In this age of psychotherapeutic accountability, we therapists are forever obsessed with therapeutic outcomes.  And for addiction problems, the life or death outcomes become especially poignant because if efforts fail to stop a patient’s harmful use of substances- lives could be on the line.  And it is in this effort that I address resistance, transference and countertransference issues even though many in my field see these as useless anachronisms of a bygone psychoanalytic era no longer germane. But it is to this literature and interventions [...]

For centuries Western societies have framed the cultural definition of mental health. The universal acceptance of English as the language of science has created the psychological norms as to what constitutes healthy individual adaptation. Further, the ability of United States and Western Europe to dominate, with English spoken as the key to business institutions, has enabled us westerners to dominate the economic zeitgeist or ‘spirit of the times’. This has amounted to a monopoly  on universities'  curriculum, on collective banking and global markets 1 with [...]

Part I The Astrological Neptunian character What is written here is an example of my life-long project to understand the effect and siren call of the planet Neptune in my natal horoscope.  The struggle I have had is nothing less than a battle with my own ego, first caused by the disillusionment that comes from recognizing the force of the Neptune energies in my chart and then going beyond the limitations of my own ego identifications to include a universe of possibilities that Neptune represents.  [...]

Today I was interviewing a couple when Mary asked me..."Why do I hold back from people and not communicate but push information that is unpleasant back in my mind and let it just sit there? " Mary was explaining that she has a split between what negative feelings she has and does not communicate to others vs. what she thinks others want to hear.  These two versions of reality are not comparable, not compatible. Then I introduced the concept of subpersonalities and self-expression.  In a [...]

Some Christian groups which believe in the rapture believe Trump will usher in the end of the world.  These Evangelicals believe that the end of this millennium will result in the Second Coming of Christ and that believers will be transported to heaven.  It is an eschatological concept of certain branches of North American Christians.  Their belief is that there will be an end time event when all Christian believers who are alive will rise along with the resurrected dead believers into Heaven and join [...]

Having practiced psychotherapy as a clinical social worker for 40 years, I have felt torn between the life of my professional identity and the studies I have pursued outside my profession.  I have lived two worlds which became increasingly difficult to resolve: the world of empirical psychotherapy in my daily work  vs. the world of astrological psychology. Of course the usual justifications existed and I could prepare my defense.  But Astrological psychology was not able to be brought out in the sun to be scrutinized [...]