Archive for the ‘Psychology’ Tag
Based on the following description, would you read this book if some agent/publisher should get interested enough to see that it turns into a real thing?
“Is there such a thing as a “kitchen table theme memoir?” If so, then this is it — chats and vignettes around the theme of my very personal experiences as psychology and I interacted with the world. Expect a no holds barred account of seventy-two years as a professor, therapist, wife, divorcee, parent, colleague, author, human being in a very complicated world. And be as surprised as I am with the way it all came together up to this point as I approach the tail end of life – a life still vigorously and demandingly keeping me awake at night.”
I’d like to call it On My Way Out: My Life with Psi, but maybe it should be On My Way Out: From Variables to Vibes.
(This is a first stab. All suggestions are appreciated.)
The latest thing in “explaining” mass shootings is to focus on the shooter’s mental health. All good and well. Why wouldn’t this Psychologist be happy to know people’s mental health is gaining in focus and purpose?
But this Social Psychologist doesn’t like the way it’s being used to avoid the more basic horror – the cultural grounding in which poor mental health is being fostered. What sensible, alive, and aware person doesn’t carry a substratum ache of empathy, concern, and fear in this world of cruelty, killing, and destruction. It almost seems like a mark of emotional health to be disturbed. No, I don’t like the implication that the cause lies in an individual’s deviation from the norm. On the contrary, the cause lies in the culture that fosters the human potential for evil.
Will we ever get around to looking at the painful, destructive inequities in childcare, education, financial status, health care, gender acceptance, respect, and expectations for individual accomplishment (not necessarily measured by financial wealth)? What did I leave out?
It could be done. We could create a culture based on encouraging personal growth, self-confidence, gratitude, appreciation, cognitive competence, kindness, personal value – dare I say love? But that would require reducing the “blame the other” emphasis implied in the focus on individual mental health and looking instead at our own responsibility as part of a culture. As it is, I’m afraid we have adopted “mental health” as a way to avoid looking at our own selves.
Please notice, I haven’t used the words “mental illness.” That’s a related but different story.
In no particular order:
- Hot showers
- Warm bed
- Minimal injuries on April 15, 2015
- Auto insurance
- Health insurance
- Medicare
- Friends – those still here and those who have completed their journey. Too many to mention by name
- Caring parents
- Who saw to my healthcare
- Who supported my education all the way through
- Who set an example of happy, competent, responsible living
- Who avoided humiliation and shame at all costs.
- My son who’s fun to travel with, a super helper, and a source of pride
- My daughter who’s fun to shop with, my super advisor, and a source of pride
- My granddaughter – my favorite editor and hugger.
- My grandson – wish I could see more of him
- The rest of my family, both close and distant
- Good health
- Pension
- Chiropractor/nutritionist who keeps me in good shape
- Christmas – the goal of every year
- Holland America Line
- Travel
- Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Excelsior, Minnesota
- Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, Minnesota
- Connecticut College
- Boston University
- A delightful career that wouldn’t have been possible without the two preceding items.
- Psychology and Psychologists
- Warm, comfortable clothes in current style
- My patient and creative hair dresser
- Computer
- Cell phone
- Soap
- Shampoo
- Neighbors
- My writers group
- My Kindle
- Time for writing
- Time for reading
- Memories of High School Boyfriends
- Memories of young love with my former husband
- The energy I once had
- The remaining remnants of energy
- Faith, based on experience, that bad times will ultimately yield to better times
- Patience to wait for decades
monagustafsonaffinito 