Keith R. Wilson's Blog, page 3

How to Turn a Temper Tantrum into a Work of Art, Part One

How to Turn a Temper Tantrum into a Work of Art, Part One Developing an Artistic Theory of Emotional Expression You could see it coming as soon as you told your teenage daughter she couldn’t go to the mall with her friends. First, her face frowned. She looked as though some pressure was building inside. […]

If You’re Addicted, Staying Clean is Not Enough

Relationships Must Be Restored If all you do is abstain from your drug, you’ve got a good start; but it’s just a start. There’s lots of repair and rebuilding yet to do if you want to earn all the rewards of your recovery and prevent relapse from happening again. The first psychotherapy clients I had […]

The Addict’s Family Needs as Much Help as the Addict

The Addict’s Family Needs as Much Help as the Addict Even if you’ve never done anything addictive in your life, if you love a person with an addiction, addiction is your problem, too. When an addiction takes over a person, it takes over a relationship. The people in the relationship disappear and the needs of […]

Sorry, But Your Ex Is Probably Not a Narcissist

Sorry, But Your Ex Is Probably Not a Narcissist The Hazards of Self-Help In 1969, George Miller, the president of the American Psychological Association urged psychologists to “give psychology away”. There were too many problems and too few psychologists for them to hoard their knowledge. Instead, psychology should be popularized and spread to the public, […]

A Lazy Writer Tries Chat GPT

I don’t often feel lazy; but when I do, it’s enough to throw me into despair and self-reproach. I come from solid Puritan stock, you see, for whom idleness is akin to damnation. I was feeling damn lazy but, nonetheless, sat myself down and committed myself to writing like I do every day. I could […]

Positive Reinforcement is Not Enough to Motivate a Person to Recover from Addiction

But Neither is Pain You’re a good parent, a loving spouse, a decent boss, a fair judge, or a caring therapist. You took psychology in college. You learned that positive reinforcement is more effective than negative reinforcement. Therefore, you reason, all you need to do is reward your loved one when he does well. Give […]

Can You Rebel All the Way to Self-Actualization?

It was every parent’s worst nightmare. Sixteen years old and in possession of my father’s car for the first time, I decided to speed as fast as I could down a winding road. I knew my father wouldn’t have wanted me to race, but I held a curve doing 100. In fact, I did it […]

Are Some Feelings More Real Than Others?

Some feelings can fake you out. That is, they don’t match the corresponding emotion. Let me tell you the difference between feelings and emotions. Feelings are conscious emotions. Emotions are subconscious feelings. If someone were to come up to me and tell me how much they loved my books, I would spontaneously stand a little […]

Help is Closer Than You Think

It is a whole lot easier to get substances that will addict you than it is to get into treatment for addiction. In many localities, there are drug dealers at every corner, but to get to a clinic, you have to take two buses. Intake coordinators will make you wait in a room with oldContinue reading "Help is Closer Than You Think"

What are Feelings and When Should You Be in Touch?

Feelings are how you encounter your very existence. When you’re out of touch with your feelings, you’re out of touch with life. They’re how you meet joys and sorrows, ups and downs, and everything in between. They help you foster and navigate your relationships, make choices, and adapt a response to events. But sometimes, feelings areContinue reading "What are Feelings and When Should You Be in Touch?"