Culture

15 May

Posted at 12:53h in Critical psychiatry, Culture, DSM-5, Health Care, Politics, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapy

May 15, 2012 Check out my guest column in Psychology Today's Rethinking Psychology (Eric Maisel's column) "Cosmetic Changes to the DSM-V (Did the DSM-5 Task Force Really Back Down?)" Recently the DSM-5 Task Force of psychiatrists dropped two diagnoses from its new manual—“attenuated psychosis syndrome” (proposed to identify people at risk of developing psychosis),...

10 May

Posted at 00:45h in Activity Theory, Community Organizing, Creativity, Culture, Education, Human Development, Learning Environments, Philosophy, Play, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Social Therapy

May 9, 2012 The Institute jumped into the free webinar field at the beginning of this year. It's much simpler than I would have thought! We give people access to an audio or video. After listening/viewing, they can join an hour-long live chat, email questions and comments, or do nothing. I’ve led the...

23 Feb

Posted at 18:14h in Community Organizing, Creativity, Critical psychiatry, Culture, DSM-5, Education, Health Care, Human Development, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Social Therapy

February 23, 2012 I don't usually promote activities here but now is an exception. Recent posts on the DSM-5 and all that it reveals about the ways our culture relates to human emotionality have drawn new readers (much thanks to everyone who’s reposting!). I've been introduced to many others who are...

24 Jan

Posted at 02:35h in Creativity, Culture, DSM-5, Human Development, Performance Movement, Psychology of Becoming, Theatre

January 23, 2012 A huge thanks to my friend Tony Perone for alerting me to a recent TED Talk by Stephen Volan, "Approaching Autism Theatrically." Diagnosed with Asperger's as an adult, Stephen shares how he experiences himself in the world, at one point likening it to just about constant stage fright....

29 Dec

Posted at 22:52h in Creativity, Culture, Education, Human Development, Learning Environments, Outside of School, Performance Movement, Psychology of Becoming, Social Therapeutics, Vygotsky, Youth Development

[caption id="attachment_1180" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Zdravo da Ste Weekend"][/caption] December 29, 2011 I returned from Serbia a few weeks ago, energized from six very performatory days with friends old and new. Nearly every year since 1997 as winter begins I’ve made the journey to work and play with the extraordinary people of Zdravo...

09 Oct

Posted at 17:38h in Creativity, Culture, Education, Language, Learning Environments, Outside of School, Philosophy, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapy, Vygotsky, Wittgenstein

October 9, 2012 I’m currently leading the second phase of my ongoing series, "The Thought Leadership of Fred Newman," at the East Side Institute. For this coming Monday’s session we’re going to play around with two of Newman’s “Psychology Plays”—written expressly for performance at APA (American Psychological Association) annual conventions during...

06 Oct

Posted at 12:35h in Activity Theory, Creativity, Culture, Education, Human Development, Language, Learning Environments, Outside of School, Philosophy, Politics, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Social Therapy, Theatre, Vygotsky, Youth Development

October 6, 2011 I was delighted to come across this Amazon reader review of my book Vygotsky at Work and Play. The author is David R. Cross, Ph.D. Thanks, David!  A Transformative Book Reflecting on a Transformative Life, July 2, 2011 Every now and then you get lucky, and find the book that is...

04 Oct

Posted at 19:44h in Creativity, Culture, Education, Human Development, Performance Movement, Psychology of Becoming, Vygotsky, Youth Development

October 4, 2012 In my work as a developmentalist, I am an advocate of, doer of, and studier of play. I grapple with both implementing and understanding what Lev Vygotsky said: “In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior; in play it is as though...