Laura K Kerr, Ph.D Archive
Update, March 31, 2014: In reaction to the release of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which predicts threats not only to food supplies but also to security due to climate change, I repost this blog today …
Research on human attachment has improved the practice of psychotherapy in part because attachment theory gives therapists permission to be “real” people with their clients. One of my favorite books on the subject is David Wallin’s Attachment in Psychotherapy, …
Photo of “Warengestell mit Gehirnen (Display Stand with Brains),” By Katharina Fritsch. The Great Recession, like financial disasters before it, took its toll on bodies and psyches as much as it did on bank accounts and lifestyles. Suicides, family violence, …
Based on her ethnographic study of psychiatric residency programs, anthropologist T.M. Luhrmann concluded psychiatry is “of two minds”: one “mind” emphasizes the role of neurochemistry, while the other “mind” places more importance on the context of our suffering, including …
Leaving a batterer is never easy. A woman is at greatest risk for murder when she leaves a physically abusive partner. Her decision to leave is a sign to the batterer that he has lost control, and loss of …
Neoteny refers to when a species’ traits that are typically associated with juvenile stages of development are carried into adulthood. A common example is the Mexican salamander, or axolotl. At full maturity, the axolotl continues to look like a …
Dear Survivor, “Because then I knew it was over.” That’s what most strive to feel about the lingering effects of childhood abuse, although not about the actual events. Those are long gone, and often dissociated from awareness. Rather, most …
At the beginning of the Enlightenment, the story of the world was told like this: Homo sapiens stands at the top of the evolutionary pyramid, the pinnacle species, a white man distinguished by his capacity for reason. One giant …
Robert E. Lesoine’s best friend Larry took his life by suicide on October 15, 2005. Although Lesoine knew Larry was struggling with feelings of disappointment, dejection, and loss, along with the return of debilitating pain associated with a past injury, …
Trauma-related stress reveals itself in many ways. Flashbacks. Nightmares. Emotional overwhelm. Shame. Obsessive thoughts. Decreased concentration. Apathy. Loss of a sense of self. When trauma-related stress is chronic, which is a common outcome of early life abuse and neglect, these …
