On Torture and the APA by Benedict Carey in the New York Times with introduction by Jerrold Atlas
By Categories: Controversial

Click Here to Read: Psychologists Vote to End Interrogation Consultations By Benedict Carey from the New York  Times on September 18, 2008.

Introduction: APA Eliminates Torture/Interrogation Work by Jerrold Atlas

After working for several years to overturn the APA embrace of participation in interrogation of detainees/prisoners, the membership finally defeated this oprogram as violative of ethics codes.  Thus, psychologists/psychoanalysts are now reclaiming  their higher moral/etchical purpose and rejecting
the notion that this could be done without violating these concerns. Continue reading On Torture and the APA by Benedict Carey in the New York Times with introduction by Jerrold Atlas

Letter to the editor from Fred Griffin. John McCain: “Fight with me. Fight with me. Fight with me. Fight for our country.”
By Categories: Letters To Editors

Letter to the editor from Fred Griffin which was published in the September 15 issue of The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL).

Letters to the Editor
The Birmingham News
September 15, 2008

 WE MUST FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY, BUT NOT ENGAGE IN KNEE-JERK REACTIONS

    In watching the Republican national convention, references to fighting and combat appeared to dominate the rhetoric of the candidates. For example, in a front-page article in the September 5 Birmingham News, Senator McCain is quoted as saying, “Fight with me.  Fight with me. Fight with me.  Fight for our country.”

 I began to wonder just how far our country has been able to process the trauma we experienced on 9/11.  I am reminded about my work with Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder for whom a variety of even non-threatening stimuli trigger reflexive violent reactions.  Neuroscientists tell us that this set of responses is largely because the emotional experience of the overwhelming trauma becomes lodged in the deep structures of the brain and bypasses the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that permits us to truly think about our experience.  Therefore, we react, rather than reflect-a
knee-jerk reaction.

       This country was violently invaded on 9/11.  We may still be stuck in our own post-traumatic reactions to this event.  One might also wonder if McCain is somehow haunted by post-traumatic reactions to his own private ordeal as a prisoner-of-war, which he so courageously
endured.

      Of course we must fight for our country.  I am in no way advocating for passivity.  But we should not engage in knee-jerk reactions that are robbed of thoughtful reflection about additional avenues to create safety for our country and to restore our country’s standing on the world stage.

Fred L. Griffin, M.D.

Broken Sons/Broken Fathers: A Psychoanalyst Remembers by Gerald J. Gargiulo
By Categories: Books

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Click Here to Read About: Broken Sons/Broken Fathers: A Pschoanalyst Remembers, a book by Gerald J. Gargiulo.

Click Here To Read: A Review of Broken Sons/Broken Fathers: A Pschoanalyst Remembers  by Gerald J. Gargiulo.  Reviewed by Richard Raubolt.

Click Here to Read: Gerald J. Gargiulo’s “End Thoughts” from the book Broken Sons/Broken Fathers: A Pschoanalyst Remembers.

Twinship Dynamics in “The Prestige”: In Memory of Jules Glenn
By Categories: Movies

From the PANY Bulletin, Summer, ’08

I am certain that I am far from the only member of PANY/NYUPI who was deeply saddened at hearing that Jules Glenn had died. Jules was not merely a revered teacher and a major contributor to psychoanalysis, he was a naturally warm and friendly man who took a genuine interest in people. I took classes with him as a candidate at the NYU Institute and later attended many discussion groups and seminars with him as a faculty member. He was always friendly, down to earth, “hamish”.

Jules was one of the instructors for the “applied analysis” course that I took as a candidate. In one of the classes, he talked about his own work on the plays of the twin authors, Peter and Anthony Shaffer. That was when I first learned of his particular interest in the dynamics of twins. It came up again in discussions over the years, most likely in some of the many meetings of the Psychoanalytic Colloquium for Psychoanalysis and the Arts that we both attended. It was for that reason that I instantly thought of him when I happened onto the film, The Prestige. Continue reading Twinship Dynamics in “The Prestige”: In Memory of Jules Glenn