What of our highly active, frenetic daily lives in the early 21st century? Substantial effort is expended in developing marketable skills, in order to earn money and survive. Yet, within the oppressive constraints imposed on us every day, each person may nonetheless nurture an inner, contemplative space, perhaps ultimately unshareable but all-the-more uniquely individual for […]
When the bureaucratic well runs dry, you as survivor of DV are on your own, especially when family and friends are riding in their own Private Idaho. Preface: According to band member Kate Pierson, “Private Idaho” was inspired by the feeling of being trapped and isolated, like a prisoner in solitary confinement. The song originated […]
psychosis (noun) UK /saɪˈkəʊ.sɪs/ US /saɪˈkoʊ.sɪs/ “Any of a number of the more severe mental illnesses that make someone believe things that are not real” — Cambridge Dictionary As the United States continues to reach untold depths of barbarism and depravity it is important to understand the role played by the neoliberal virus in catapulting […]
The most difficult aspect of writing about BWS — battered wife syndrome or intimate partner violence — is that as a man, I have to embrace reality: gender violence is not just fostered by the socialization of men to be more powerful than women, but for so many judges, lawyers, DAs and the public, this […]
In the first part of this paper, “Authoritarian Sadism in U.S. “Foreign Policy” (Part 1),” Dissident Voice, July 25, 2023, I introduced some psychoanalytic concepts and explained their application in revealing the latent motivations of high-ranking policy-makers in recent U.S. presidential administrations. This approach was long ago studied by the eminent political scientist Harold Lasswell, […]
Freudian depth-psychology remains an under-utilized tool in interpreting motivation and personality of recent American “leaders” who have chosen to deploy massively destructive military force on large civilian populations in places like Serbia, Iraq and Afghanistan. A president may deny (or repress) his own destructive hostility, projecting it onto “the other.” Splitting-and-projection readily enables a clear […]
Orientation Why is eyewitness testimony been proven so fallible in courts? How do we account for emotional outbursts which, at their worst, cost us relationships? Why are we so inept at gauging probabilities? Why do we have to be taught methods for developing an unbiased sample in research projects? Supposedly, in the scientifically evolved West, […]
From time to time, I read articles defying any semblance of rationality. They are, in a nutshell, absurd and some frightening. My immediate impulse to rebut is thwarted because I either missed the deadline to respond or no opportunity to comment exists. This article is my opportunity to rebut! I bear no malice toward the […]
Excitement around psychedelics continues to grow with thousands set to attend the Psychedelic Science conference in Denver this week. Proponents in the psychedelic space have promoted a strategy to focus on the “medicalization” to gain wider societal acceptance. But this could lead psychedelics to come under greater control, ensuring that they serve as profitable tools to maintain the status quo.
Henry A. Murray has much to answer for. Between 1959 and 1961, the Harvard psychology academic, as the leader of a team of equally unprincipled academics, was responsible for conducting an CIA-funded experiment most unethical on twenty-two undergraduates. The individuals in question were pseudonymised. One particularly youthful figure, named “Lawful”, was the mathematically gifted Theodore […]
