Dear President Trump, Sometimes I can be pretty dense. Yesterday as I was going over papers to include in a review of therapies for people with both PTSD and substance use disorders I came across two that evaluated treatments involving writing about one’s traumas. This led me to remember how such writing therapies got traction, … Continue reading “Dear Abuser”
Psychological Constructs
Threat detection and the many ways it can go wrong
Dear President Trump, This morning I noticed a little rough patch in the plastic retainer I have to wear to shift that tooth that is out of whack since I fell last year. For what seemed like a long time my tongue couldn’t leave that one spot alone, finding the anomaly far more interesting than … Continue reading Threat detection and the many ways it can go wrong
A welcome end of shame
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I wrote about the argument Ruth Marcus developed on the end of shame among politicians. Today I want to venture there is another, very different and much more welcome, version of the end of shame getting traction as women and men come forward in droves about the sexual harassment and assault … Continue reading A welcome end of shame
Banality of misyogny
Dear President Trump, As I see it right now, I think the two primary factors needed for someone to behave badly and get away with it are motivation and opportunity and I'm going to start with the latter. [It might seem logical to start with motivation; in many ways it is the simpler of the … Continue reading Banality of misyogny
We need that motive
Dear President Trump, Seems we all want answers to why Stephen Paddock did what he did. Since he was a regular white guy on the surface with no criminal or mental health history, how can we explain his actions? Although I want to know too, I think this quest for a motive is a distraction … Continue reading We need that motive
“Irreplaceable works of art”
Dear President Trump, It doesn't happen all that often but over the last couple of years (yes, even before you were installed in office) I have periodically found myself pondering questions of my relative worth. Usually it is when I am doing some mundane task. I am not aware of feeling resentful of doing said … Continue reading “Irreplaceable works of art”
You haven’t earned the benefit of my doubt
Dear President Trump, How did it feel to read aloud the prepared statement condemning white supremacists, the KKK, and neo-Nazis with the cameras rolling? I so wish for your sake and for all of us that it was a relief to you to get to say those morally correct things even if you were worried … Continue reading You haven’t earned the benefit of my doubt
We ought to be grateful
Dear President Trump, From the vantage point of someone with a moral compass who isn't familiar with sociopaths your mind must seem like a very confusing place to be as you whip from encouraging Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's campaign correspondence to decrying leaks in your administration to saying the Russia investigation is a witch-hunt … Continue reading We ought to be grateful
America is still not America
Dear President Trump, The other day I signed up for a "poem-a-day" newsletter. I was looking for Langston Hughes's poem "Let America Be America Again," which should be required reading for US citizens on the 4th of July. In looking for the poem I stumbled on the option of having a poem show up in … Continue reading America is still not America
I doubt there’s much internal discord there
Dear President Trump, This morning I came across a psychological measure I'd not been aware of before that assesses the degree to which people are comfortable with having discordant attitudes and behavior or engaging in discordant behaviors. I wonder how you'd score on it. I think a lot of people would presume your score would … Continue reading I doubt there’s much internal discord there
Daily Trump Letters 