Dial M for Misinterpretation: Psychology’s Latest Attack on Conservatives

psychology-war-against-conservatives

Since I seem to have a reputation, you might guess that I have a problem with the newest “conservatives are stupid” study. I don’t. However, there are serious problems in the way this study is being interpreted and the way it will be remembered. I smell shenanigans. More

How To Tell If Your Therapist Is Crazy (Part Three: A Questionable History Lesson)

psychology-history

In the previous essays on crazy therapists, I’ve alternately defended and criticized my profession. Today, let’s wrap it up with a brief, questionable history lesson. Together, we will explore the unsightly twists and turns on the road to modern psychology. If you think modern treatments such as alien abduction therapy are crazy, you should see what cave-dwelling proto-psychologists were up to millions of years ago. Here’s a hint: it involved drilling.

In addition to prehistoric psychologists, we’ll explore the foibles of the field’s leading figures, paying special attention to people with entertaining names like Wilhelm Wundt, Edwin Boring (ha ha!), and Barbra Streisand, who we remember as the first female psychologist to boink her patient.

Those questions, and more, in a little essay I like to call “one of the most accurate history lessons on the Internet.” More

How To Tell If Your Therapist Is Crazy (Part Two)

unhealthy-psychologist

In Part One, we discussed some of the limited research on impaired shrinks. The upshot: while we may trend toward certain problems like depression, we don’t seem to be worse off than other folks.

That doesn’t mean I’m giving my profession a clean bill of mental health. (As if they asked me.) There is a different kind of mental problem that can ruin therapy: chronic irrationality. We don’t like to talk about it, but my profession seems especially prone to it. In this round, I’ll offer a few hints for finding a therapist who won’t waste your time and money by tossing logic out the window. More