Leaving The Valley

In Episode 48: Celebrity & Suicide we discuss reasons why celebrities may choose to end their lives by suicide.  One might think that the happiness brought to celebs by fame and fortune would make them less likely to consider suicide. It turns out that success cannot prevent you from becoming suicidal. Being successful does not guarantee happiness. For some time Yale University has offered a course called Psyc 157: Psychology and the Good Life.  It essentially …

Is There Something Bigger Than Happiness? Read More »

In episode 46: Anger & Suicide, Part I and episode 47: Anger & Suicide, Part II, we noted that anger and suicide are related.  Of course, not everyone who takes their life has an anger management problem.  And, of course, not all angry people are suicidal.  It might seem that an angry person is more likely to pose a danger to others than to themselves. The portrayals of “bad guys” in movies and TV usually …

Are Suicide and Anger Actually Related? Read More »

In episode 46: Anger & Suicide, Part I we discuss how excessive anger can become lethal.  One of the worst versions of this already hard to talk about subject is murder-suicide. In this extreme situation, a person kills someone else, often a loved one, before taking their own life. Such events are usually the culmination of a pattern of extreme anger or rage. The vast majority of suicides result only in the death of the perpetrator. Although this …

Murder-Suicide, Death by Anger Read More »

In Episode 45: You Say You Want a Resolution?, we discuss the old tradition of making a change in the new year.  “I resolve to…quit smoking, lose weight, be a better person, etc.”.  As we all know it is much easier to make resolutions than to keep them.  One of the resolutions that you may have made at some point or another is to do more to help others. It is often said that helping others …

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In Episode 44: Avoid Harmful Therapy, we discuss that working with a therapist who is a bad fit for you can be problematic. The wrong fit in therapy can lead to further psychological harm and be re-traumatizing. Between 5 and 10% of people report that their therapy experience made things worse. On the other hand, that means that for most people, therapy is helpful. In fact, about 75% of the time, a person’s mental health symptoms …

Signs of a “Bad” Therapist Read More »