Letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe by Henry J. Friedman
By Categories: Letters To Editors

Speculation and controversy over psychiatrists and psychologists attempting to diagnose President Trump are well outlined in the column by Sharon Begley. What is missed is the necessary distinction between our ability to comment on Trump’s mode of thinking and the act of making a diagnosis by any psychiatric criteria. When an individual continually overestimates the degree of danger coming at them or, in this case, at us as a nation; when danger is seen in everyone, including courts and judges and Mexicans; and when dissidents are all denounced as potentially dangerous, we are observing a form of paranoid thinking.

Such thinking, when linked to grandiosity, can radiate to the public and cause people to feel threatened and insecure about the danger that may result from our president’s character style. This is readily observable by any Continue reading Letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe by Henry J. Friedman

The Perinatally Depressed Couple and the Work of Mourning: with Molly Ludlam at CFS
By Categories: Announcements

“The Perinatally Depressed Couple and the Work of Mourning: A Developmental Imperative” One-Session Program (2 Contact Hours), Presenter: Molly Ludlam, MA, Date: Friday, March 31, 2017, Time: 8:00-10:00pm Location: Mt. Sinai, Goldwurm Auditorium, Madison Ave @ 98th St., NYC

This paper explores the impact of depression on adult couple relationships and proposes that a couple’s relationship, itself, might, sometimes, be considered “depressed.” Couple relationships are most vulnerable to break down during pregnancy and their children’s infancy. At this time the couple must manage several demanding developmental tasks, both as individuals and as a couple. The phenomenon of postnatal/ perinatal depression in new parents is well recognized. The concept of couples being “perinatally depressed” offers other ways of understanding the complexity of couples’ developmental tasks. The long-term trans-generational consequences of emotional learning by both parents and children at this time crucially influence the making of future couple Continue reading The Perinatally Depressed Couple and the Work of Mourning: with Molly Ludlam at CFS