 3280 was predomimnantly Jewish. It sat behind what was then an elementary school and was a block from a large park commnecting two larger parks. Bronx Park housed a Botanical Gardens and the Bronx Zoo. Van Cortland Park had a large lake for skating in the winter. Two major shopping areas, two movie theatres, an Indepndent Subway System station and bus lines were with walking distance. The schoolyard provided recreational activities for thousands of children. Motherts congregated on summer afternoons, sitting on camp chairs and rocking baby carriages. Husbands had their oiwn area where they chatted about businbess and smiked their pipes and cigars. A large playground area surrounded the public reservoir and had football fields, playground eqipment, a wading pool, a running track and bicycle path. Public benches aorund the "Oval" provided respite for people on hot summer evenings. 3280 housed at least half a dozen families with children my age. We would wander from one apartment to the next, moving only when the parents became intolerant of the noise or horseplay and commanded, "Go play sopmewhere else." In the days before television we never lacked for friends or activities to occupy us. A Superintendent,the Super" was there to service the heating system, shovel snow, cut the hedges, and make minor repairs. Schools were free of drugs, teachers commanded respect, and the education provided was good. All of my friends went to college. Subways were safe so that, as adolescents, we were free to travel to other aras of the Broinx, to Manhattan, and, later, even Coney Island by subway. What I am describing here would be called today a "community." We called it our "neighborhood."

Aftert VJ Day post-war America entered a peiod of relative prosperty, at least for the middle class. The next step upward from The Bronx was a move to the suburbs where houses had lawns and the area was less crowded. My parents moved to Yonkers. We became lawn mowers and gardeners. No longer convenient to public transportation, my father had to drive to work in Manhattan and pay for parking.
When I married we started out in a garden-type apartment in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. The tenants were young families, like ours, with babies and toddlers. As soon as I was able to afford the downpayment we, too, moved to the suburbs. My children had few friends on the block. Pople largely kept to themselves.

Shortly before my mother died, my sister and I took her to visit the old neighborhood in the Bronx. 3280 was now occupied by Hispanic people. The old school yard was a parking lot for teachers or others. The area may still be a neighborhood but no longer middle class. We rode the old elevator to the fifth floor but I was reluctant to ring the bell of our old apartment. Thomas Wolf was right. "You can't go home again."

Cloakie

2010-02-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

I am not dissatisfied with my profession as a psychologist. I believe I have helped people with emotional problems and I continue to do so now. Yet I often wonder about the road not taken.

My father, Sam, manufactured women's coats and suits in the grament district of New York City. They were called "cloakies." His business was housed in a ninth floor loft on West 38th Street.

Sam made a high priced garment and sold to the better department stores in the city. Summers I helped out, assisting the packing and delivery man. I pushed the carts loaded with fur trimmed broadclothes to middle men or stores within walking distance, took packages to the post office, swept up around the operators and Louie the pressor.

Sam made a good living, especially during the war years, but he never wanted me to take over his business. My parents' plans for me were to become a doctor--an aspiration which represented high status and was worry free in their eyes and which I never completely fulfilled. Yet it might have worked out differently.

Our neighborhood in the West Bronx was one of the nicer sections of the city. We overlooked the public school and were within walking distance of parks, shopping areas, playgrounds and public transportation. Most of us were second or third generation children of immigrants who had succeeeded economically. My father was unemployed during the Great Depresion but bounced back and was able to start his own business. The children of our neigborhood became physicians, dentists, lawyers, teachers, scientists, and successful businessmen. A block from our apartment house teens gathered alomng Mosholu Parkway and socialized on warm summer evenings. Among the group were two boys who later made it big. Calvin Klein and Ralph Lipshitz, now known as Ralph Lauren. I didn't know either of them but would have recognized them at thew time along the park fence. I've read that Lipschitz returns to the neighborwood frequently to visit his old apartment.

When I need to get a rise out of friends who know me well I point out that I, too, might have gone into the garment business and become a "cloakie." I, too, might have become a Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren. "You can't properly match a shirt and a tie," I am reminded "and if you dress well today it's because your wife picks out your clothes."

My mother, let her rest in peace, would say, "It was nicht bershert." It was not destined. So be it.

Fact or fantasy

2010-02-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

Inserting autobiographical material is a hazardous business. Of course, every author projects some of himself into whatever he expresses. That is the assumption behind projective testing, a lost art. (It never was a science.) But using actual incidents or real people as the basis of your characters invites trouble.

In Shrink: Odyssey of a therapist I used myself as the hero. A large section of the book is taken from my own experiences. I did grow up in the Bronx in a Jrewish family, I attended Cornell and The University of Pennsylvania, and served in the army. I became a psychologist, worked for many years at a residential facility for handicpaped persons, and maintain a private practice. At some pont in the novel fact ends and fiction begins. Even in the autobioographical material, however, I made some changes to fit the personality of Morrie. Friends who know me, who have read Shrink draw their own conclusions, sometimes accurate, often erroeous. Both my wife and a female friend see the friend as the model for Morrie's wife--flattering to my friend, not so good for my wife. I have been asked whether I was ever attacked by a client in my office. I have not. I co-worker assumes that the hero of the sequel, Finding Jackson, also Morrie, is based on a mutual co-worker. (It is not. Still me.) I have never treated a multiple personality. I have never treated anyone who believed themselves to be reincarnated. If someday I do perhaps I'll know how to provide an intervention.

The locale that served as the birthplace for the villain in Shrink is based on the town of Thompson in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. To my knowledge there has never been a murderer who came from Thompson. Seven miles to the north on Route 171 is the town of Susquenhanna. A suburb called Great Bend, is
the spot where the Susqehanna River, originating in New York State, turns around on itself and heads back up to New York, only to turn back, merge with its western branch and empty further south into the Chesapeake Bay. James Michener in his novel Chesapeake, describes a fictious Native American, expelled from his tribe, who comes down the river and settles along the bay. A later chapter describes two explorers who go up the river, searching for its origin. They must choose at what is now the town of Sunburry, where the two branches merge, as to which branch to follow. Susquehanna is the birthplace of B. F. Skinner, who was during his life the foremost Anmerican psychologist, known for his studies of operant behavior in rats. Though Skinner did not treat patients, many of his students became clinicians and applied operant conditioning techniques in their work.

I owned eighteen acres along Route 171, north of Thompson and know the area well. I had a cabin built, doing some of the work myself, and used it for about fifteen years as a recreational property. I spent many happy hours exploring the countryside and meeting the people who live there. My favorite activity was to sit at the couter of one of the local diners and engage the person next to me in coversation. They were wary of talking with strangers but once I revealed that I owned land nearby they were comfortable talking to me. None of the people in my story a re mopdeled after anyone in Susquehanna County. One of these days I will donate a copy of my book to the library in Montrose, the County seat, where some of my story takes place. I also used the town of Honesdale, alomg Route 6 in Shrink. Thompson is between Montrose to the west and Honesdale to the east. I went to camp in the town of Lake Como, Pennsylvania,across the river on the New York side. not far from Hancock or Honesdale. A children's camp in the area also figures in my story.

I don't know if I will ever be sufficiently masochistic to write another novel. It's not the writing that deters me but the marketing. If I do become tempted my characters will be totally fictional.

Paying Peggy

2010-02-18T06:46:00.000-08:00

My wife and I are enjoying the Winter Olympics. They bring to mind my experience over twenty years ago when I was responsible for a fund raising ice show for Elwyn, Inc. We had arranged for several top ranked ice skating amateurs to skate, including Scott Hamilton, the Crothers, and others. But the real draw was Peggy Fleming, whom we paid to skate for three performances. It was my responsibility to chauffer Peggy to each performance and ensure that she was treated well. Peggy was a huge hit amd she filled the arena each time. I found her to be a gracious and personable lady but I tested her patience with me.

In addition to ticket sales we had develed a program book which we sold at the event for two dollars. I collected the money, stuffing my pockets with singles and depositing them after the performance at a night drop at a local bank. The last performance was a Saturday evening. I was to provide Peggy and her husband, a dermatologist who served as her business manager, with a check. After the matinee I had no time to make the money drop-off. My friend Al invited me back to his house for a quick supper, offering to let me leave the cash with him and to drive me back for the last show. Al indicated that when he leaves money in the house he wraps it in wax paper, marks it FISH and places it in the freezer. So we did just that.

After Peggy's last performance Al suggested we pay Peggy and say good-bye.
I reached into my pocket and found no check.

"Where is it?" he demanded.
"I think it must be wrapped up in your freezer, marked FISH."
"You tell that to Peggy, I'm not going to." Apologetically, I explained the situation to Peggy.
"Just send me the check," she replied. No one could make up a story like that."

The following year Peggy could not make the event. The stands were empty.

Adolescence re-visited

2010-01-22T16:23:00.002-08:00

Announcemt of the 60th reunion of my high school graduating class prompted me to call my old friend Burt, with who I had not communicated in several years. We agreed to attend the evnt and to meet afterward, along with our wives, and catch up. THe "Rose" and "the Wass" were how we referred to each other in those innocent
Bronx Science days. Burt, now retired and living mostly in Florida, is the author of three books of poetry. He sent me his latest work, which has been nominated for a national honor. I sent him a meager effort of my own, Bronx Lyric, reminmiscing about those coming of age experiences. Howver, he is the pro, I the dilettante.
As such I wrote:
Sea Chantey

The Rose and the Wass went out to sea
In a leaky pea green boat.
A storm came up, windward and lee
Their vessel would not float.

And one swam south, the other north,
Their lives were torn asunder.
No longer would they venture forth
In lightning and in thunder.

And each took heed to spread their seed
And conquer demons separately.
Yet each maintained a silent need
To re-connect irreparably.

A line was thrown, a line was caught
A flame was re-ignited.
And two old salts who never fought
Once more were re-united.

Adolescence revisited

2010-01-22T16:23:00.001-08:00

Auld lang syne

2010-01-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

My dark month is over and with the passing of the winter solstice and the lengtheniing of daylight hours my mood improves. Yet I find myself returning to memories of happier days gone by.

Recently I re-read novelist Irwin Shaw's (1948) The Young Lions, a story of four young people enmeshed in the battles in Europe during WWII. Players change from decade to decade but the horrors of war anmd their impact upon us remain the same.

Last night while search for a TV movie I noticed the 1960 film "Never on Sunday" being shown. I re-watched the delightful fantasy of an intellectual and Greek tragedy scholar, played by Jules Dessin, trying unsuccessfully to reform a fun loving and free-living Greek prostitute (Melina Mercouri). My aunt, now deceased, traveled to Greece with her husband and learned to do the dance featured in the film

An e-mail from the alumni of my high school alma mata announces a sixtieth reunion. The first reunion was only ten years ago. I did not attend, having maintained few relationships from high school over the years. However when I read the list of those already registered, I recognized two of my friends from that time. I searched an old list of graduates and their addresses and called my closest buddy at the time, Burton, who lived in the same apartment house as I and cheered me with his humor all through my adolescent years. There were five of us from the old neighborhood in West Bronx. Two are now physicians--one a brain surgeon in New York City, the other a profesor of medicine at a prestigious New England university. The fourth became a lawyer attached to the State Attorney General's Office. When I searched his address I was shocked to see he had listed his office--the 45th floor of The World Trade Center. I Googled the list of 9/11 victims and was relieved when I did not find his name. The fifth, always an angry rebel, would never attend a reunion and was not listed in my directory. Burt and I lost touch except f0r an occasional phone call when I went off to Cornell and he stayed at New York's City College. He had become a writer for TV comedians after graduation but gave it up and went into the real estate business, where he prospered. He began writing poetry. His third book is about to be published and he has been nominated for a national honor. He was delighted to hear from me and we agreed to attend the meetings and re-kindle our friendship.

So, as we now enter a new decade, I continue to cling to old acquantances, not soon to be "forgot."

New Year

2010-01-10T06:51:00.001-08:00

It's been several weeks since I entered a new post. I can't use the holiday excuse as I had eleven days off from work and much time to write. Chalk it up to my seasonal letdown around the holidays and the shorter days (SAD?). Nor can I attest to any new year resolutions. I don't believe in them and assume accountability for tasks on only a daily basis.

That said, we are past the solstice and my spirits are improving, if not my muse. My writing has ground almost to a halt. Shrink and Finding Jackson are out and I have done a book signing. I have two pieces in press--Becca in Cyberlanbd, sans illustrations, should be published shortly. I don't have high hopes for successful marketing without pictures to a children's audience. A short book of poetry, Oliver Twists in America, is also due out soon but will do no better than my first attempt, Bronx Lyric. I have written some pieces on line for Ezinearticles.com and Hubpages with no visible results in books sales or private practice referrals,so I stopped writing for them. I renewed my website (www.shrinksite.com)but I don't think I get many hits there either.

I receive occasional comments on my blog, usually from people interested in dreams and authors of their own blogs. I keep advising them that there are no universal symbols and that they need to associate to and interpret their own dreams.

My work at the high school is rewarding; I see about 20 kids regularly, some with srrious emotional and family problems. How much longer will I continue to do this? I'm not sure. I dislike the driving. Consulting is not what it is cracked up to be when school holidays come around since, unlike regular staff, I do not get paid for days off. However, I am free to manipulate my schedule and take long weekends.

We have discovered the Hudson River Valley as a great place for hiking and exploring Hyde Park and the Vanderbilt estate. From New Paltz, the Shewandunk Mountains are only about a mile or two to the west. The newly opened pedestrian bridge across the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, to the east, is a very pleasant walk on a nice day. The areas was the site of the Hudson River School of painting in the nineteenth cantury--the beginning of naturalistic art in this country. SUNU at New Paltz has an excellent art museum.

Recently we drove to Massachusetts for grandparents' day for one of my seven grandchildren. The first grade teacher asked the assembled grandparents how things were different in our day in school. I responded that desks were bolted to the floor and children were not as free to move around as they are today. The children seemed surprised at that, one claiming, to the embarrassment of the teacher, "We run around all the time." I also talked about the inkwells, blotters, and disposable pen points. We sat at our desks with our hands folded when not otherwise occupied. I did not find school to be a pleasant place but we did learn. My experience now at two high schools today suggests that it is a lot easier to graduate now without doing much work but that bright kids still are as conscientious as we were at The Bronx High School of Science in the late 1940s.

Enough for today. I'll try (but not resolve) to do better at blogging.

Buy high/sell low

2009-12-05T05:08:00.000-08:00

The business of writing is precarious. Last month I succombed to the temptation to do book signing for Shrink and Finding Jackson. A local bookstore here in Chester County was kind enough to indulge me. The owner even went to the trouble of making me a poster for promotion of the event, which I placed in 24 willing stores in the area. My wife, Joyce, also induced friends and relatives to attend the event. She did her job well. Sixteen loyal troops came out and some bought books, which embarassed me. My daughter buying a book was the worst indignity. How could I have forgotten to send her one? But that's not the worst of it.

If you are Sarah Palin and can get someone literate to write a book for you, you can sell it. She's even touring with the book but on her second 1,000,000 copy printing, I wonder why she needs to beat the bushes. But then she is probably more interested in the 2012 election than selling books at this point. But if you are a first time novelist and need to pay an exhorbitant rate to purchase your own books forget about selling, let alone making money. Dan Brown's new book goes for about $19. To make a couple of dollars on my book I would have to charge $30! Come on, only a few close relatives and friends will pay that. So I priced Shrink at the signing at $20, losing moiney on each sale. Some of my neighbors now want Books. I'll have to buy some more and likely will just give them away.

If this sounds somewhat sour grapeish I guess it is. I don't fault Sara for wanting to make a buck or a million. That's the American way. I just don't want to sse her within a thousand miles of the White House.

One positive. The book store owner would like to help me self-publish my next book, if there is one, and market if so that I might fare somewhat better than my first, and second efforts. Perhaps. Right now I will stick to blogging and other on-line publishing.

On parle francaise

2009-12-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

I was a good French student in high school and took three years of it. We were translating short stories at the end and I was an "A" student...except for speaking. My accent was terrible. "Vous parley francais comme un vach espagnol (You speak English like a Spanish cow) my teacher remarked. When I got to college it was necessary to take a year of language or to opt out by passing an examination. There was no way I failed that exam yet I was placed in French 1. I don't know how that happened but, supidly, I didn't protest. It was six credits of aguaranteed "A" without work. Concerned about keeping up with college assignments I kept my mouth shut. That was the last time I dealt with French for about 55 years.

In 1955, my wife and I scheduled a trip to Paris. I borrowed some tapes to tune my ear but didn't do much with them. When I landed at de Gaul Airport, and started listening to people talking French, it was as if a switch had been thrown, unlocking phrases, idioms, and vocabulary I thought were long lost. Delighted with my newly rescued memories, I decided to speak only French during our stay. I asked a gendarme directions to the opera house. He answered so rapidly I understood nothing but I wasn't going to reveal that to him. I managed to upgrade our room at the Hotel du Louvre by complaining in pigeon French that it was difficult to make love in a double bed where the two matresses were alligned vertically, with the split down the middle. The two young female clerks were so amused they gave us the best room they had the next morning, including a genuine double mattress.

All this is preamble to a happening this week at the high school where I consult for mental health services. I routinely call teachers to release students from their classrooms for counseling. I always ask first if it is convenient. Most teachers cooperate readily. Some conscientious souls demur so that the student can complete an exam or finish some make-up assignment. No real problem. However, after agreeing to my request for Chistopher, a nineth grader who needed to learn social skills, she followed up with a note that I had interrupted his review for a vocabulary test, suggesting strongly that I not remove him from French class again. Now Je comprende that academics are important. Somehow, however, I think that it is more essential for Christopher learn eye contact and basic communication skills than French vocabulaire. Nevertheless, I sent her an apology note, written en francaise. True, I required a french dictionary for some words but, all-in-all it wasn't a bad effort. I also excused myself for my mauvais French, explaning that il y'a beaucoup d'ans since I studied French au lycee. I await my grade.

Packing it in

2009-11-03T04:59:00.000-08:00

Former Buffalo Bills coach Marvin Levy was well into his 70s when he was asked when he would retire. "When you start thinking about retirement," he quipped, "you're already retired."

I've retired three times and none of them lasted. My most recent retirement lasted six months. I persuaded my wife to retire with me. After a while you have nothing to talk about. We both returned to work part time with a great deal of freedom to decide our own hours. I changed jobs, consulting for another school district. When I paid a visit to my last job I was warmly greeted by my former colleagues. For this reason I was surprised and annoyed by the booing Brett Favre, legendary quarterback and superstar for the Green Bay Packers, received playing against his old team at Lambeaux Field. Favre had retired from Green Bay after some poor seasons but came out of retirement to play for the Minnesota Vikings. The facts of his retirement and failure to be re-hired by Green Bay have not been revealed. Whatever the reasons, he did not deserve booing after 14 years of service. True, there was also some applause, but the jeers predominated. I was happy to see the Vikings trounce the Packers and especially elated to watch Favre throw a touchdown pass in the closing minutes of play to finalize the Packer's loss. What better way to stick it to his detractors? Shame on you Green Bay!

I will probably continue to work so long as I am healthy and believe I am still making a contribution

On consulting

2009-10-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

I need to get this off my chest. Recently I changed my job status from part time employee to consultant. I receive more money but no days off vacations or benefits. I work the same amount of time. I don't need the benefits because of Medicare but I previously was paid in lieu of benefits. What realy irks is the way that schools treat consultants--not the admistration or the staff who really seeem to value what I do, but the finance people. Three schools have delayed payments to me beyond what is reasonable. After seven weeks and three invoices I still have not been paid by one school district. They claim each payment must be approved by the Board. This itself is wrong. Boards should set policy, not get into operations. Perhaps it is the recession. Pennsylvania delayed passage of its education budget until just recently but it now has passed and I remain unpaid. I didn't appreciate the Union I was forced to join in my previous position but I do now. Teachers wouldn't stand for non-payment. I guess I could go on strike but it wouldn't even be noticed. Consultant? Just a euphemism for second class citizen.

On marketing

2009-10-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

When I started writing my novel, "Shrink," I was advised by a publisher to spend 30% of my time writing, 10% editing, and 60% marketing. In truth I spent much more than 10% editing and much less than 60% marketing. But then, I am a God-awful editor and I havn't sold many books. Typos crept into my creations--one had to be redone. I just don't see the errors--missing periods, misspellings, etc. I know the rules and my grammar isn't bad but my perception stinks. My brain corrects the errors when i proof read and I miss them. But this is about marketing. I created a website (www.rosenshrinksite.com) to promote the book. I created this blog to promote the website. I wrote articles for WWW.ezinearticles.com to advertise my books and my private practice. After a dozen submissions, eleven of which were published on- line, I am discontinuing this outlet. While many people find it helpful in promoting their business, I have seen no results. The final straw was their trashing of an article I did on meditation. They claimed I used foreign words. Usually they ask me to edit and correct what was wrong. This time the article disappeared from their website. I had not even kept a copy. The foreign words were names of Buddhist monks from India and Tibet who originated the practice. I believe the real reason for the rejection is an aversion to anything that smacks of religion.
They had asked me to remove a religious reference once before. My articles are not religious but psychological in nature. So much for marketing except thatI have two book signings scheduled in November. Initially I refused book signings but now I'll give it a try.

School Based Mental Health

2009-10-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

I continue to consult to schools for mental health programs, although I have changed school districts. Naively, I anticipated fewer mental health problems in the new, more affluent,school district. On my first day at the high school I was warned: "Just because our kids live in nicer houses, don't be fooled. They have the same problems you saw in your previous job, especially drugs." They understated the case. During my first seven weeks I have seen more meltdowns, crises, suicide threats, and psychiatric hospitalizations than I saw in six months at the last school. Is it the recession? I don't know. A check at my ol,\d school revealed no more than the usual frequency of such incidents.

I see a large number of kids with panic disorders. It is a diagnosis I enjoy working with, using cognitive behavioral approaches and resilience techniques. The school counselors appear to be exceptionally caring and knowledgeable--more than willing to work with a clinical psychologist. One is particular has sent the largest proportion of referrals to me. I took exception, however, to how she was dealing with the fourteen year old with daily panic attacks related to her history of physical abuse at home and PTSD. She provided the girl with a meditation/relaxation tape, which was fine with me and consistent with what i was doing with her. I was not pleasd, however, when I saw the girl clutching a fluffy, soft, red satin pillow that the counselor uses to comfort stressed out and depressed teenagers. The girl does need nurturing, but from her mother. I did not not make a fuss over it but mentioned that I was trying to toughen up the girl while she was catering to her dependent needs. My resilience training was sandpaper in contrast to her satin The pillow looked and felt (yes, she asked me to squeeze it) like a gigantic breast. I kept my association to myself.

A mother of a very bright but underachiving sixteen yesr old insisted that her child, who had a questionable (to me) diagnosis of ADD also had "exexcutive functioning" disability. Executive functioning problems are associated with
ADD, although not mentioned in DSM-IV-TR. Without revealing details here, I have the following reservations. ADD is a sufficent diagnosis; we don't need a second. School psychs are using the BRIEF, a symptom checklst for parents and teachers is a group of behaviors seemingly reflecting poor impulse control, attention and memory deficits, poor planning abiilty, and distraction by irrlelevant stimuli. Behaviors such as failure to complete assignments, cutting classes, and underachievement meet all these requirements but can have a variety of other determinants. Furthermore labeling a behavior or symptom is not the same as explaining it. This has been called the "nominalistic fallacy." I don't doubt that executive function is real and is a forebrain activity but if it is there we need to demonstrate it by appropriate testing. In this case I did just that. The boy showed extremely high executive functioning by the best tests I could find. Moral--you can't judge a book by its cover.

I am seeing a fair number of kids on the autism spectrum as well as others with social anxieity and social skill deficits. Many of them ask for help in making friends. I am treating these teens in dyads or small groups for socialization in a very structured way dealing with communication, relationships, social mores and niceties. Role playing is a poweful technique. It is an interesting and useful endeavor. One boy who scares people by his angry facial expression is learning to smile with the use of a mirror.

Mental health is sorely needed in schools, especially the high school and middle school. It is still relatively rare. I was fortunate to receive a Pennsylvamnia Department Of Education grant last year to initiate a program, which continue today without special funding. IEPs frequently pecify counseling for emotinal problems but schools psychs and counselors are overloaded with testing or just puttingout fires. Clinical psychologists are a valuable addition to schools to supplement educational psychology approaches. Teachers need to be trained in mental health concepts and strategies.

Poor excuse

2009-10-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is by way of an apology for my failure to make entrees here for several weeks.
Not an excuse but a reason is that I have devoted a great deal of energy to writing for a website titled ezinearticles.com. Ezine will publish short articles (250 to 5,000 words) about almost any topic. There is no payment for these articles. The trade off is that you are allowed to append each article with a commercial for any business enterprise you are promoting. Since they allegedly have thousands of readers on the web there is great potential for spreading your message. They literally have hundreds of thousands of writers (they publish their names arranged by the number of pblished articles. Many authors have done over 2,000 articles. They do require minimum writing skills. The number of people who do this is so large that some people have got to be benefiting. Ezine benefits by selling advertising that goes along with each article. Most of the topics seem to be "how to..." in content, e.g., how to tune up your Volkswagon." I have sent them a dozen articles of a psychological nature, using my previous publications as source matierial. So far eleven have been published. I am trying to promote this blog, my website, my books, and my private practice. Have I benefited? Not yet that I can see, but the jury is still out. I have risen from Basic,to Basic plus, to Expert author in their rating system. I'll do a few more submissions and see how it goes without neglecting this blog and then we'll see it it's worth the effort.

Update

2009-09-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last blog. I've been expanding my business--providing mental health services to schools. I am now consulting to Marple Newtown School District as well as Elwyn, Inc. I did some grant writing for Interboro School District this summer. I've also been expanding private practice in Chester Springs. None of this serves as a legitimate excuse for not blogging. However, I have been writing articles on line for Ezinearticles.com. They don't pay for these articles, which I provide gratis, butthe "take" comes in the form of advertising I add to each submission They sell ads on my writing. I hope to stimulate some interest in my website and this blogsite as well as to promote my books and private practice. My first article is claimed to have had over a thousand hits and I've had eight articles published so far. They are all of a psychological nature. The jury is still out as to whether all of this is worth the effort. In any event, it has taken me away from blogging for a while. Type my name into Ezine's web page to see what I've been up to.

Genetics

2009-08-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

I need no further evidence of the significance of genes in determining behavior. Witness my wife and her side of the family. Now, I love my wife dearly. but she has one flaw. She is an incurable telephonalolic--about four hours a day. There is little doubt that this is a genetically determined behavior, gender related. All the female members exhibit the behavior. Its most extreme manifestation is when they talk with each other, which is frequent. I have seen this pass through four generations of females. No males in the family exhibit the trait, although they are certainly carriers. They endure, complaining only poccasionally about the telephone bills. The behavior is resistant to extinction, pervasive as to geographic location, and of lifelong duration. No one has identified this gene as yet, only because no one has looked. There is also likely to be a brain area, close to where language expression resides in the left hemisphere (more generalized in females). I therefore challenge any neuroscientist or genetic types who stumble on thois blog to begin the task of identifying and eradicating this pernicious trait before it spreads further.

Charitable giving

2009-08-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

I spent ten years as a fund raiser for a non-profit, although it was never a labor of love. So I am not completely naive about giving. Our own contributions are primarily earmarked for cancer rsearch since both my parents and my wife's favorite aunt succombed it the Big C. I dopn't respond to telephone solicitations and certaily not to unsolicited requests at my door. So it is surprising to me that I contributed to an African American lady who rang our doorbell to solicit a magazine subscription to a shelter for the homeless.

She herself was a resident of one, she said. Her husband shot her, she explained. She was earning points earn tuition to study criminal justice and become a police officer. The materials she produced were shopworn and suspect. The magazines offered did not seem relevant to homeless and abused people. Why would they benefit from Psychology Today? It was something about her manner, I suppose. She seemed genuine, sincere. I wrote the check to some magazine distributer and designated a local depressed area for the target of my gift. I chose Parent and Child magazine. There was a hefty surcharge that significantly increased the subscription price she originally mentioned. My charitable giving has turned to charitable misgiving. I hope she was what she presented herself to be. "I'll be back to see you next year," she called over her shoulder as she started for the next house.

Not picture perfect

2009-08-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

"Shrink" and "Finding Jackson" are now out there but not burning down any bridges with sales. Last week I resurrected a story I first wrote for my grandchild Becca, then around age five. "Becca in Cyberland" describes the adventures of Becca, age five, who is pulled into her father's computer to Cyberland, has many adventures, and proves herself sufficiently worthy to be transformed into a Cyber princess. With apologies to Lewis Carrol, the story has its merits. I sumbitted it to PublishAmerica, which did "Finding Jackson." They accepted it. They are a traditional publisher and do not charge. I haven't done a stellar job in marketing my books--not my forte. I am ready to put the final touches on "Becca..." but I realize that the book, geared toward four to six year olds, needs pictures. PublishAmerica will do the cover but not internal pictures. Nor will they pay for them. The illustrators I found on the Web are top notch, but expensive. They mostly work for publshers and do their own writing. I e-mailed one who wanted $7,000 for my book. That's why they work mainly for publishers. I have contacted a retired artist through a friend who may be more reasonable. But as an author of books that have sold poorly I am not optimistic. I think I need a marketer.

Capturing the hill

2009-08-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

Our house in a development in Chestersprings has three porches-front, side, and back. We can choose where we sit depending on the season and the position of the sun. In the winter we choose the warm front porch, facing east, in the morning and the rear porch in the late afternoon. In the summerwe choose the shady back porch in the morning and the front porch in the late afternoon. Regardless of the season we like the side porch best. It is cool even on the hottest days because it is shaded by a large tract of woods on a hill to the south of us.

One day in this past spring while we were having a drink in the late afternoon, my wife remarked about the hill fronting the wooded area. There are some large rocks at the bottom, she noted, that would look nice if there were flowers behind them. I took her words seriously and began uncovering two or three rocks which projected pointy prominences upward. As I dug I realized that , like an iceberg, the rocks were largely buried undergroup. I moved away years of earth and weeds covering them and planted some heather that I purchased at Lowes. They were striking with purple blooms and made a statement behind the rocks which could now better be described a boulders. I began exploring and found that there were not two or three but 25 hidden boulders spread out in a large semi-circle at the base of the hill. It required several weeks to uncover them all. Returning to Lowes I brought a dozen more heather and planted them and them a dozen lavender, also with purple flowers. The hill was beginning to look very good. I persuaded the gentleman who mows our pitiful quarter acre lot to also weed whack the hill. We had already appropriated the large area beneath the woods by erecting four bird feeders, attracting a wide variety of species, not only birds, but squirrels, chipmonks,rabbits, and occasionally even deer and foxes. The Development gardeners would no longer mow where we planted and bird fed so our mower took it over. I did not own the property but believing it is easier to apologize than ask permission I kept planting on what we now called Bunker Hill, Heather Hill, or simply Marvin" Hill.

Along the crest of the hill was a deep thicket or honeysuckle, barbed wild roses that never bloomed and various unattrtactive weeds. I, for a penny, in for a pound. I began to chop away at the unattractive mess, hoping to expose the contour of the crest.. As I pruned, at the expense of numerous thorn cuts and two tic bites, the hill was assuming a new personality. Behind the thicket were large oak tess that I knew existed because we could see their branches, but had never seen the trunks. I felt myself a sculptor who envisions a form hidden in a block of marble and chisels away the excess until the form is realized. I, too, would slice away the excess and create a living panorama. Slowly and carefull I cut vines and brush, dumping the waste deeper in the foliage and creating creating depth to my masterpiece.
We now had a three dimensional view into the darkened woods and could see the goldfinches, blue jays and cardinals well before they approached our feeders. Deer came onto the property at dusk. We learned to recognize the families of squirrels and chipmonks and their habitats. My work is now cut out for me. Eventually I will extend the manicured forrest edge along the entire length of my driveway. Neighbors stop by and comment on the project and thank me for improving the neighborhood. I have, indeed, captured the hill. We sit and sip our vodka tonics and i recall Robert Frost's "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening"-- The woods are lovely dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to before I sleep.

MORRIE'S LAST CAPER

2009-07-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

While SHRINK AND JACKSON sales seem to be limited to friends and relatives, my need to continue the adventures of Morrie Scwartz, psychologist, remains unquelled.
I have begun a short story, again involving my fictitious alter ego. Morrie, now comfortably retired is no longer seeing patients. Nor will he agree to reurn in any way to private practice. In this story Morrie becomes the victim of identity theft in a highly personal way. When the police decline his request that they assist in a scheme to catch the culprit, Morrie and his old friend Irv embark on the adventure themselves.

At present I seem to have painted myself in a corner with my tale. However, being that this is probably Morrie's last literary fling, and perhaps mine as well, my solution to Morrie's dilemma had better be good. No doubt the paint will dry and Morrie will again prevail. Stay tuned.

Therapy models

2009-07-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

I've promised psychological blogs so I should wrtite one occasionally.

I was asked recently to present some tapes or videos dealing with the practice of psychotherpy to my school psychology colleages. I have several old tapes by Wolpe, Beck, Lazarus, Rogers and others dealing with the application of their own particular theoretical model. They are not bad tapes and it is likely that many psychologists, like me, used them at one time or another as models for their own efforts. On this occasion I chose to use a popular HBO progrsm, In Treatment. It is beginning its third year. The first year episodes are now available as DVDs.

My wife and I have become hooked on this series. The therapist, played by Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, is superb. Paul, the therapist, is psychoanalytically oriented therapist, as his his mentor whom he sees regularly. While this might not sit well with many cognitively and behaviorally oriented therapists, the series is real, highly empotional, and extremely well written and acted. Paul looks for determinants of his patients' problems in their parents and usually finds credible determining factors. His female patients tend to fall in love with him. He sometimes has problems with limit setting and frequently questions his own competence and the value of psychotherspy in general. He falls in love with a patient while going through his own divorce. In a recent episode he verbally attacks his therapist and mentor, accusing her of being uncaring and hiding behind her technique.

My audience, none of whom had ever seen the series, were enthralled and wanted more. One might argue that what I was presenting was artifical--merely acting, while my professional tapes were real and empirically based. Artificial or not the In Treatment episodes are extremly relevant and provide many areas for discussion. I sometimes question one or two of Paul's interventions but mostly find myself feeling envious of him. I think he is a better therapist than me and I rarely think that or say it. Furhtermore, I never really believed that the professional tapes are completely honest. The editors have been selective in what is presented. Futhermore, I find them devoid of feeling, (except for Rogers). They rarely deal with the therapist-patient relationship and its impact upon outcomes. I don't know if In Treatment is written by real live therapists but whoever writes it is highly sophisticated. The situations are extreme and a little contrived. (Two patients meet outside his office and wind up having an affair; he is threatened with lawsuit by the father of one of his patients who may have committed suicide; a cancer victim refuses to go for chemo). Nevertheless, the series is powerful should be required viewing for clinicians and those aspiring to do therapy. Kudos to HBO.

More Tom and Jerry

2009-07-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Good news and bad news. Hurrah! The chipmonk has not returned to re-build the tunnel. It has been three days. I've laid new mulch. Nor have they been harmed--perhaps a little inconvenienced. I still see them every day. They have other tunnels. Alas, they have had babies. Now I feel like a grade A louse. That tunnel was probably the birthing chamber. The little rats can climb our bird feeders as well as their parents.

I'm told I should have titled this story Caddy Shack. Anyway, I've won...for now.

Tom and Jerry

2009-07-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

The side porch of our new house overlooks a wooded area. Between the house and the woods is a large hill which I do not own. It is common property of the Development Association. The tips of two or three large rocks, actually boulders, jutted out of the ground. My wife suggested I plant something behind the rocks to improve the view from the porch. We feed and watch dozens of goldfinches, nuthatches, tufted titmice, cardinals, bluejays, cowbirds, woodpeckers, redwinged blackbirds, doves, chicadees,and others we have not identified. I bought some heather in late spring when they were in bloom. As I planted each at the base of the hill, behind the rocks, I uncovered each large stone. More and more of the boulders became visible.
I added more heather and some lavender. It took several weeks of hard digging and uprooting of some pernicioius weeds that made my hands and arms perpetually itch. (I don't like wearing garden gloves.) When it was finished the rough hill became a thing of beauty. The boulders encircled the hill. There were about twenty of them. Our neighbor across the street thanked me for improving the vista from her living room window. Encouraged, I began cutting back the brush from the woods behind to expose large tree trunks and Tarzan-like vines. The Association gardeners who had been mowing the hill now stayed away so I was reponsible for getting the mowing done. The man who does the mowing for us identified with the project and obliged by cutting back even more than I had asked. We gave various names to our hill-Bunker Hill, Stonehenge, Heather Hill, etc.

We were thrilled with out hill ("ours" only in a general sense) but so were a family the chipmonks who had lived in the woods. When you feed birdss you feed everyone else. The chipmonks loved to jump from rock to rock and they began a series of tunnels beneath my newly made mulch. One tunnel lay dangerously close to the roots of a heather plant. It had to go.

Early one morning I placed a large rock over the entrance to the tunnel. The next morning there was new entrance, even closer to my heather. Again, I placed a barrier-this time several rocks. Again, they dug around it, even cloer to my plant. I created a mound of rocks. My wife laughed at my efforts. "You are Tom and he is Jerry. Jerry always wins. Move your plant." I held fast. The mound went undistrubed for a day. I felt myself triumphant.

Jack is my seven year old grandchildchil (one of seven). He loves nature and cathes and releases frogs in our pond. Jack was intrigued by the chipmonk hole. Although I asked him to leave it alone, and without me knowing, he uncovered the tunnel. He was convinced I would have killed the chipmonk. I had explained it wasn't his real home. I had seen him carry seeds from our feeders back to an nest in the woods. "It's only an escape path for him from preditors." There are many hawks in our area and a black stray cat that stalks whatever birds or some animals it can find. He has many other enteances to that tunnel.
No matter, he was unconvinced. He placed two chocolate cookies for the tunnel diger. "Chipmonks don't eat cookies," I explained. "They eat the seeds we put out for the birds. That's why grandmom greases the poles with Vaseline." In two hours the cookies were gone.

This morning I took my pick and destroyed the tunnel. I replaced the rock mound just to be sure. So far no new tunnels. Jack hasn't been back yet. Perhaps Tom is yet to win. My wife is certain he will.