One of the best things we all can do for our mental health is to simply stop watching and listening to media that are constantly bombarding us with threats and warnings about what must surely be the cause of our imminent death–COVID-19.  I have recommended this strategy to several of my patients, who have seen a concomitant increase in their positive outlooks on life. As a former member of the media, I can assure you that while you may think the mission of our media is to disseminate true and verified information, that is sadly no longer true.  The mission of the media, as with any ..read more

As the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to afflict our society and our world, many of us are starting to wonder where it will all end.  As noted in our first installment, enforced distancing and being held captive in our own homes is wrecking untold psychological damage on most of us as individuals, and on the American mindset as a whole. We are a nation of workers, workers of all stripes.  As one can readily see, even from our corrupt mainstream media, people in many states are just fed up with having to sit idly by while our nation’s economy dies on the vine as million ..read more

It is news to virtually nobody that a pandemic of COVID-19 is spreading across the world and is being blamed for many problems, from the actual sickness itself to the disruption of our daily lives and the damage to our economy.  The sickness, of course, can be attributed to the virus itself, but the attendant problems are the result of a single factor, namely fear. As mental health professionals, we are seeing daily the stoking of the furnace of fear as more and more reports come out about the spread of COVID-19.  The emphasis is on which celebrity or government official has tested ..read more

Whether you know it or not, law enforcement agencies all over the world are using a method called Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN) to determine whether or not those they interview are being truthful or deceptive.  According to the Collins Dictionary, SCAN is “the close analysis of the content of statements made to the police by suspects in an attempt to identify innocence or guilt.” Certainly, we can agree that statements made to police should be closely scrutinized and analyzed, since their truth or falsehood is critical to achieving the ends of justice.  It is alleged that study ..read more

I have often said that when it comes to hypnosis, there are literally no negative side-effects connected with its practice when it is performed by a trained and qualified individual.  Nevertheless, there are some who believe hypnosis can be a negative factor, causing a variety of problems, including fatigue, antisocial acting out, anxiety, panic attacks, concentration loss, delusional thinking, depression, insomnia, tremors, weeping, and a host of other complaints. First, let me note that I have hypnotized close to 1,000 individuals and I have never seen any of the above symptoms arise–o ..read more

Memory is a vital element to all sorts of learning in life, yet it can be elusive at just the wrong times, such as when we are taking a final examination or we need to recall the combination to a safe.  In this modern age, there are all sorts of solutions to memory problems, from smartphone apps and other clever devices to supplements made from jellyfish that are alleged to increase one’s powers of recall. But what happens when we witness something–a critical incident for example–and our memory stubbornly refuses to cooperate, due to stress or nervousness or some other psychological mani ..read more

As habitual readers of this blog (obviously very discerning individuals) know all too well, I have been writing for years about the myths and misconceptions that surround the practice of hypnotherapy and hypnosis in general.  Many of these half-truths, lies, and nuggets of fake news emanate (not surprisingly) from mainstream media and from entertainment media in particular. But what about some other questionable things that seem to have some basis in reality?  I refer to hypnosis ostensibly being employed in order to get people–usually audience members at a hypnosis show–to do stran ..read more

If you ask most medical doctors today about the use and effectiveness of hypnosis in the clinical setting, it is safe to say that many (although not all) will pooh-pooh the notion and express doubt that anything so mysterious could be of any help to the scientists who call themselves physicians.  To put it bluntly, hypnotherapy (like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield) gets “no respect.” Yet there was a time when doctors–and psychiatrists in particular–regularly utilized hypnosis as a valuable tool to help their patients.  For example, according to The Freud Page, “Sigmund Freud s ..read more

I first heard of Battle for the Mind: A Physiology of Conversion and Brain-Washing in a sermon that was addressing the godly and ungodly choices one can make in life, as well as the things that influence us.  The preacher let us know that this controversial work had made quite a stir since its first appearance in 1957, but that it since had been “discredited.”  Far from discouraging me to forget the title, this only made me more determined to find out what this book was all about and why people were upset to the point that they wanted to discredit it. One clue was the subhead on the ..read more

The practice of hypnosis has been linked with many other practices and ideas–some clinical and health-oriented, and some “alternative” and often controversial.  One example of the latter is the phenomenon known as telepathy. Telepathy, in simple terms, is, according to Merriam-Webster, “communication from one mind to another by extrasensory means.”  In this context, “extrasensory” refers to something that is beyond the capability of our five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.  Some would refer to perception of an event without the involvement of the senses as mi ..read more