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Addiction

Coping with Grief and Loss in the Movie “Wild”

 It's been awhile since this movie came out but I wanted to draw your attention back to it as Reese Witherspoons' activism and recent work has been truly inspiring for all women. I admire her work and the efforts she puts in raising awareness around women's issues, including the Time's Up movement and how women are portrayed in the film industry.

I still plan on getting to Big Little Lies but for now, let's look at "Wild,...

Art

When Words Are Not Enough: Coping Through Visual Arts

All images courtesy of

When words are not enough to express what’s working within the human body and soul, psychoanalysis urges us to find alternative ways to express ourselves. As a psychoanalytically oriented clinican, I am often put in a position to listen to the unspoken and to find ways to put it into words. This may sound somwhat enigmatic but it is almost like telepathy of sorts - when a clinican is...

General

The #MeToo Movement and “The Tale”: Lessons From a Real Story

The HBO original motion picture “The Tale” tells the real life story of director Jennifer Fox, who experienced sexual abuse as a 13-year-old girl. In the film, Jennifer is an accomplished journalist and professor in a committed relationship, and yet struggles with commitment. She’s been engaged for over two years and we see her mother comment on her inability to tie the knot and marry her boyfriend of 10 years. I’ve written elsewhere on the impact...

Acting out

The #MeToo Movement and “13 Reasons Why”: 4 Lessons About Sexual Assault


I must admit - it has been hard watching the news over the past several months and witnessing the development of a movement I feel a part of because of the people I see in my clinical practice, both children and adults, who have experienced sexual violence or other forms of traumatic experience.

What’s even harder is seeing the lack of legal repercussions for those, who committed these crimes, and the sense of helplessness that this triggers in...

Acting out

The #Me Too Movement and Popular TV Series: From “13 Reasons Why” to “Sharp Objects”


I have been a silent witness to the #Me Too and #Time's Up movements, watching women and men come forward with their stories with both admiration and sorrow. I admire their strength for speaking up and I am sad for the sheer vastness of people, who have been victims of sexual violence. It was about time we face this problem as a society and do something about it. Listen to the numbers:

One in five Americans has...

Acting out

11 Common Symptoms Experienced by Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse


Recognizing common symptoms of childhood sexual abuse can help parents, caregivers, teachers, social workers, counselors and childcare staff alert the appropriate authorities and take proper steps to protect the welfare and safety of our children. It is far too often that I hear stories of adults, who fail to recognize that something is wrong with their child and attribute concerning changes in their kids’ behavior to temperament, age or other misguided explanations.

Because of this, I want...

Adolescence

Cinema and Psychoanalysis: The Question of the Father in “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol.2”


We are going to continue our Cinema and Psychoanalysis series with Part II of the Psychological Analysis of "Guardians of the Galaxy" guest post by my Bulgarian colleague and psychologist Mihail Mihaylov. The question of fatherhood and the role of fathers in the psychological development of children has been a topic of interest for psychoanalysis since its very inception. In this analysis of the "Guardians of the Galaxy, ," you will see how we can apply...

Adolescence

Cinema and Psychoanalysis Guest Post: A Psychological Analysis of “Guardians of the Galaxy” Part I

Psychoanalysis has a long history of using fictional and non-fictional characters from the movies to illustrate theoretical psychoanalytic concepts and put them into practice. In order to protect the confidentiality of our patients in the clinic, we often turn to the creative fields of film making, novels and sometimes even mythology, to shed some light over what may appear like mystical and hard-to-grasp psychoanalytic jargon. This is exactly what my Bulgarian colleague and psychologist, Mihail Mihaylov,...

Dreams

5 Reasons to Pay Attention to Your Dreams
 "Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious." Sigmund Freud
I've always been fascinated by dreams. I dream a lot and I usually remember most of my dreams. I also used to find it easier to talk about my dreams than about my thoughts or feelings. There seems to be something safe when it comes to dreams, a certain distance or disconnect between you and the dream that makes it easier to talk about than it is to talk...