Trauma and Neglect

The blog includes articles I have written over the last few years, as well as a weekly post where I share what’s on my mind, even if it’s an undeveloped idea that popped up when I was stirring a vat of cheese!

A Sense of Self

People, Place, and Brain In our apartment building in New York, everyone seemed to have numbers on their arms, sad eyes and thick German accents. My great Aunt Gertrud would take me

Pleasure to Meet You

Wanting, Longing and the Conundrum of Need In the attachment literature Berkeley luminary Mary Main eloquently describes the “dilemma without solution.” For this bereft infant the source of safety and the source

Angels Dimensions of Possibility

Another remarkable BBC story in the wee hours inspired and compelled me; an interview with an Afghan refugee speaking about his narrow escape from the death grip of the Taliban, actually from

Silence

“Why Won’t You ‘Just’ Talk to Me?” As I was pondering the recurring devastating dynamic between a couple I work with, a memory from my own life bubbled up. For those of

Nevermind

Ignoring, Forgetting and Denying Driving to work one day last month, I heard a snippet of news about a young man named Spencer Elden, now 30 years old, suing Nirvana and Kurt

Second Chances

Healing, Relationship Repair and Jewels In 1968 I almost died of anorexia. I was 13. We now know that the whole spectrum of eating disorders are desperate attempts at self-regulation, and rife

Isn’t Transference Grand?

Idealization, Idolatry and the Quest for Authentic Attachment Early in my career, when I was in a post-graduate training program and just beginning to see clients, I remember when one of my

Labor and Delivery

Feedback, Sound, and Anticipation Although I am not a mom, I somehow have an image of a small overnight bag, standing by the door. I don’t know if it is an actual

The Journey of 1,000 Miles: Hallucinogen-Assisted Psychotherapy for Trauma

In 2006 I made my personal discovery of local treasure Michael Pollan, courtesy of Terry Gross, the voice and brains behind National Public Radio’s iconic program “Fresh Air.” The dean of UC

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