Politics

26 Sep

Posted at 01:27h in Applied Theatre, Clowning, Community Organizing, Creativity, Culture, Education, Health Care, Human Development, Outside of School, Performance Movement, Play, Politics, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Theatre, Youth Development

September 24, 2012 Today I’m going to do some more promotion for Performing the World 2012 (PTW 2012)—because I’m so excited about it! The opening reception on Thursday evening October 4 will be a community welcome to New York—featuring food prepared by dozens of New York City friends; greetings by myself and...

06 Sep

Posted at 02:10h in Politics, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Social Therapy

September 5, 2012 Ian Parker, a critical psychologist and practicing psychoanalyst, is professor of psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. He’s also a long-time friend and colleague of mine and the East Side Institute. Ian and I have participated in many conferences and events together, along with the late...

15 Aug

Posted at 02:46h in Critical psychiatry, Human Development, Philosophy, Politics, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming

[caption id="attachment_1319" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Opening Plenary Ceremony[/caption]   August 14, 2012 The Second International Conference on Marxism and Psychology last week in Morelia Mexico was packed—about 700 participants, a good half of them Mexican university students and activists. It was challenging and fascinating to be part of the gathering of academics and activists,...

01 Aug

Posted at 02:26h in Human Development, Politics, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Social Therapy

July 31, 2012 I didn’t mean to take more than a month off from writing my blog! I’ve been working on several projects—preparing presentations, writing two book proposals, reading applications to the Institute’s 2012-2013 International Class, working on the many aspects of the upcoming Performing the World 2012 conference, teaching an online...

31 May

Posted at 15:11h in Community Organizing, Human Development, Learning Environments, Philosophy, Politics, Popular Posts, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Social Therapy, Theatre, Youth Development

May 31,2012 For the past three Tuesday evenings, I’ve been leading “Making a Conceptual Revolution: The Practical-Critical Philosophy of Fred Newman”—an offering in the Institute’s Revolutionary Conversations series. It’s been delightful spending time with 30+ people from varied walks of life and varied levels of familiarity with Newman and his work...

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),...

17 Feb

Posted at 01:00h in Critical psychiatry, DSM-5, Human Development, Language, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy

February 16, 2012 In yesterday’s Huffington Post,  Dr. Eric Maisel asks, “Does Depression Exist?” Why’s he asking? To show that sometimes what we call things can create false realities. To invite readers to consider that this is what’s happened to our mental life and our feelings. To add a critical political/philosophical dimension to...

09 Jan

Posted at 17:47h in DSM-5, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Social Therapy, Wittgenstein

January 9, 2012 To go a bit deeper into the underlying problems with the theory and practice of psychology that the controversy over the DSM-5 exposes, I invite you to do some philosophizing. What assumptions must people be making— about persons; therapy, the therapeutic relationship and therapeutic discourse; illness, cure and treatment; emotions...

04 Jan

Posted at 19:09h in DSM-5, Health Care, Human Development, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Social Therapy

January 4, 2012 I’ve been following the controversy over the latest revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM-5. Compiled and published by the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM is the diagnostic bible for mental health professionals the world over—and a cash cow for the...

27 Oct

Posted at 02:36h in Activity Theory, Creativity, Education, Human Development, Language, Learning Environments, Philosophy, Politics, Popular Posts, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Psychotherapy, Social Therapy, Vygotsky, Wittgenstein

October 26, 2011 Question: What's it like to participate in an academic conference taking place in China and on the topic of contemporary capitalism? Answer: An academic conference. Which is to say that you have to do the work to create human connection/conversation outside the rigid conference structure of one person after another...