Diversity in society entails a variety of subgroups with their different ranks and privileges, some of which are devalued and marginalized. While the same is true for families, practitioners of mainstream psychology typically do not take the dynamics of diversity into account when working with families. Instead, they often adopt the dominant family members’ point of view and thus treat marginalized family members as if … Read Full Entry
Negative body image, which often drives us to diet, is a result of shame, which is a bad feeling about who we are or some of our characteristics. Such shame is fostered by our families; ever-present media images; ignorant cultural assumptions about women, beauty, and health; denial of the prevalence and role of sexual abuse in creating body shame; and a burgeoning $60 billion dieting … Read Full Entry
Western medicine is based on an allopathic paradigm that includes three fundamental assumptions. First, deviations from the norm are manifestations of an underlying pathology. Second, treatment should eliminate or reduce the symptoms and the underlying pathology. And third, health is the restoration of the prior norm. For example, when we donʼt feel well, we go to our doctor, who takes our temperature, orders blood tests, … Read Full Entry
Mainstream psychology, like the psychology practiced by Dr. Phil, is often naïve about relationship conflict, focusing on the content of conflicts while ignoring the significance of underlying processes for the long-term benefit of the relationship. First, practitioners believe that conflict is defined by the content of peopleʼs disagreements. For example, if a couple says their differences are about money, mainstream psychology generates a solution in … Read Full Entry
In mainstream culture there are many assumptions about how men and women should behave in relationship with each other. These assumptions lead to patterns of behavior and create standards that encourage or discourage the expression of particular feelings. I call these patterns and standards “traditional gender roles.” Mainstream psychology tends to reinforce these assumptions, standards, and roles. Perhaps no one has articulated these assumptions about … Read Full Entry
Rainer Maria Rilke was not only known for being a great twentieth century German poet but also for suffering tremendous psychic pains. His dear friend, Lou Andreas-Salomé, acutely aware of Rilkeʼs struggles, offered to secure for him a course of psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud with whom she had trained. Rilke replied in a letter, saying that he feared in eliminating his demons he might lose … Read Full Entry
We need to be careful when we come upon a wild beast. We know it can overpower us and be destructive and rightly fear its capacity to injure and wound us. Out of concern for our safety, we may be inclined to run away, cage it, anesthetize it, or even kill it. Few choose to meet the animal on its own terms to study its … Read Full Entry
A Dr. Phil show provided a good example of how mainstream psychology can apply moralistic principles and cultural stereotypes to counsel a person about their sexuality. The show had two guests: a woman in her fifties, who had been married for many years until her husband passed away, and her son, who was in his mid-twenties. The woman had dated several men who were in … Read Full Entry